Another Table Saw Question... Craftsman 113 -- Re-Visited

[Jon Wilson]

As some of you may know, I started this THREAD a little while back.

Seemed at the time that everything was fine. Up until last night...

The same clip popped off again and is causing the same up/down issues.
Now this time I know how to fix it, that's easy enough. (even if it's a pain)

I need to know what's causing it and how to prevent it from happening again.
If this is going to keep happening I'm going to have to count this as a loss and
find another table saw.

TIA!

[Duane Meadows]

Two questions, Jon...

1. Did you put a new clip in it. or reuse the old one? I'd try a new one if you haven't already done so.

2. How freely do the adjustments move? May need cleaned, lubed if the don't work freely and smoothly.

[Dick Brown]

Jon,
Reply to your PM and maybe help someone else. Same questions as Duane asked. Should be able to get the clip at any good hardware or auto parts store. If my memory serves me, you also had a broken crank handle. Same rod??? if so, that should tell us that the part is moving way harder than it should. If you can do it, turn the saw on it's top so you can get at the working parts easy. I have an overhead hoist in my shop so I turn them over, raise them up and put on sawhorses so they are comfortable to work on. Can you get someone to help you? Replace the clip making sure it is all in the grove as it should be. Look for anything bent, broken, or binding, whip out the WD40 and use it on all the moving parts, move them through the full range, if they don't move easy, do it again or find out why they don't. After everything works as it should, I spray on the white lithium grease on all the threaded adjustment rods and their related gears, lube the rods where they go through the "bearing" holes with motor oil and enjoy easy adjustments and smooth operation. Little side note here--- I have probably had over twenty of these saws go trough my shop. The two things that I see most is the tilt lock that sticks out above the up-down adjustment will be bent from the handle hitting the underside of the table and the operator forcing it. On the other end of the saw, the little 1/4" bolt that is on the motor mount that is to keep the motor from falling over backwards when the belt is off will be tightened down. Needs to be loose so the motor can move it's full range to keep tension on the belt at all times, blade high or low. These saws will never be a Powermatic 66 or a Uni. but are great little saws for the home handyman if they are taken care of and have an aftermarket fence.
.

[Jon Wilson]

Two questions, Jon...

1. Did you put a new clip in it. or reuse the old one? I'd try a new one if you haven't already done so.

2. How freely do the adjustments move? May need cleaned, lubed if the don't work freely and smoothly.

I did use the old clip when i repaired the saw the last time. Maybe I should try a new one.
As a matter of fact, maybe I'll replace both front and back C-Clip just to be safe.

I haven't read Dick's response yet but he has some experience with these saws and he may shed some more light.

Thanks for the tip!

[Jon Wilson]

Jon,
Reply to your PM and maybe help someone else. Same questions as Duane asked. Should be able to get the clip at any good hardware or auto parts store. If my memory serves me, you also had a broken crank handle. Same rod??? if so, that should tell us that the part is moving way harder than it should. If you can do it, turn the saw on it's top so you can get at the working parts easy. I have an overhead hoist in my shop so I turn them over, raise them up and put on sawhorses so they are comfortable to work on. Can you get someone to help you? Replace the clip making sure it is all in the grove as it should be. Look for anything bent, broken, or binding, whip out the WD40 and use it on all the moving parts, move them through the full range, if they don't move easy, do it again or find out why they don't. After everything works as it should, I spray on the white lithium grease on all the threaded adjustment rods and their related gears, lube the rods where they go through the "bearing" holes with motor oil and enjoy easy adjustments and smooth operation. Little side note here--- I have probably had over twenty of these saws go trough my shop. The two things that I see most is the tilt lock that sticks out above the up-down adjustment will be bent from the handle hitting the underside of the table and the operator forcing it. On the other end of the saw, the little 1/4" bolt that is on the motor mount that is to keep the motor from falling over backwards when the belt is off will be tightened down. Needs to be loose so the motor can move it's full range to keep tension on the belt at all times, blade high or low. These saws will never be a Powermatic 66 or a Uni. but are great little saws for the home handyman if they are taken care of and have an aftermarket fence.
.

As Duane mentioned and I replied, I am going to replace both the C-Clips on the adjustment rod. Yes, I had the broken crank handle. that has since been replaced. I actually replaced the height crank handle
and theAfter the initial repair the
up/down adjustment was workable but nowhere near smooth or effortless. I did clean and lube (using a graphite dry lube) all of the moving parts. My first inclination after the second popped C-Clip
was that something is bent. I will check and verify that all the rods are straight tomorrow when i have a few minutes to flip it over. Assuming all is right with the rods, I'll replace the C-Clips
with new ones, clean & lube all the parts again. Is the graphite dry lube sufficient or should I use something else? Is the White Lithium Grease a much better option?

A little more info from the previous issue... When i put the clip back on, the threaded rod was twisted completely out of the grooved portion of the height adjustment gears. I assume that this was caused by me "over twisting" the rod as I was trying to figure out why the binding was happening but I thought I'd mention it just in case it may give you more of an idea of what may be happening.

I did know from the beginning that the 1/4" bolt was to be loose to allow for a "floating' motor, so to speak. That's not been an issue, though the guy i bought the saw from had the bolt tightened
as tight as humanly possible.

[Jon Wilson]

Follow - Up ---->

Seems that both rods (height & tilt) are straight.
Cleaned and lubed all the moving parts (using White Lithium Grease)
Replaced both old E-Clips with new ones (5/8" for the record)

At this point the height adjustment is working better than after the original repair
and much better than before the original repair.

Thanks so much for the info and words of wisdom.