CS100 blade changing...

[Ty Korrigan]

Hello,

Every time I change the blades I say a little prayer that the bolts holding the blades will come undone.

I use a torque wrench and plenty of clever heat resistant grease now when installing the blades despite being advised not to grease the threads.

Last 2 occasions have been fine but this time I went almost 30hours without a blade change when normally I go 20 odd.

3 bolts won't budge AGAIN!

I am wondering if the sap as its Spring is gluing them in place?

I apply GT85 before hand to penetrate but perhaps another product would do better.

Anyway, the (really bad word) tool just cams out as the size is just to small for the amount of torque required to undo the bolts.

So we try drilling them. This NEVER works as the bolts despite being made of cheese are still harder than the professional drill bits we bought.

So AGAIN tomorrow its off to the engineering factory who sharpen the blades to get them to drill the bolts out.

I'm frustrated because it should be such a simple job which I (bad word) up regularly.

Am I really just a (bad word) mechanic or am I not alone here...?

Any-one else have these issues?

Ty

Edited April 10, 2012 by Ty Korrigan
Spelling

[Rich2484]

Who hasn't had a bolt not come undone, normally an impact driver will do it. If no impact driver available for any reason using a drive bar and getting someone to hit it repeatedly with a club hammer also sometimes works.

 

But now and again there's always that one that doesn't budge. I don't like drilling bolts out as it never goes as it should and like you say drill bit goes blunt so spend ages sharpening them, I turn to the gas cutter now if it allows. Much easier and I was surprised at how much I use it now.

[RobRainford]

Make sure you do them to the 35nm torque setting. I do mine to that and when I put them in I put them in copper grease and they pop out quite easily. I rounded one off and managed to snap two torx heads by doing them too tight.

[likeitorlumpit]

yup

copper ease is the solution

plus not doing a blade change when you are too stressed/tired

plenty of time to do it properly

[Le Sanglier]

Hi Ty

Obviously I draw attention to the fact you are using a food blender for tree surgery, then I will offer my limited experience, firstly always use some sort of grease on the threads, and I always spend a few minutes with something sharp and some wd40 to clean out the hole for the torque drive and tap it home with a small hammer before applying pressure.

Works for me.

[Ty Korrigan]

Ah, Stumpgrinder...

Your limited experience still outguns my measly knowledge.

So...

The friendly guy at the engineering works drilled the bolts out at last.

He had to sharpen his drill bit half a dozen times!

There is no corrosion present each time, its as though the resins and sap just glue the ******* in. (can you guess what bad word I used?)

Next time I'm going to try a flame on the bolt heads before hand.

Then it was fitting the blades outside in the rain after a long hard day...

Still... beats working for the Co-op or riding a desk for a coin.

Ty

[Rich2484]

Flame will burn away any resins or sap. Why I use them, but it will burn off nylon on locking nuts tho. Will have to look into replacement nuts or a locking compound.

[PeteB]

I meticulessly clean the torx head out then use a impact driver hit smartly with a hammer! Not got stuck yet. And, yes copper slip on the threads and a quality torque wrench to do them up to the required amount. If the torx bolt shows signs of damage, replace it as it will only get worse - they don't heal themselves!

[Bob The Dog]

Bit of an old post, but just thought I'd add to it. Bought a used cs100 recently and needed the blades grinding. Thought it'd be a nightmare, but actually went very well. I soaked the torx bolts in WD40 overnight, cleaned the torx heads thoroughly, and used an old torx bit with a hammer to shock to bolts first. I then used a t40 torx bit with a breaker bar, which gives plenty of leverage, allows the torx bit to stay square in the head, and I can also apply downward pressure. All 12 bolts came out like a dream. Probably helped by the previous owner using copper grease on the threads. I read somewhere a while ago that it's always the last bolt which causes the trouble. That's because (apparently), when all the other bolts are released, the retaining pressure increases on the remaining bolt, making it much more difficult to undo. Therefore, I tend to slacken and re tighten all bolts first and undo each gradually to alleviate this problem. Works for me! When I reinstalled the blades, more copper grease was applied, and following advice from a helpful chap at greenmech, i torqued the bolts to 30nm instead of 35 as per the manual. Fingers crossed for next time! Great grinding job by will and the guys at Saturn knifes.

[wicklamulla]

I simply couldn't face the thought of this aggro so i let the local authorised Greenmech dealer replace the blades for me as the original ones were completely worn and had been resharpened too many times......so it cost me £400 for the new blades including labour. Money well spent as the machine runs alot smoother and chips loike a boss now. Will probably rotate the blades next time round myself though.