Delta 40-694 Blade Won't Tighten

[Ravitch]

Howdy Folks,

I scored a Delta 40-694 from Offer Up for $150 that a lady had used twice and was too scared to continue. I'm new to scroll sawing, and everything had worked great out of the gate. Then I tried to cut a 2" block to rough out a shape for carving, definitely with the wrong type of blade for that. Ended up with the blade getting hung up, then all chaos ensued as it just slammed all over until the blade broke and I remembered where the off switch was.  Since then, I can't seem to get new blades tight; when I put the blade on the tightening mechanism will bottom out and the blade has some play, whereas before this mishap I would have a tight blade probably at number 3. I went through the manual online and it doesn't really address this scenario. 

Anyone have an idea what might be going on/what I can fix to get a tight blade again?  Thanks in advance for any assistance, really appreciate it.

[Scrappile]

Chris, first welcome to the forum, and second, sorry I can not help. I haver never worked with a Delta.  I here they are very similar to the Dewalt saw.  There is a set of Pagas blade clamps that work on the Dewalt, I believe, If and if it is determeined you need new clamps, that may be the way to go.  Hang on here , you will get more information soon.  There are other scrollers here that have that saw.   They can provide better info than I can.

Just checked and yep there is a set of  pegas clamps for the Delta and Dewalt.  We have a member that sells them. Great guy to deal with. @Denny Knappen.  Don't rush, wait for others to chime in.

[Roberta Moreton]

Did you check to see that the tension is released, off, before you begin to insert the new blade?  Don’t ask me how I know this might be the problem. 

[Scrappile]

1 minute ago, Roberta Moreton said:

Did you check to see that the tension is released, off, before you begin to insert the new blade?  Don’t ask me how I know this might be the problem. 

Yep, I have done that before.

[Denny Knappen]

Blade slippage is usually a function of the set screw and or thumb screw with swivel.  Check to see if the swivel is functioning correctly.

[kmmcrafts]

First, Welcome to the village!

I would do as Roberta mentioned and make sure you have the tension lever moved into the lowest tension position. Also you mentioned that the blade grabbed your board and bounced around so it may have bumped up the upper arm a little. The upper arm I believe on this saw raises up out of the way for easier blade changes etc. so I would raise it up some and then drop it down to be sure it's in the full down position.  

[OCtoolguy]

I get the feeling that you are referring to tension and not blade clamping? If so, what Roberta and Kevin have suggested would make the most sense. What you need is for all the tension adjustment to be in the most relaxed position so that when you insert a new blade and get both ends clamped in place, then you apply the tension by moving the slider until it feels like you have it tensioned correctly. A ping of the blade will tell you. Now, if you have already done that, you may have damaged the tensioning mechanism or knocked something out of whack which might necessitate the disassembling of the  saw. There is a rod that connects from the slider lever clear back to the rear of the upper arm and moves a wedge and that in turn forces the upper are to rise and apply the tension to the blade. There is a very good set of videos on Youtube that shows how to do the disassembly of a Dewalt and since the saws are so similar, I'd think that you could dope your way through it. Good luck and do keep us all informed of your progress and just what you find out. And also, WELCOME to the Village.