So I have finally gotten around to a real "deep clean" and tune up of my granite-topped craftsman table saw. A few questions have arisen, though:
1) The saw uses mostly black-oxide coated steel screws, a number of which have begun to show rust spots. What to treat these with...oil, paste wax, doesn't matter?
2) Reading through multiple old threads I gathered that a dry wax or PTFE (silicone free!) are probably the best options for lubing the worm gears and racks for the tilting and raising mechanisms, but what about the elevation pin in the arbor support bracket in the picture below? Right now (well, before I scooped it out as you see in the pic below) it's filled with a really thick substance that is only slightly tacky.
elevation-pin-lubrication-q-IMG_20190409_135717.jpg
The gunk in question, I cant tell if it's grease or wax:
the-gunk-IMG_20190409_135708.jpg
3) I have no idea what these tapped holes (green dots) on the main trunnion are for, any ideas? These are at the rear of the saw, maybe motor mounts...maybe another version of the saw?
4) I have no idea how to do so, but could these holes be used for a home-grown blade shroud for improved dust collection?
main-trunnion-unknown-bracket-IMG_20190409_150757.jpg
Nothing in the manual (I bought this at deep discount directly off the floor from SEARS, so technically it might have been assembled _almost_ completely):
main-trunion-20190506_150715.jpg
5) The worm gear to rack tooth engagement is very small, is this something that can be adjusted? There is room to at least double the depth of the tooth engagement without bottoming out in the thread troughs, but I can't figure out how to make the adjustment.
rack-and-worm-gear-engagement-IMG_20190409_135149_1.jpg
Thanks for taking a look, I appreciate any guidance or ideas!
Justin