Spiral Blade Troubles

[PigsFly]

Becky

Be sure to let us know what worked.

[Becky]

I worked with the saw today after adjusting it.  I never did clean up the screws (what can I say?  It has been the month from hell.)

I had much better luck after the adjustment but it still let go a few times.  A little cussing was in order but not nearly as much as last weekend.    The most annoying thing is that now my thumb screw gets snug when it is horizontal instead of when it is vertical.  It is surprising how much more difficult that is.  Do you suppose taking it completely out and giving it a quarter turn before reinserting it would fix that?  I don't really know how threads work, so that is either a simple or really stupid idea, lol.

I might try that 1/8 or 1/4 quarter extra turn tomorrow.  If that doesn't fully fix it, I guess I will break out the sandpaper.  With so little time to actually scroll, I hate to waste it experimenting if things are going fairly well.

This is probably not a very satisfactory report.  I have hopes of being on vacation in a week or so.  I should have more time to play around with it then if all goes well.

[EIEIO]

If you turn the setscrew in or out another 1/4 turn then the thumbscrew will hit it 1/4 turn earlier and be vertical.

[Becky]

That worked perfectly!  A quarter turn pushed the set screw out just a little and got me back to vertical with the thumb screw.  The slippage is largely resolved since I did that.  I still might take them out and sand them one of these days and perhaps tinker just a little more but all is right with my world again. 

Poor saw got so much unearned cussing from me these past few weeks it went from yellow to blue!   

Thanks again for the initial tip and for your continued refinements.  Getting the set screw adjustment figured out is about as exciting as learning to put wax on the saw table.  LOL, anybody who doesn't scroll would read that and wonder about my mental health.  Lest I leave that hanging (it IS way too easy after all), I'll add that I know my fellow scrollers understand.   

[jscott2]

If the knobs are hard to turn, Steve has a patten for wood "overlays" to make tightening easier.  http://stevedgo.ipower.com/cat/?page_id=170  The pattern mentions the EX21 and DW788 but it could be used for any saw.  It would also mean you wouldn't have to adjust the set screw so the knob was vertical.

Do check the underside of the table to make sure the wood knob doesn't hit the table.

Jim

[Becky]

Thanks, Jim.  It isn't hard to turn the screw normally (when it is getting snug close to vertical).  I just struggled with it more when the snug point had it horizontal.  It just felt awkward.  Since I was thinking about making the set screw protrude a little ways into the gap anyway, Ray's solution fit the bill perfectly!

I was thinking about making one of Steve's gizmos there for a while though.

[GrayBeard]

Hey Becky...I use 2/0 & 3/0 spirals constantly and I have learned that just wiping the ends of the blades with good ol' drugstore 91% ALCOHOL solves most of my problems with slipping.

I made one of the blade holder attachments by Steve for my upper blade holder screw and it works great. BUT, I tried it on the bottom and it hits the underside of the saw table.
Doing the set screw adjustment is your best treatment for the lower blade holder screw travel. I finally got my setscrew where it works well and then took it out, put on some BLUE Loctite and have been cutting along merrily ever since....

~~~GB~~~