I just HAD to put a dial indicator on the blade on my LS1013 Makita SCMS. Just HAD to. It was cutting just fine, but I had to know just HOW fine.
Is that a couple of thou worth of wobble I see? Maybe a little dirt on the flange. Nope Blade?.. tried a blade which was just set by Royce Carbide. Nope. Marked the spindle, rotated the blade 180 degrees, problem stayed with the mark on the spindle. Put the indicator on the spindle...uh-oh... then it came back to me.. a massive snag and blow-out a few weeks ago, broke the little flip-thingy fence off and destroyed one of the inserts.
I am only speculating that's what bent my spindle, but what the heck, I'll just order a new one from ereplacementparts.com (
Spindle arrived today. Had a successful countertop install this morning, so out comes the toolbox... why not.. a quiet Friday afternoon project. Talk about tight tolerances. I had never been in the gearbox of that saw and couldn't believe how immaculate the gears were. That saw gets a lot of use. No sign of wear. The beveled gear is a separate part from the spindle, nice. Anyway, those cussed bearings didn't want to come off, and I hate using gear pullers on bearings when I can only grab the outer race. So I had to go find small, but good quality pullers. The ones I had, were designed to pull the turret off a Leopard tank.Nobody has a small, quality puller, finally found one. Snap rings, key for the keyway, spring for the blade guard, dropping shit, busy shopping centres, too damned much traffic, phone is ringing, dad needs a ride to the hospital to see my mom... a genuine challenge to my patience and composure.
I could feel it the second I pulled the trigger on the saw. Much smoother. No measurable runout. Now I'm thinking that it may have never been right in the first place.... worth doing.
Hit me again, dad... no ice... make it a double.
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