barb.j.enders Posted March 18, 2023 Report Share Posted March 18, 2023 I took my DeWalt 788 saw over to the son-in-law's to use his tools and help with taking apart and re-greasing the bearings on my saw. Yes, I have watched the Bob Brokaw video and the latest one that Steve Good posted about. Got everything apart and back together. Sounds great now. Instead of the 30 minute video it took all day. And things are not quite right. I can't seem to get the tension rod/assembly correct. Can someone explain where the part that goes into the tension lever is supposed to be on the slot when it is at no tension. I hope this description makes sense. I will post a couple of pictures later. I am tired of taking it apart. What I thought was going to be an hour(ish) turned into 6 hours. OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 18, 2023 Report Share Posted March 18, 2023 (edited) I'm not sure exactly of what you are speaking. A picture might help. Are you sure you got the wedge and slider all back where they should be? If so, it's just a matter of aligning the rod, putting the cover over it and the rest of the small pieces. There is a sleeve that fits over the bent end of the rod and that fits into the cover so that when the cover is rotated it pulls/pushes the rod to either add or reduce tension. Edited March 18, 2023 by OCtoolguy crupiea and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 19, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2023 I am pretty sure the wedge and slider are in the correct position. I also have all the parts shown above. We are trying to figure out where part 25 lines up in the channel on part 80. OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 19, 2023 Report Share Posted March 19, 2023 (edited) It doesn't. The picture is confusing. The rod goes up through that cover and the bearing goes on top of the rid and sits in the groove on the underside of the adjuster knob. Look at the pics and not the diagram. Edited March 19, 2023 by OCtoolguy scrollingforsanity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 20, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2023 Well, now I have really done it. I took the casing off yesterday to confirm that the wedge was in place and to tweak the tension. Adjusted the tension rod a few times. Put everything back and it sounds like a tank. Gave up yesterday. Son-in-law is coming over today to help. OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Fengstad Posted March 20, 2023 Report Share Posted March 20, 2023 probably a bit of adjustment tinkering will fix barb.j.enders, OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 20, 2023 Report Share Posted March 20, 2023 (edited) It looks like you unscrewed the rod to the point that it fell out if the adjustment wedge. Easy fix. And I don't see the bar that the wedge slides against to apply the lift to the upper arm. Nothing too tough to fix if you understand what is happening when you turn the tension knob/lever. Here is a good clear pic of how it should look. You can see the wedge and the plate above it. The rod screws into the wedge and pulls forward when you apply tension. The wedge "forces" the upper arm to move up and that makes the blade get tight. Edited March 20, 2023 by OCtoolguy scrollingforsanity, barb.j.enders and Fish 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmmcrafts Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 Good eye Ray, I haven't been inside one of these DeWalts since around 2010 - 11 ish.. and had no clue what I was looking at or for.. LOL OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 Well, we worked at this, again, last night. It is quiet again, but not where I think it should be. The wedge and plate are in place. We turned & turned that rod so many times. Sometimes there was no change in the tension. Other times, I couldn't even get a blade in - the arms were to far apart. It is back together. I think it is useable, but right now I don't remember. I am beyond frustrated. I will do a video later today. OCtoolguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 3 hours ago, barb.j.enders said: Well, we worked at this, again, last night. It is quiet again, but not where I think it should be. The wedge and plate are in place. We turned & turned that rod so many times. Sometimes there was no change in the tension. Other times, I couldn't even get a blade in - the arms were to far apart. It is back together. I think it is useable, but right now I don't remember. I am beyond frustrated. I will do a video later today. If you end up with the "dreaded knocking noise" then it will require taking that cover off one more time and file/grind off the portion that is being contacted by the drive link. If you need more info on that go to scrollsaw.com and see the pics. scrollingforsanity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 21, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 (edited) Here are the video's I just took. 20230321_124930.mp4 20230321_125125.mp4 Edited March 21, 2023 by barb.j.enders OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 21, 2023 Report Share Posted March 21, 2023 Well, I'm having problems watching your videos and not sure why unless you are on a very slow connection. Anyway, first thing to do is mount a fairly heavy blade in the chucks. A heavy blade so that tension doesn't break it if overdone. Also, taking all the slack out of the machine will quiet it down some. From what I could hear your saw has some noise but it could be because you don't have a blade in it or tensioned. If after doing that you are hearing any noise, it's probably coming from the tension rod hitting something because it's too loose or the upper link arm is contacting the underside of that cover. Here is what you need to do to fix that. It's a common problem with these saws. Here are pics of what needs to be done. On my saw, when I had it, I had to actually grind away enough of that cover that some of the groove was actually gone. What is happening is the link coming from the rear of the saw to the front upper blade mechanism is hitting the underside of that cover at high speeds. Also, if you have too much slop in the tension rod it will flail around above the cover and hit the cover. It's just a matter of relieving the cover's underside and fine tuning the tension rod on the upper side. Once you have managed to do all that, you shouldn't have any more knocking. scrollingforsanity 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 (edited) Ray, Thanks for all the info. I have solved the problem a different way. With encouragement from hubby, went out and upgraded. It was time anyhow. Now that I am retired, I have been spending hours per day on the saw. Purchased this yesterday. New but open box so got a deal on it. $1,000 Canadian! I feel blessed that I am in a position to be able to do that. This will now give me time to tinker with the DeWalt and not get (as)frustrated. Edited March 22, 2023 by barb.j.enders OCtoolguy, scrollingforsanity and meflick 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meflick Posted March 22, 2023 Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 1 hour ago, barb.j.enders said: Ray, Thanks for all the info. I have solved the problem a different way. With encouragement from hubby, went out and upgraded. It was time anyhow. Now that I am retired, I have been spending hours per day on the saw. Purchased this yesterday. New but open box so got a deal on it. $1,000 Canadian! I feel blessed that I am in a position to be able to do that. This will now give me time to tinker with the DeWalt and not get (as)frustrated. That's the way I like to fix anything mechanical if hubby isn't around to fix it for me! Congratulations on your new saw. Let them get the Dewalt running for you so you have a backup saw. scrollingforsanity and OCtoolguy 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 22, 2023 Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 5 hours ago, barb.j.enders said: Ray, Thanks for all the info. I have solved the problem a different way. With encouragement from hubby, went out and upgraded. It was time anyhow. Now that I am retired, I have been spending hours per day on the saw. Purchased this yesterday. New but open box so got a deal on it. $1,000 Canadian! I feel blessed that I am in a position to be able to do that. This will now give me time to tinker with the DeWalt and not get (as)frustrated. Congrats on your new "toy". Yoi will love that saw. At some point you may want to add the Pegas clamps. barb.j.enders and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 5 hours ago, meflick said: That's the way I like to fix anything mechanical if hubby isn't around to fix it for me! Congratulations on your new saw. Let them get the Dewalt running for you so you have a backup saw. That is the plan. scrollingforsanity, meflick and OCtoolguy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barb.j.enders Posted March 22, 2023 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 2 hours ago, OCtoolguy said: Congrats on your new "toy". Yoi will love that saw. At some point you may want to add the Pegas clamps. I will request the clamps for Christmas. It is too bad the ones on the DeWalt won't work on this. OCtoolguy and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCtoolguy Posted March 22, 2023 Report Share Posted March 22, 2023 8 minutes ago, barb.j.enders said: I will request the clamps for Christmas. It is too bad the ones on the DeWalt won't work on this. No matter, you're keeping the Dewalt for backup so win-win. barb.j.enders and scrollingforsanity 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Fengstad Posted March 23, 2023 Report Share Posted March 23, 2023 good choice OCtoolguy, barb.j.enders and scrollingforsanity 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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