Saw Guts

[greasemonkeyredneck]

I thought it might be interesting for some to see the work I'm trying to do on the Ryobi saw that I've turned over to my kids. This is the saw that I learned to scroll on. After I got a Delta and fell in love with it, the older kids wanted to learn to scroll. Since I no longer used the Ryobi, I figured since I learned on it, they could too. When my son told me the blade kept losing tension while cutting, I explained to him how to take the chucks apart and clean them with emory cloth. He did, but told me it didn't help. So, I was watching the other day while he was running the saw and noticed the tension knob slowly turning counter clockwise while he was cutting. So, I took it apart tonight in an attempt to figure out why.

Here is all the various nuts, bolts, covers and such that had to be removed from the saw to get to everything else better.

The entire arm and housing assembly bolts from under the saw. You remove four nuts, disconnect the motor from the arm and pick the entire assembly up off the base. That leaves you with this, the base and motor.

This is the arm housing assembly. After removing the screws that hold it together, you use a punch to drive out the retaining shafts from the bushings on one side and remove both arms as a complete assembly.

This one shows the back side of the housing assembly. You see that funny shaped spring there? It is wore out. With not enough strength in the spring, the tensioner is just moving too freely to stay put under the vibration of the saw.

Here's a better photo of the tensioner and spring. Being a Ryobi, I'm not even going to attempt to get a replacement spring. That spring isn't made for crap anyway. When I get back on this project, (don't know exactly when that will be) I think I'm going to try and retrofit an automotice spring in it. I think a small clutch return spring will fit.

When I do get back on it, I'll post more photos and explain what I decide to do with it and let you all know if it works.

[wood-n-things]

Probably a good thing you took pics I could never get it back together...

[Christina]

Now this is a heck of a project lol..............glad you took pictures. I'd never get it back together..........that is if I could figure out how to take it apart in the first place! I'll be interested to follow your progress on this one. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Christina

[shadylady0447]

I'm with you Christina! LOL I'm sure if I did get it apart, I'd have to number the pieces or something! What a job! Hope you can figure out what is wrong greasemonkey.

[greasemonkeyredneck]

The clutch spring idea didn't pan out, and a replacement spring is cost prohibitive. So, all the parts are put into a box right now till I run across a replacement or donor saw. Untill then, it's a good thing there are four more scroll saws in the shop.

[qlty]

It looks to me like any spring that is stiff enough and will fit in side that housing should work.If the old one is not broken I would leave it and put a new one in parallel with it if both will fit.Just a thought.

[greasemonkeyredneck]

It looks to me like any spring that is stiff enough and will fit in side that housing should work.If the old one is not broken I would leave it and put a new one in parallel with it if both will fit.Just a thought.

 

And that is a great thought too. I'll put it back together one day. I was careful about saving all the parts to it. I've got a confession. Another reason I put it on hold is that I've got a friend (?) that wants to come to my shop and learn to scroll all the time. I wouldn't mind this except he doesn't want to contribute anything to the shop. He just want to use my knowledge, my material, and my coffee. I've hinted around about him chipping in on things like tape, glue, and coffee. With this saw down, he doesn't want to mess with things as much.