Tablesaw Routine Maintenance Effort

[gee-dub]

I was trying to link to the thread that nudged me into action but my Google-Fu is weak today.  The person was having issues with trunnion adjustments on his saw and the cure turned out to be a little preventative maintenance.  That prompted me to check when the last time I did a PM on my tablesaw happened to be . . . it must have been a few years but 2 of those it was in storage.  Turned out is was more than 8 years (2 of them in storage)!!!

My saw is somewhat surrounded and that makes it easy to put off routine maintenance if I get lazy.  The outfeed blocks the rear access and the router table blocks the motor cover area.

Other items clog the other side but access here is not required.

First off, de-energize that mother.

A couple of simple pencil marks will let me get the router table back into the general area when I'm done.

I slide the router table over there . . .

And roll the outfeed over there . . .

This gives me all the access I need.

Pull the blade and riving knife.

It seems obvious I should have been here sooner .

Typical Saw Stop.  Easy access to everything.  The rubber bumpers to keep the door from rattling are a nice touch.  It is nice when things are made to be worked on.

A little brush work,  some compressed air and a new wipe of grease.

I run each lubricated point up and down or back and forth a couple of times to spread the lube.  I wipe away any excessive extra.  I've been using this marine grease for years.  Unless you are currently in high school a can will last you the rest of your life in the woodshop.  A "clock oiler" makes reaching the bushings a breeze.

Put things back and test it out.  All told it was about 30 or 40 minutes including cleaning up all those nooks and crannies I can't normally get to .

If you are like me and have waited longer than normal I hope this gives you a nudge.   I almost forgot to mention; the trunnion moves like it lost half its weight.  I guess we don't notice as things require just a bit more effort over time.  What a difference!    

 

[BillyJack]

I’ve never done maintenance on my saw. It seems to operate just like it did new..

[gee-dub]

That’s what I thought till I cleaned out all the old grease and fed some new :-) I had no idea it had become that sluggish.

[Coop]

I needed that nudge as well. Thanks

So that lube doesn’t build up more crud? 

[BillyJack]

Almost every time  I’ve needed to do maintenance on a saw it as because of heavy use or lack of. Light use occasionally doesn’t seem to phase most..

 

Mine must have been assembled on Tuesday,Wednesday or Thursday.

[gee-dub]

@Coop I've tried a lot of lubes over the years including a dry Teflon spray.  This one seems to do the best job.  Almost any lube is going to gather spoil in a machine cabinet.  This stuff remains pretty soft and slick so it seems like crud doesn't get so built up.  It's hard to be very scientific when I only re-lube every few years .  I should have taken a pic after I had run the mechanism back and forth and wiped off the excess.  The pic with the green grease all over is a little misleading.

[curlyoak]

Would graphite be a good lubricant and not attract dust?

[drzaius]

A SawStop tech told me to use marine wheel bearing grease. He was emphatic that dry lubricants should NOT be used because they don't have the high pressure lubrication that grease has.

[Chestnut]

1 minute ago, drzaius said:

A SawStop tech told me to use marine wheel bearing grease. He was emphatic that dry lubricants should NOT be used because they don't have the high pressure lubrication that grease has.

+1

A little saw dust in the grease can't be so bad otherwise the makes of the saws would have put shields or boots on these parts to keep them clean.

[BillyJack]

I’d be careful with maintenance. Using the wrong grease can cause future problems. 
 

Normal compressed air is all that’s needed on a saw with light use. just keep things cleaned weekly for maintenance…

[wtnhighlander]

4 hours ago, curlyoak said:

Would graphite be a good lubricant and not attract dust?

Graphit is electrically conductive, something I would think is a 'bad thing' to use on a SawStop. Can't say about regular saws.

[gee-dub]

Lubricants like so many other things have specific uses.  @drzaius is right on the mark about dry lube characteristics.  I do just use a light machine oil on the wheel / handle bushings.  You should always follow the recommendations of the manufacturer when doing maintenance.

[drzaius]

7 hours ago, gee-dub said:

Lubricants like so many other things have specific uses.  @drzaius is right on the mark about dry lube characteristics.  I do just use a light machine oil on the wheel / handle bushings.  You should always follow the recommendations of the manufacturer when doing maintenance.

What makes dry lubes so insidious is that they lubricate to the point of making parts move easily, but any pressure points will wear prematurely. They do have their place, but it's not here.

[Magoo]

I would second Billy Jack although it probably depends on the type of gears. I use a Teflon spray or, when I can’t find my can, some silicon spray. I like this because I can just use compressed air and a vacuum to quickly blow out, not only the gears but the entire tool. I usually do the blowout about once a month, sooner if heavy use. This also allows me to spot any maintenance issues and hit the pivot points. I don’t have the complicated setup and my saw is pretty easy to get to. Grease and sawdust is difficult to remove once dried, I have found. Nice shop, I’m envious!