PC 557 Plate Joiner -- Stuck Retainer

[Burt Alcantara]

I'm trying to switch blades but the retainer plate wont budge. I'm not sure which way the threads are going. I've tried both ways but the plate wont budge.

I'm pretty sure I've done this in the past but it's been a long while since I've used this tool.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Burt

[Joe Meazle]

Does yours use the allen wrench? Mine does and it would get very stuck. The washer under the allen bolt has 2 flattened sides. I use a cresent wrech to turn the washer and the allen bolt loosend with it. It worked great. I can't recall if the threads are reverse or not. It has been 3 or 4 years since I had the plade sharpened.
Good luck,
Joe

[Burt Alcantara]

When I turn the washer, it slips the lock so I can't loosen it. I need to make a number of FF slots so I feel like I'm can't proceed until I can get the @#$% thing loosened.

Burt

[Burt Alcantara]

I saw that there was a locking pin that fit into a hole if the tool was advanced forward. That locked the wheel in place. I inserted the allen wrench and grasped it with a large channel plier. With a lot of grunting and strong-arming, I got it to loosen.

Unfortunately, I'll probably have to go through this again in another couple of years when I want to use the tool again.

Thanks for the advise,
Burt

[Gary Lange]

Just for future reference I checked my Owners Manual and it stated that you turn if Counter Clockwise.

[Chris Kennedy]

I had this problem. I had yet to change the blade, so this was factory tightened along with any additional tightening it may have received from use.
My brother-in-law and I worked on it for a day, to no avail. Tried a little penetrating oil, channellocks -- nothing. I gave up and took it to the Porter-Cable service center near my wife's work. They looked at it and said, "No problem, we'll get it off in a second."

Thirty minutes and three technicians later, they got it loosened. They started with an impact wrench, and it couldn't budge it. They messed and fiddled with , and when the third technician came back from lunch, he had the right idea.

Take a punch and whack the nut/flange at an angle in the counter-clockwise direction. You need to break it free, and if none of the less aggressive measures suggested above work, try that.

Personally, I think there is someone at the factory who is torquing those things on too hard.

Good luck. We're pulling for you.


Chris

[michael case]

ANSWER: I see this is an old post, but I just dealt with this problem. Blowtorch right on the nut for twenty or thirty seconds. Comes right off

[Edwin Santos]

I too see this is an old post. But if it is helpful to anyone searching the archives, I used to own the PC 557, and what I recall is a button on top of the machine that you depress to lock the spindle. Once locked, the blade retainer is loosed using a pronged spanner wrench included in the box, turning counter clockwise. If the wrench is lost then that would be a problem.

Admittedly, mine was an earlier model. I have heard some of the newer models use an allen wrench instead of the special two pronged wrench.
It's really not that hard, and there are YouTube videos that illustrate what I am describing.