Stuck saw head carriage wheel

[Exec Trustee]

It's been getting harder to push the saw through logs on the bed and I thought that maybe it was time for a blade change. Wrong !

 

Closer examination revealed that the front carriage wheel (on the blade exit side) had seized and so this wheel could only skid over the track.

 

I jacked up the saw head carriage and unbolted the wheel. This confirmed my suspicion that the bearing was unable to rotate.

I decided that I would need to buy a new bearing (part no 5204-2RS) and therefore the old bearing would need to be removed from the wheel rim. This is a interference fit bearing and so without a workshop in the woodland I inserted a 1" tapered hexagonal timber-frame peg into the inside diameter and then hit the end of the peg with a small hammer which did the trick in driving the the bearing out. Once out, I then used a carpenters scratch awl to prise up both bearing end covers seals and set about unfreezing the bearing with the aid of WD40. This is a double row ball bearing with 8 balls in each row held in position by a 2 part nitrile cage. The cages are easy to prise out without causing damage also using the scratch awl. The ball bearings all then need to be moved to one side of the bearing and then these can be dropped out one by one into a tray. The bearing components showed no signs of damage and so after a judicious clean it was possible to reassemble the bearing and then refit this to the carriage. Voila the carriage now moves very easily and the mill cuts a dream again.

 

This bearing operates in  fairly arduous environment getting sprayed with cooling water and sawdust from sawing and so maintaining this component on an annual basis would seem prudent. A new bearing can be purchased for about £12 from the "bearingboys" website. 

[gobbypunk]

Cool as bet you had a big smile when it all worked I would have