Dave.L
Established Member
We've all been there...
or I'm a particularly clumsy idiot – the jury is still out on that one.
I picked up by first p/t the other week, an old Dewalt Dw1150 from a fella who simply didn't use it any longer. It looked like it had been used but reasonably well looked after, had a little try out – the results were ok but not stellar - on closer inspection one of the knives was absolutely fine, the other very blunt and severely chipped. This seemed a little odd, but no problem thinks I – i'll just get some new blades.
Fast forward to today, new blades have arrived, careful reading of the manual, a couple of youtube videos to make sure I knew what I was doing and on I went.
The first blocking wedge (the one with the fairly sharp knife) came out with relative ease – there was a lot of crusty resinous gunk all over the threads of the fixing screws/bolts which made it slightly tricky, but all was well.
The second blocking wedge (with the horrible knife) was a different matter – significantly more resinous gunk for some reason, and rather worryingly, the bolts were showing signs of being slightly rounded on the head. Now alarm bells should've started ringing at this point, but you know what it's like when you get a new toy and just want to play....
I cleaned off as much gunk as possible and carefully started to loosen (or tighten, if you follow) the bolts, and bloody hell were they stiff – as they rotated I saw the undersides were properly crusty. 3 of the 4 screws were eventually teased loose, but one was stubborn, so I exert a little bit more pressure and then, the horrible sliding slipping feeling of the spanner rounding over the edges of the head.... Bugger, damnation and other colourful commentary.
A pause, a little oil, some more cleaning, and approach from a slightly different angle – the spanner fitted, great, now just a nip...and slip! Feeling properly annoyed I now peer at this well rounded, completely stuck bolt with neither the head nor bottom easily accessible and do what any sane man would do – got out a little needle file and started to establish some new sides on the head. A little while later, good to go again and another slip. To hell with it, quickly checked that I could buy some spare bolts and onwards with 'destructive maintenance' – I carefully filed through the thread, the head broke off and the wedge was free.
Thankfully the remaining section of the bolt was easy to get out of the wedge, and now I just have to await a deliver of spare bolts.
So not a total disaster, but a 30 minute job that has now run into two or three days at least.
But I have definitely learned not to over tighten those bolts when I refit the new blades.
Hopefully others can relate to this....
or I'm a particularly clumsy idiot – the jury is still out on that one.
I picked up by first p/t the other week, an old Dewalt Dw1150 from a fella who simply didn't use it any longer. It looked like it had been used but reasonably well looked after, had a little try out – the results were ok but not stellar - on closer inspection one of the knives was absolutely fine, the other very blunt and severely chipped. This seemed a little odd, but no problem thinks I – i'll just get some new blades.
Fast forward to today, new blades have arrived, careful reading of the manual, a couple of youtube videos to make sure I knew what I was doing and on I went.
The first blocking wedge (the one with the fairly sharp knife) came out with relative ease – there was a lot of crusty resinous gunk all over the threads of the fixing screws/bolts which made it slightly tricky, but all was well.
The second blocking wedge (with the horrible knife) was a different matter – significantly more resinous gunk for some reason, and rather worryingly, the bolts were showing signs of being slightly rounded on the head. Now alarm bells should've started ringing at this point, but you know what it's like when you get a new toy and just want to play....
I cleaned off as much gunk as possible and carefully started to loosen (or tighten, if you follow) the bolts, and bloody hell were they stiff – as they rotated I saw the undersides were properly crusty. 3 of the 4 screws were eventually teased loose, but one was stubborn, so I exert a little bit more pressure and then, the horrible sliding slipping feeling of the spanner rounding over the edges of the head.... Bugger, damnation and other colourful commentary.
A pause, a little oil, some more cleaning, and approach from a slightly different angle – the spanner fitted, great, now just a nip...and slip! Feeling properly annoyed I now peer at this well rounded, completely stuck bolt with neither the head nor bottom easily accessible and do what any sane man would do – got out a little needle file and started to establish some new sides on the head. A little while later, good to go again and another slip. To hell with it, quickly checked that I could buy some spare bolts and onwards with 'destructive maintenance' – I carefully filed through the thread, the head broke off and the wedge was free.
Thankfully the remaining section of the bolt was easy to get out of the wedge, and now I just have to await a deliver of spare bolts.
So not a total disaster, but a 30 minute job that has now run into two or three days at least.
But I have definitely learned not to over tighten those bolts when I refit the new blades.
Hopefully others can relate to this....
