113.5721 table saw: cannot remove turn handles

[Joe Gravelle]

I'm in the process of stripping it down to clean it, paint it, and put it back into service but I'm stuck. The tilt hand wheel will not come off. I've removed the two set screws and it will not slide off the shaft. The dept adjuster wheel cam off like butter but this one refuses to do so.

Anyone come across this before?

thanks!

side note,

if if anyone has spare parts for this saw I need the stuff for a blade guard so I have something. Really want a splitter

[Lee Schierer]

It could be the set screws gouged the shaft so the hand wheel won't slide off. Place a black of wood against the side of the saw and use a flat pry bar to put pressure on the hub of the wheel to pry it away from the saw. If it is a plastic hand wheel (many of them were) heat the hub with a hair dryer for a few minutes so it will expand slightly.

[Joe Gravelle]

It could be the set screws gouged the shaft so the hand wheel won't slide off. Place a black of wood against the side of the saw and use a flat pry bar to put pressure on the hub of the wheel to pry it away from the saw. If it is a plastic hand wheel (many of them were) heat the hub with a hair dryer for a few minutes so it will expand slightly.


It looks like chromed pot metal or cast aluminum. Table saw is from the era when metal was the material of choice

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

It looks like chromed pot metal or cast aluminum. Table saw is from the era when metal was the material of choice


Whatever you do do not pry the handle off with the method mentioned above. The handle is made out of pot metal and will snap if too much pressure is applied. Don't ask me how I know...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Make sure you got all the set screws out. It's not unusual to find one set screw installed over another to prevent the first one from backing out.

Try some light weight oil in the set screw holes overnight, then try again.

[Joe Gravelle]

I pretty much stumped. It spins freely, both set screws removed and I've soaked it in PB for a week, spraying it nightly.

[Troy Turner]

Go to the auto parts store (if you have one local) and see if you can rent/borrow a pulley puller.

[Allan Speers]

Go to the auto parts store (if you have one local) and see if you can rent/borrow a pulley puller.

^ This.


Also: I had this problem on a vintage Powermatic planer. That bloody handle wouldn't budge, even with a lot of torque on the puller. I finnaly got it off by adding a lot of heat. (A hair dryer) After I finally got it off, I discovered two problems:


First, the shaft was slightly bent. The planer must have been dropped on that side. That was a tricky fix, but I managed to straighten it "enough" so that it's no longer an issue. So, you know, check your shaft.


Second, the original setscrew (now missing) had once been torqued-in so tightly that it made an indentation in the shaft. the area around that indentation raised up slightly, and because Powermatic's tolerances are so tight, this was actually stopping the wheels from sliding out. An easy fix via a file and then some JB Weld.

- If I had known about this beforehand, maybe a solution would have been to run a tap into the threads, bottoming out slightly on the shaft.

[Allan Speers]

BTW -

If you happen to break that wheel getting it off, Grizzly sells very nice cast iron wheels that aren't very expensive. They go right on, are more robust, and are larger so MUCH nicer to use.

[Dimitrios Fradelakis]

BTW - If you happen to break that wheel getting it off, Grizzly sells very nice cast iron wheels that aren't very expensive. They go right on, are more robust, and are larger so MUCH nicer to use.


I've seen those handles. Don't you have to bore out a hole for the shaft, mill a slot for the keyway and drill and tap a hole for the set screw? The ones I got from them needed all of the above to be done in order for them to work.

[Joe Gravelle]

I tried the heat gun on the wheel for 15 minutes. Got it nice and hot and it still refuses to slide off. I'm out of ideas. A gear puller wouldn't work since there is nothing solid to push from. I'd hate to have to break the wheel off.

[Angie Orfanedes]

Get the kind of gear puller that has fingers that would hook behind hand wheel and push on center shaft. HF had them.

[Mark Wooden]

You need a heat gun or a torch to get it hot enough to make an appreciable difference; if it's spinning freely and not coming off, it's probably hung up on a galled shaft
If there's enough room, slide an open end wrench, slightly bigger than the shaft, behind the wheel and tap it(the wrench) with a hammer. Another method is to use a couple of slim wooden or metal wedges opposed to each other and wedge it off (think wood shingle). This is pretty much the same thing as Lee describes. Sometimes a steady pull and twist will work.
I think that the setscrew galled the shaft and there's just enough of a ridge to keep it from sliding off. when you do get it off, file the shaft smooth there.

[Allan Speers]

I've seen those handles. Don't you have to bore out a hole for the shaft, mill a slot for the keyway and drill and tap a hole for the set screw? The ones I got from them needed all of the above to be done in order for them to work.

Not the ones I got from them. They went right on my old Craftsman TS. - but that was well over ten years ago, so I really don' know if they've changed.

[Bob Grier]

I am assuming the saw wheel shaft does not protrude through the wheel. Otherwise you would probably have the wheel off.

If the wheel is spinning on the shaft as you say, then add more heat with a heat gun and use a gear puller. A 3-jaw gear puller would probably be best. The gear puller drive shaft needs to push against the saw wheel shaft and jaws need to pull against the saw wheel hub. You may need to use a piece of solid bolt or bar between the gear puller drive shaft and the saw wheel shaft if the gear puller drive shaft is larger diameter than the saw wheel shaft. Tap against the puller drive shaft with a metal hammer as you tension the puller.

If the wheel breaks then figure out why, fix the problem, and then replace the wheel.