Unisaw 36-L500 Bearing Replacement (Spacers?)

[Brian Dresser]

I'm in the middle of a bearing replacement on a modern era Unisaw (carcass purchased through Craigslist) and I'm concerned the two spacers that ride on the arbor are not positioned properly. When I disassembled the arbor, I took a few pictures, and according to Delta's exploded assembly, I have all parts in the right location... I'm just a bit concerned I'm missing something obvious... If that turns out to be the case, I'll crawl back into my shop and cut a hundred dovetails by hand as penance.

What I saw when I disassembled the arbor was that the spacers rode closely to the arbor pulley. I didn't try to pry them one-way or the other, but I could not see the arbor itself (from a top view, table removed) given the proximity of the spacers to the pulley. Once apart, I cleaned the arbor components, replaced the bearings, and rebuilt the assembly... As a sanity check, I took a look in the parts brown bag I had, it was empty (check). I reviewed my camera images, and the assembly went back together just as it had come apart (check). A review of the final assembly had me scratching my head... Please take a look at the accompanying two pictures. Note the visible space at the arbor shaft. The spacers slide freely and I'm concerned I'll wind up with some amount of chatter or vibration once fully assembled. I took one last look at my photos (post-disassembly, pre-cleaning) and I wasn't able to see any surface rust as a tell-tale that the arbor was exposed initially. The shaft did have to slide past the bearings, so if there was grease or sawdust, that all was pushed away...

The spacers are a close fit to the arbor shaft. Am I missing something, are these spacers simply there to limit placement of the arbor pulley (bounded by bearing races in an outward direction)? Why so much lateral adjustment? I'm probably overly neurotic on this point, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to make my first post to the forum and see what happens. Thanks for reading, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you


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[Ed Edwards]

Brian,
I am certainly not the Unisaw expert, but how many drive belts are on your saw? It appears in the images there are 2 is this correct?
I'm sure the experts will be able to help you out.
Ed

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check Saw Center's site as they have some of the best tutorials on the UniSaw.

[Brian Dresser]

Thank you for the reference. The saw does have two belts.

[Brian Dresser]

Turns out after calling Delta Machinery, the space is allowable. The spacers limit outboard movement of the pulley so that the blade lock mechanism (Red component in the images) functions properly.