Never have seen a ball bearing with less than an hour run time fail, saw one today.
Picked up a Craftsman Commercial sidewinder at a garage sale for $5, guy said it was like brand new but could not cut good, did not want to take it back to sears as it was sitting in his garage for a few years since he bought it. Original printing on the blade still 100% legible.
Started it up, sounded like a gear tooth had failed. Took it apart, about as much sawdust as could be expected from cutting only 2–3 2x4s. The commutator and the brushes showed no wear, consistent with seller comments.
The ball bearing on the pinion gear side of the motor showed the ball retainer had disintegrated!!! No wonder it sounded like a tooth was missing, an occasional 1/2 mm shaft displacement!
Yes, the seal on the bearing had the infamous logo, CHINA!
Then, horror of horrors, did not have one of that size bearing in my bearing stash!
Need to take an inventory, and go to vbx and order another assortment!!!
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Once made the mistake of buying a big, made-in-China drill press with mortising attachment. While assembling it, brand-new, right out of the box: not one, but two of the castings broke. (And no, I was not using my big wrench....)
Found ball bearings and other unmelted scrap metal actually cast into the CI. (As well as enough air-voids to make Swiss Emmenthal producers jealous.)
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Sounds about right, worked on some equipment with chinese castings. Drilled one hole with no problem, drilled one almost next to it and burned up the bit, field tech. told me they were made in small back alley shops. They will throw in what ever they can find! Must make for very stable flat surfaces.
Brian
There's this el-cheapo DIY tool company that calls itself 'King Canada' (that's who made the drill press). They also have a line of heavy tools (metal-cutting bandsaws, milling machines, etc.) they label 'King Industrial' but I can't imagine anyone with a commercial shop or factory being dumb enough to buy one. The stuff is real garbage.
All their junk is made in China, of course, but what's interesting about these crooks is they are making exact look-alike knock-off copies of old Delta and Milwaukee tools...but making them lousy. Cruddy castings, lousy machining, motors with 20-minute bearings and brushes, etc., etc.
Then they stick on a 'King' nameplate and sell 'em over here for 25% of the cost of the name-brand tool from which they stole the design.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....
Pardon the Hijack......What is the secret to replacing the lower blade guard on a skill 77? I am trying to attach a Prazi and it says remove the blade guard. I must confess I have no clue how to remove the guard. I have never owned a worm drive and have always treated my tools like a trophy wife!
Trophy Wife around here as explained to me by a female customer means high maintenance costs !
I don't have that saw, but my Mil. sidewinders have an internal spring clip that must be squeezed with spring clip pliers or two awls to remove.
BTW, I call em Jesus Clips, because when they go "Sprink..." You say.."Jesus, where'd that go?"
Sweep the sawdust off the shop floor before taking any tool apart...and keep a magnet on a stick for searching hidden corners..trust me.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
"If Brains was lard, you couldn't grease much of a pan"Jed Clampitt
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Here is a link to an exploded view of the saw.
http://www.ereplacementparts.com/skil-hd77-type-f012hd77la-worm-drive-saw-parts-skilsaw-parts-c-130_160_1005.html Remove the bolt and outer washer, pull out the inner washer(diamond shaped), behind that is a circlip that holds the guard in place, remove circlip, remove the retractor spring.. Link shows all the parts.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.