Curt Harms
02-20-2008, 8:33 AM
Here's a little mod I did out of necessity. I haven't used it much yet but think it may be useful. I somehow had the thrust bearing (I hope that's the right term) 82106
come off the lower blade guide on my Rikon 10-325. I found the bolt, bearing and washer but not the bushing for the bearing. I suspect it's in my dust collector bag somewhere. The thrust bearing has an O.D. of 22 mm. and a bore of about 8 mm. The bolt is 5 mm. Oh Oh:eek:. On a related topic, the 22 mm thrust bearing barely has room for a 3/4" blade to run in the center of the wheels without hitting the bolt head that locks the table tilt.
I called up a local bearing supplier and asked about 5 mm bore ball bearings. I was able to find one with same width but with but with an O.D. of about 17mm instead of 22 mm. Bought 2 plus a small washer, brought 'em home and installed one. Worked fine:D. There's now plenty of room for a 3/4" blade to run centered on the wheel. I haven't replaced the top thrust bearing and won't if I don't have to. I do have the extra bearing if I need it however. The downside to this conversion is the lower thrust bearing barely comes forward far enough to center a 1/4" blade on the wheels due to the smaller diameter. In my opinion however, a 1/4" blade is as narrow as will work well with roller bearing guides. The roller bearing guides have to run behind the gullets of the blade and there's not all that much surface between bottom of the gullet and the back of a 1/4" blade for a bearing guide to run. This saw is rated to run 1/8" blades but I think if I wanted to run less than 1/4" blades for scrolling I'd look at the Carter setup with the groove in the thrust bearing. I hope someone finds this useful.
Curt
come off the lower blade guide on my Rikon 10-325. I found the bolt, bearing and washer but not the bushing for the bearing. I suspect it's in my dust collector bag somewhere. The thrust bearing has an O.D. of 22 mm. and a bore of about 8 mm. The bolt is 5 mm. Oh Oh:eek:. On a related topic, the 22 mm thrust bearing barely has room for a 3/4" blade to run in the center of the wheels without hitting the bolt head that locks the table tilt.
I called up a local bearing supplier and asked about 5 mm bore ball bearings. I was able to find one with same width but with but with an O.D. of about 17mm instead of 22 mm. Bought 2 plus a small washer, brought 'em home and installed one. Worked fine:D. There's now plenty of room for a 3/4" blade to run centered on the wheel. I haven't replaced the top thrust bearing and won't if I don't have to. I do have the extra bearing if I need it however. The downside to this conversion is the lower thrust bearing barely comes forward far enough to center a 1/4" blade on the wheels due to the smaller diameter. In my opinion however, a 1/4" blade is as narrow as will work well with roller bearing guides. The roller bearing guides have to run behind the gullets of the blade and there's not all that much surface between bottom of the gullet and the back of a 1/4" blade for a bearing guide to run. This saw is rated to run 1/8" blades but I think if I wanted to run less than 1/4" blades for scrolling I'd look at the Carter setup with the groove in the thrust bearing. I hope someone finds this useful.
Curt