Porter Cable Saw problem

[TandTsdad]

I bought the Porter Cable saw listed in the 2010 buyers guide. Very happy with it as a beginner. I have a problem and was hoping someone might have a fix.

I secure the blade and tighten it with no problems. However, the blade will frequently come out of the top blade holder and the blade tension knob becomes loose as I cut. Sometimes this happens within 15 seconds, some times it wont happen for a few minutes. Sometimes the blade comes out as I tighten the tension knob. I've tried roughing up the blade holder screw and replacing it. I've tried wiping the blades down with alcohol to get any il off of them.

I'd be grateful for any advice. I enjoy my new hobby but this is getting very frustrating. Thank you

[NC Scroller]

Blades come with a light coating of oil that can often create issues. Before I insert a blade I lightly sand the top with fine sand paper. More important when roughly up the blade holder screw is to make sure it is flat. Any crowning or rounding of the surface will greatly reduce the holding area.

Try both tricks...that should do it.

[MFarley]

I have the same saw and had the same problem. After getting advice on here to sand the ends of the blades the problem has gone away. I lightly sand both ends of the blade before I put them in and it has worked great.

[TheWoodArtist]

I use the same saw TandT, and I agree with Scott, I would not use alcohol to wipe the blade and that could make it slick. If you'll use sandpaper it'll take the oil come off. Also, make sure when you are tightening the blade down that it's in the middle of the holddown screw, if not it's not going to hold. As far as your tensioning, this is probably caused more by the blade slipping and once you fix that problem it'll fix both. I've not had this problem yet on mine, that's where I think you are seeing this b/c of the blade slipping. A tip I've found that also helps is to use a 10mm allen wrench to tighten the upper blade clamp. I do this b/c of my dry skin on the hands and after a lot of usage I end up with a blister on the thumb. Hope this helps.

[ASDLF22]

I had same problem with 788... new thumb screws are quite inexpensive so I gave that a whirl with some success... make sure the allen screw is adjusted correctly, sand the blade ends, and I started snugging the allen screw after tightening thumb screw.

[BillLaSalle]

Have a different saw but similar problem. I wipe ends with mineral spirits and then sand ends lightly. Is much better. Occassionally need to repeat.

[popsshop]

I think we ALL have had the same problem from time to time - I found out that the screws/bolt ends were not square with each other thereby allowing only a pint point of contact with the blade. As soon as I squared both ends of the hold down screws my problem vanished. At least this worked for me (as well as wiping down the blades).

[TandTsdad]

Thanks!

Thanks for all of the tips. The problem has essentially disappeared after trying your ideas. Your help is very much appreciated!

[ubgoofy2003]

Chris, I have a DeWalt788 & over tightening the thumb screw will eat the aluminum threads inside of the Thumbscrew chuck. That will cause more problems. I haven't had any problems with the blade slipping out, probably because I tighten it so much. I'm glad you got the problem worked out though.