Table Saw Blade won't Tighten

I have a Ridgid TS2424 table saw, that, up until today I have been very happy with. But today the following happened which I can only explain one way. I normally use a thin kerf 10 blade with this saw. Today after I made some cuts using this blade I replaced it the my dado blade set to cut lap joints. Both of these blades were appropriately tightened with no problems.

Now this puzzling problem.

After I used the dado blade,I reinstalled the normal blade and could not tighten the blade to the arbor. No matter how many turns on the wrench it would not tighten. While trying to tighten the blade the arbor would also rotate. Which make some sense since there is no way to keep the arbor from rotating (and never has been).

The only thing I can see that could be the problem is blade collar can't compress to hold the blade to the to the arbor. Does this part normally "wear out"? The second part of this question is can any table saw blade collar be used on any saw (assuming it is sized for the arbor shaft)?

Thanks Marty

Reply to
Marty
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The first thing I'd look for is some dirt or perhaps a burr somewhere in or on the collar between it and the blade.

Reply to
Upscale

I'd interpret that as meaning the friction between the nut and arbor is greater than the friction between the nut and the arbor washer/blade. Try spinning the nut on by hand with the blade/washer removed while you hold the arbor with the other hand. and see if it doesn't get hard to turn before running out of thread. If so, see if there isn't some burr or other defect in the threads of either the arbor or the nut.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

this can happen, if you use shims they can fall into the threads of the arbor and small bits can shear off. Try cleaning the thread out with a brush to insure that there is no debris in the threads of both the arbor and the nut. Magnetic shims work pretty well by attaching them to the blade prior to putting the blade on the arbor. They don't slip down on to the arbor threads if used in that order.

Reply to
Leon

According to the manual you're supposed to prevent rotation of the saw blade by jamming a block of wood against the blade teeth.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

Problem has been solved....

Used 150 Grit sand paper and scuffed the collar and saw blade. Nut tightened up just fine. Still don't understand how this happened between ten minute blade change..... But don't care, now I know what to do when and if it happens again.

Thanks to all reply to original post.

Marty

Marty wrote:

Reply to
Marty

I don't know what your problem is, but now you're scaring me. Relying on the friction of two roughened surfaces to hold something moving that fast when it wasn't held without roughening isn't a good idea.

Something you're using doesn't fit your saw correctly.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

And to make matters even more worrying, you, they, us, may never know what the problem was. Scuffing up the mating surfaces may have inadvertently fixed the problem, by removing whatever piece of dirt, burr or particle that was causing the problem in the first place.

Reply to
Upscale

Marty. Solving any problem requires you to understand what went wrong in the first place. Otherwise, your fix may just be temporary and, worse, may be dangerous. My suggestion is that you repeat the sequence of actions and try to reassure yourself that the problem is really fixed.

Good luck - but hope you don't need it :)

Reply to
Jimbo

Are you saying there is no way to hold the arbor still when tightening the nut on the blade? If so, that doesn't sound right. I've only used old Rockwell/Delta table saws but it takes two wrenches to tighten the blades. Used lots of circular saws, but always there was a way to lock up the blade/arbor when tightening the blade. Even with a lawn mower, one must lock the arbor when tightening the blade, with a block of wood.

If a hunk of dirt, or sawdust is preventing you from tightening the blade, and a touch of friction is working, it sure sounds shaky to me. I'm generally one to throw caution to the wind, but hmmmm...

I'm not saying you're doing it wrong or anything, just that it *sounds* wrong to me, I don't own your particular saw...

How do you take the blade off? Even if not very tight when putting it on, after use, doesn't it tighten up, to the point you need to lock the arbor to loosen the nut?

Does your blade have pins or a square recess, something to hold it to the arbor instead of super friction from a very tight nut? If it does, then you should be able to hold the arbor steady by physically stopping the blade from spinning with a screwdriver through a gullet or a block of wood... something, or am I missing something?

Reply to
Jack Stein

I have no idea if it's the same on the TS2424, but I know on the 3650, you do need to wrenches, one on each side of the blade. The wrenches come with the saw, there's an open end and a box end, the open end slips over the arbor on the left side of the blade into flat areas and holds the arbor still, the box end slips over the nut and turns it. Without two wrenches, I don't see how you would tighten it, or as you pointed out, how he took it off in the first place.

Reply to
Brian Henderson

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the manual for this saw says to use a block of wood to keep the blade from spinning while tightening the arbor nut. There's apparently no way to keep the arbor itself from turning.

Sketchy indeed...

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

Two wild ass guesses:

  1. Is the nut reverse threaded such that actually RUNNING the saw tightens the nut? If I was building a saw without a way to grab the shaft, that's the way I'd design it.

  1. Is there an extension to the motor shaft on the other end that can be accessed via a hex wrench (or something) to hold the shaft in place? Maybe a hex hole on the business end?

Reply to
HeyBub

Isn't this the usual design? My cabinet saw (which uses two wrenches) is set up so the startup torque tends to tighten the nut.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Friesen

It will be reverse thread if it is a right tilt or if the nut is on the left side of the blade, in the case of a circular saw.

All arbot nuts tighten in the reverse dirrection that the blade spins. If the nut is on the right, the nut tightens clockwise. If the nut is on the left it tightens counter clockwise.

Reply to
Leon

Nuts tighten opposite to the direction of the blade spin. some saws the nut goes counter clockwise some clockwise.

In addition to start up torque the resistance that meets the blade when cutting wood also tightens the nut.

Reply to
Leon

It is pretty common for a TS to not have a way to lock the arbor when tightening the nut. Have you ever seen those orange blade holders? they are designed to hold the blade while you tighten the nut. If you are lucky your saw has an arbor lock as with the PM2000 or has a spot to put a wrench on the arbor opposite the nut. Pretty snug is normally fine as the resistance that meets the blade when cutting tightens the arbor nut.

Saw dust in the threads of either the arbor or nut can prevent the nut from tightening up against the washer and nut. I have had problems with rubber dado shim material shearing off and magnetically sticking in the threads.

A block of wood wedged against the teeth will be sufficient resistance to easily loosen the arbor nut.

Typically you don't want to have to use something that might bend/knock the blade out of a flat state.

Reply to
Leon

Right. I was thinking only of my saw. A better way of putting it to the OP is "Well, so you can't tighten it. So what? Just snug it up and the running of the saw will secure the nut... Probably. Wouldn't hurt to stand clear the first time, though."

Reply to
HeyBub

For some reason I have lost the OP's opening comment however IIRC he had a problem of getting the nut tight enough that the blade would not free spin. That can easily happen of the threads have debris in them. My current saw has 2 wrenches and after using magnetic shims on a dado set I have witnessed the arbor nut giving enough resistance that 2 wrenches were required to snug up the nut. I noticed that the shim hole was no longer "round" and found a piece of it in the threads of the arbor. Being magnetic it did not fall out. I have learned to stick the shim on to the blade prior to mounting on the arbor vs. sliding the shim on the arbor by itself.

Reply to
Leon

My question exactly... My ancient Rockwell Beaver is set up like this.

I thought they all were.

Reply to
phorbin

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