Does anyone know how the belt wheel attaches to the arbor of an older Craftsman contractors saw? The wheel recently came loose, and although I tighten the set screw as tight as I can, the wheel loosens again after about five minutes of use.
Is there an additional part that may have fallen off that I am unaware of? Any suggestions as to where I can take the saw for service if needed?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Replies
You might be able to take the model number from the nameplate and use it at searspartsdirect.com to bring up the parts diagram and compare that to what you have. Some of their parts diagrams are not very legible, but between the diagram and the parts list, you may be able to figure it out.
I would look for a slot in the arbor and see if it has a key in it. The key is usually a half-moon shaped piece of metal that protrudes from the slot in the arbor shaft and mates with a slot in the pulley to effectively lock the two together. Sounds like the key may have fallen out when the pulley came off the first time.
If the key is missing and you can't find it, you should be able to get a replacement from Sears online or at one of their Service Centers once you've identified the part number, or you can try your local hardware store.
If you can't solve the problem yourself and feel that you need to take the saw somewhere, I'd use the Sears site to locate the nearest Service Center and give them a call. But I doubt that it will come to that.
Try putting some thread locking compound on the threads. This usually works for me. Another fix that works on some pulleys is to add a second setscrew on top of the first one . This works only if your pulley has enough threads to accomodate two screws. Locking compound is available at your local auto parts store. Make sure that your key is in place.
There is one, but occasionally there are two, set screws that lock the pulley on. If there are two set screws they are 90 degrees apart.
In addition there is almost always a key the goes in a straight or curved bottom slot in the arbor shaft. The key sticks out of the shaft to engage a slot in the pulley. Typically one set screw actually bears on the key not on the shaft. If you have lost the key that would explain why you can't tighten up the pulley. Keys come in standard sizes. A real hardware store should have a replacement key for very little cost. Look in the dust in the bottom of the saw you might find the missing key there.
The pulley should also be a snug slide on fit on the arbor shaft, if it isn't, because either the shaft or the bore of the pulley are worn that can also make it hard to tighten up the pulley.
John White
Every thing said so far is good advice. One thing you might consider is that there may already be two set screws (one on top to lock the bottom one in place.) If that is the case, you would need to extract the top screw and then tighten the bottom before replacing the top screw to lock the bottom one in place. Another possibility is if the pulley has been loose for a long time, it might have worn to the place that it just doesn't want to stay on any more. In such a case, you would need to replace it with a new pulley.
Edited 2/12/2008 11:52 pm ET by Tinkerer3
You've probably lost the key that aligns the pulley with the arbor shaft. The key fits in slots in the pulley and shaft and the setscrew pushes on the key to keep everything together.
I managed to lose the key on my mid-80's Craftsman TS a couple of years ago and found that my local ACE Hardware had a wide selection of keys in several shapes and sizes. IIRC, it cost less than $1.00 for a new one.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled