Too thick arbor?

[Bob Riefer]

Seriously difficult to get blades on the arbor of my new-to-me g0691 table saw. Is that a thing? Best fix?

[Bill Dufour]

Do you mean diameter? Is it metric or English? 5/8 or one inch diameter or something else entirely?
Bil lD

[Bob Riefer]

5/8 diameter. The hole in the center of the blade just barely fits. Changing blades doable but a tough chore

[Warren Lake]

Ive filed a bevel on blades inside and out, it makes a big difference when stuff is tight.

[Bill Dufour]

I had some shaper cutters that were too tight on the spindle. I took a 3/4" twist drill and spun the cutters for a few seconds on the drill bit. All by hand. It took a few tries but they now slid on nice and easy but still stay tight and aligned. I could have used an adjustable reamer for mo0re accuracy. i did not see any metal removed so it was just a tiny amount. probably just a micro burr or two that got knocked down.
Bil lD

[Mike Cutler]

It will wear in in time. My T/S was very tight when new, and still is at times, but it " wore" in.
You can hold a Hard Arkansas stone against the threaded section if the arbor, while turning it by hand, to knock off any micro burrs.

[Ole Anderson]

Try using a strip of emery cloth on the running arbor to take a few tenths off of it's diameter. Abom79 trick.

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks guys! I was thinking of (with saw unplugged) holding a piece of (say) 400 grit sand paper around the arbor while turning the arbor by hand as a first step. Sounds like this brainstorm may be about on the right path. I'll take it very conservatively as the blades DO fit so not a lot of adjustment needed... they're just a bugger to get on and off (took 10 minutes to uninstall dado stack the other day!)

[Jim Becker]

It's kinda supposed to be that way, Bob...but you can take some 600-800 grit paper or some emery cloth to the arbor to VERY SLIGHTLY clean it up by hand. It should loosen slightly over time, too, as someone mentioned. A little WD-40 to lubricate can also help, but only a little bit...you should wipe off any excess before tightening things down.

[Bob Riefer]

Really? You think it should be so tight it's barely doable? I've changed blades on about a dozen saws over the years, and all have fit snugly and easily... In this case, I'm literally fighting with a blade for 5-10 minutes at time, trying different techniques, jiggle this way or that way, less pressure or more pressure, rotate it while installing, don't rotate while installing, cursing at it (that seemed to help).....

[Richard Coers]

How many different blades have you put on the saw? I'd have a tendency to remove a little from the blade vs the arbor. But that's just me.

[Bob Riefer]

Good question.. I've tried 4 blades (2 used, 2 new) and my dado stack. I experienced the same symptoms in each of those cases... Got each of them installed, but each one was a yell-inducing event.

[jim sauterer]

My unisaw is 15 years old and still tight to get on.like jim said it’s supposed to be that way.my stacked dado is a pain also.

[Bob Riefer]

I'll give this another "really?" :-) I mean.... I can barely accomplish the task... past other saws (with some of the same blades I'm using now) were snug and took some care and finesse, but were easily doable in under 30 seconds for a blade, and under 1 minute for a dado stack. I'm literally over 5 minutes to change a blade, and 10 minutes for dado stack. That seems really different from past experiences...

[David Kumm]

Poor machining. Fix with emory or make the company send a new one. That is not right. Dave

[Frank Pratt]

I'll give this another "really?" :-) I mean.... I can barely accomplish the task... past other saws (with some of the same blades I'm using now) were snug and took some care and finesse, but were easily doable in under 30 seconds for a blade, and under 1 minute for a dado stack. I'm literally over 5 minutes to change a blade, and 10 minutes for dado stack. That seems really different from past experiences...

I agree with you Bob. There's no way it should be so tight that blade changes are difficult. On my current saw, it's very snug, but blade changes are not difficult. I had a Jet saw with the same problem as your's. A light touch with fine sandpaper on the running arbor did the trick. It didn't take much though, so go carefully.

[Bob Riefer]

Thanks again everyone! I'll be extremely conservative in "sanding" the arbor and report back on the results

[Jim Becker]

The arbor on my slider is pretty darn snug with my blades...very close tolerance. Fortunately, I don't change blades very often. :)

[johnny means]

Are you using coated blades?

[Andrew Hughes]

My tablesse blades fit tight on my saw too it's a 3/4 inch arbor. I also don't change blades very often. The blade on my saw has been on there for 2 years min.
Better too tight then loose.
Good luck

[Jim Andrew]

My dado blade was so tight on my Unisaw, was hard to install and uninstall. My friend, retired machinist used a reamer to remove a tiny bit from the blade hole, and it would slide on. He removed less than 1/1000.

[Richard Coers]

This is the second table saw arbor discussion going. Both the same brand, curious!

[Bob Riefer]

Lol. Gotta love a not helpful brand bashing post. Thanks for the help!!

[Mike Holman]

My jet cabinet saw was impossibly tight.
I used a small amount of valve lapping compound. Turned saw on and held a cloth on the arbor for about 15 secs all good after that.

[Richard Coers]

Lol. Gotta love a not helpful brand bashing post. Thanks for the help!!
I already helped with an earlier post suggesting I would work on the blades and not the arbor. This was just an observation, if I wanted to bash a brand don't you think I would mention the brand?

[Alan Schwabacher]

When you use the dado set, does it give a flatter bottomed dado than it did on the saw with a looser fit?

[Bob Riefer]

When you use the dado set, does it give a flatter bottomed dado than it did on the saw with a looser fit?

Not that I have noticed.. then again, direct comparison is impossible at this point as my old saw lives with a retired guy in New Jersey :-) Dado stack and all other cuts worked great before and they work great still.

Also, my other experiences installing blades were always very snug fits (never "looser")... snug-yet-doable. I'm currently in the so-snug-it's-barely-doable range. I'm just going to use light hand pressure with an extremely fine grit sand paper to ever so slightly "polish" the arbor threads, and then I can also wrap the same sand paper around a 1/2" dowel to very gently address each of my blades. I think that'll do it.

[Andy D Jones]

My early '90's Unisaw (bought new) has always been tough to change blades.

Especially my Freud dado blades are tight (mid 90's bought new), but my Freud carbide sawblades are a little bit easier.

I'd rather they be a little snug than too loose!

This is compared to either the cabinet table saw in HS WW shop class (unknown mfg, and old in the late 70s), or to my grandpa's Delta Tilting Arbor saw (not a Unisaw, it used a single flat, toothed belt) that he bought new in the late 60's or early 70's. Neither of these were sloppy, but also not tight enough to notice (at least to me at the time).

Andy - Arlington TX

[Bruce Wrenn]

Have you measured the diameter of the arbor where the tightness occurs? That's where I would start.

[Mark Daily]

Really? You think it should be so tight it's barely doable? I've changed blades on about a dozen saws over the years, and all have fit snugly and easily... In this case, I'm literally fighting with a blade for 5-10 minutes at time, trying different techniques, jiggle this way or that way, less pressure or more pressure, rotate it while installing, don't rotate while installing, cursing at it (that seemed to help).....
That’s not right- I’ve never had that problem with my G1023. Did you contact tech support about that? I think carefully “sanding” the arbor down is your best bet.

[Bob Riefer]

Update on this...

I ended up choosing the "do nothing yet" approach, figuring that as I used multiple different blades over the course of time I would learn more...

Interestingly, all these months later, all blades go on and off as easily as I would have expected based on previous experiences on other saws.

My only thought is that perhaps the arbor had received so few blade changes before I bought it (it was VERY lightly used when I purchased it) and had some minor burrs (although my bare hand could not detect them?) and they have since worn away during normal use.

Shrug... totally weird one, but all is well again now... and I guess I learned that, in rare cases, giving something like this a little more time to present additional data points is a decent strategy.

[Thomas McCurnin]

+1 for some sandpaper, but honestly, you don't want a 32nd of slop between the arbor and the blade.

[Rick Potter]

I wonder if the previous owner somehow dinged the arbor just a bit.

[Curt Harms]

How many different blades have you put on the saw? I'd have a tendency to remove a little from the blade vs the arbor. But that's just me.

If some blades fit correctly and others didn't I'd be thinking blades as well. It sounds like ALL blades are too snug which point to the arbor diameter.

[Frank Pratt]

Try using a strip of emery cloth on the running arbor to take a few tenths off of it's diameter. Abom79 trick.

I had a Jet contractor saw with the same issue & that's what I did to fix it. Worked perfectly & only took a few seconds of "grinding"

[glenn bradley]

The arbor on my slider is pretty darn snug with my blades...very close tolerance. Fortunately, I don't change blades very often. :)

My old hybrid (that I am currently using in temp quarters) and my Saw Stop both fit quite snug. The blade goes on and off OK if kept perpendicular to the shaft. If it is off more than a degree or so it will bind on both. TK blades not so much as 'industrial' (thick blank) blades but this made sense once I thought on it a bit.