Roller Guides

[bioguy]

Since I am brand new to this sawing business, I will have some questions. Please bear with me. I am getting quite an education from the old posts in the archives and have answered a lot of my own questions there.
I broke two blades on my WM25 the last time I used it. The wood was frozen and the blades were sharp, although I don't know how old the blades were, or how many times they had been resharpened. When I checked the roller guides, one spun quite freely, the other was pretty tight. I just ordered two rebuild kits from WM this morning. I also found that the middle throat screw was worn down to almost nothing, so I ordered one of those too.

Is there anything I need to be aware of when I rebuild the rollers, or is it a straight forward process. Any trick to it? How about when I reinstall them. Do I need to go thru the alignment steps?

Thanks guys.

Dave

[Tom]

Rebuilding the guide wheels is straight forward and easy.  Your rebuild kit will come with instructions.   

Until then, you might loosen the existing bearings up by an application of light oil between the two bearings. If they are totally sealed then a hole placed in an "inside" seal will allow the light oil to go in.

Alignment is something that you should get in the habit of checking frequently.  It isn't difficult to align the guides and blade once you have done it a time or two.   I would definitely check it if the guides have been removed for one reason or another.  It may hnold the alignment, but it might not too.   

Don't be afraid of your mill.   The more intimate you become with it, the less apprehencive you will become.   It's a good feeling to have something go wrong and "know" what it is. 

Now, if you are in a critical time, like sawing a paying job, going off of the deep end and taking your mill apart might not be too smart.   But, if you are in a lax time and just piddling around, it's a good time to get out the book and become familiar with it.  Hand-on is a good instructor.

[bioguy]

Thanks for the help Tom. Right now we are just playing around and figuring things out, so I have plenty of time to do the needed maintenance and adjustments, etc. I plan to do a bunch of my own sawing and work out the bugs before I do any custom sawing. I have a couple of small jobes lined up already, but don't plan to do them until I am comfortable with my new mill.
Dave

[Tom]

There is an old adage, "Don't wait to have kids until you can afford them, or you will never have any".    The same is true about your mill.  Take every opportunity to study it but don't wait to learn everything before you use it. :D   Most of us have a long way to go to learn everything and would never have cut our first board.

Get yourself into a money-making situation and the learning curve gets real steep. :D :D