Delta 10” Saw Arbor Bearings

[mcbane]

I replaced the arbor bearings in a 1986 34-444 saw and ran into a snag: the “load spring”, part 156 in the parts diagram rubs on the inner race of the new bearing. This appears to be due to the replacement bearings having slightly larger inner races than the OEM bearings, which just barely clear the springs.

The bright spots on the spring show where it rubs against the bearing inner race.

Does anyone know the purpose of the load spring? I’m wondering if I can just leave it out vs trying to modify it with a die grinder.

 

[seber]

I suspect if you leave it out the blade will move laterally in use. Just do a minor relief on the peaks with a die grinder.

 

[The Cobbler]

I'm not sure you'd need those. I would be tempted to try it without them .as long as the shaft will tighten and not slide it should be good /

 

[mikegt4]

I have the same saw of nearly the same vintage. My saw has never needed any repairs some I don't have experience there. I did restore a 1950 Delta 34-500 8" table saw last year and the bearing's inner race was offset, by design the inner race projected out on one side of the bearing but not the other. Your bearing might be the same. Here are a couple of links that might give you some hints.

Delta Rockwell 34-500 8" table saw bearings

www.woodworkingtalk.com

Making sure you're not a bot!

www.owwm.org

 

[mcbane]

I have the same saw of nearly the same vintage. My saw has never needed any repairs some I don't have experience there. I did restore a 1950 Delta 34-500 8" table saw last year and the bearing's inner race was offset, by design the inner race projected out on one side of the bearing but not the other. Your bearing might be the same. Here are a couple of links that might give you some hints.

Delta Rockwell 34-500 8" table saw bearings

www.woodworkingtalk.com

Making sure you're not a bot!

www.owwm.org

Your second link is very interesting. My wavy spring washers are crushed flat and the sleeve spacer can still slide around. So either my “OEM” bearings or my spacer sleeve isn’t original. Maybe I need to shim the sleeve spacer to work with the bearings I have, in addition to grinding a bit of clearance in the wavy spring washers.

 

[matt_i]

If removing the wave washer gets you clearance after the nut is tightened then I'd go for it.

It looks like its a double layer although it could be a wound-helix. You could try cutting one wind of the helix off to get back to one layer. You could also work on setting up custom arbor shim(s). The wave washer allows for a range of manufacturing tolerances and temperatures to all be a net-build at assembly.

 

[neophyte]

A probable reason for the spring washer.

“Preloading a bearing provides constant contact between the bearing type (ball, needle, etc.) and bearing races. The sustained load provided by the spring eliminates axial and radial play, among other benefits. The overall goal of preloading is to prolong bearing life, and therefore, your application.”

 

[mcbane]

Thanks everyone for the help. I did the die grinder work on the wavy spring washer and machined a 2mm shim to put on the arbor shaft in addition to the too short shaft spacer. Got it back together today. Nothing rubs and the spring is about half way compressed with the arbor nut torqued down.