My Repairs

I have had a couple of machines go down and two of them were worth repairing.  I did a complete bearing and shaft replacement on my DeWalt scroll saw.  It was about $200 in parts but I think it was well worth it.  For the most part it was not that bad disassembling it.  Putting it together was a little more challenging.  I didn’t tighten the dampener down all the way the first time so it collided with the drive shaft.  There was just some minor scratching, but did not affect the saw itself.  I found it interesting seeing the design of the saw.  It really is a relatively simple design.  It was obvious what the more expensive parts were and where costs were cut.  I felt like I understood how the saw worked a little more. 

The big takeaway that I had was what parts wear out.  The lower arm assembly had all seized bearings and pitting on the shafts.  The upper arm had a lot of wear but would still be able to function. 

I also replaced the belt on the porter cable hand held belt sander.  The drive belt would keep slipping if there was any pressure put on it.  This was a much more frustrating repair because of the design.  I actually had the maintenance department put the belt on because I could not figure out how to do it.  Most belt driven systems have a tensioning lever to them.  This does not so the belt has to be stretched onto the two pulleys.  These belts do not stretch easily, but they do stretch a lot over time.  Mine was about 3/8 bigger in diameter then the new belt. 

Installation of the belt was a pain. What ended up working was using an allan wrench as a lever and being ready to tighten it down as soon as it slipped into place.  It works great now.

Here is the most frustrating part of doing the repairs, shipping costs.  There are a lot of part dealerships but the shipping costs are usually more expensive than the part or the part is overpriced.