Thread: Felt washer availability?

Hi Dengy

I don't think I've ever seen them on sale.
dad used to just cut washers and furniture pads as he needed them, from a piece of felt he kept in a drawer.

Do the plastic knobs have a bolt sticking out of them? If yes , check the shape of the end of the bolt. It sounds like it may have a high spot that is causing the guides the move as the bolt rotates to tighten down on guides. Just a thought.

Peter

Taken from post #11 here on my thread for the 14BX -> Laguna 14-BX feedback wanted.

The lower guide assembly is mounted on a metal plate, it has two slots in the plate that are used to lock it to the BS frame. These slots allow the guide block assembly to move back and forward, and also allows it to twist in order to center the guide assembly. It is retained with two bolts with a thick long plastic shaft around most of the thread, that plastic shaft is again finished with a raised outer edge. Now this shaft spans the metal slots and therefore it jams in the slots as it bites down, this stops you from applying the correct pressure without a lot of force, and it causes the plate to slightly twist and move as it's tightened down. Over time, the plastic settles into the slots, it then takes even more force to undo these lock screws. These settings are all below the table, there is not much room, most owners and reviewers tilt the table 45 deg in order to access the back lock knob, you should not normally have to do this if they weren't jamming and so hard to tighten. The fix was simple, I sanded the raised rims so that they were at least smooth, and put a small washer under them, now I have full even clamp pressure, the plate does not move and it's easier to clamp, it also locks down harder and with less effort.

The locking knobs for the upper and lower side guides have the same thick plastic shaft, but as its mating to a flatter surface and not a long slot, I found that if you clean up that raised rim - slightly sand the outer rim so that it's smooth and has a slightly rounded edge - it locks down well and with no movement of the side guides as they are locked down.

The back guide rods run through aluminum machined blocks that are a really good fit, but they tended to hang up slightly in mine, sanding the spot inside the blocks where the shaft retaining screw is drilled through the housing eliminated that problem, although it felt smooth, it must have been raised ever so slightly, and as before, sand and round the raised metal rim on the lock screw, these little things make fine adjustment of the guides a breeze, I can now adjust these ceramic guides very quickly and accurately.

Originally Posted by Pete57

Do the plastic knobs have a bolt sticking out of them? If yes , check the shape of the end of the bolt. It sounds like it may have a high spot that is causing the guides the move as the bolt rotates to tighten down on guides. Just a thought.

Peter

This problem appears at a larger scale on the clamping knob of a miter saw table. I found it advantageous to "dome" the end of the bolt for more concentric action, and to insert a short piece of sandpaper with the grit toward the clamping ring and the paper side toward the bolt. The sandpaper locks the position just before tightening the bolt.

This might be adaptable to the OP's situation.

Cheers,
Joe