Thread: Hammer N4400: Question about frozen disk on European style side guide

Haven't dealt with Hammer ones, just the ones on cheaper saws. With those, the disk has a stem, so the whole thing resembles the metal or plastic base for a tap washer. The disk and stem are normally hardened to a degree, and simply slip into the holder with a tad of grease as a lubricant. I would assume yours are similar, and suggest that you try to pull the disk from one of the others on the saw that appears to rotate freely, if it pulls out the arrangement will be similar.

On the saws I have dealt with, the barrel that they mount in is inserted or threaded into the mounting frame from outside while you hold the disk assy in position near where it will work, and the two are mated as the barrel is inserted. If the Hammer disks are bigger than the opening in the mounting frame, then they must be assembled this way, so should be free in the barrel.

Thanks Malb for the information as it was a useful guide to me this morning when I fixed the frozen disk.
For those who may find it useful, here is the process I used (Please refer to the attached photo showing the dis-assembled side guide for the names of parts).
STEPS:
1. I took the side guide off the bandsaw, wrapped the knob end in cloth and clamped the knob end in a machinest vice, then using a hammer and a nail punch with the biggest/widest end I tapped against the underside of the disk until it came out of the side guide housing.
Warning: the knob end grooves will get a little damaged from the pressure of the vice jaws / Comment: it would be better to use a machinest's drift punch if you have one instead of the nail punch
2. I unscrewed the retaining bolt that was holding the steel guide disk shaft in the bronze bushing (Philips head).
3. I then could pull out the steel guide disk from the bronze bushing by hand (I had to squirt in some WD40 to loosen it up first).
The shaft of the steel guide disk and the inside of the bushing were both clogged up with solid sawdust/dirt and old oil that I had previously squirted in.
4. I cleaned the shaft and the inside of the bushing with mineral turps and cloth so the shaft could rotate freely inside the bushing. I also wiped out the inside of the side guide housing.
5. I greased the shaft with white lithium grease (This was some spare grease I had on hand for my bicycle - the good thing about it is that it is inert and won't set up any chemical reaction tween the steel and the bronze) as I understand grease acts as a barrier to dirt and gunk getting into the gap between the shaft and the bushing.
6. I put the bushing back onto the steel guide disk shaft with the bushing flange end hard against the disk and screwed the retaining bolt + washer tight onto the end of the shaft.
7. Finally I pushed the bushing back into the side guide housing by hand until it fitted snugly - I did have to jiggle it around at the start until I found an alignment where the bushing slide easily back into the housing.

This was straightforward so I also took off the bottom thrust bearing disk which was stiff in rotating and fixed it up as well.
Cheers,
Paul

Just as an extra for bandsaw owners who may be having problems with wheel alignment or blades falling off their bandsaw, here is a link to my posting with detailed instructions on how to set the alignment of the bottom bandsaw wheel to be coplanar with the frame. It has been 3 years since I did this and the alignment (touch wood) is still working fine.
https://www.woodworkforums.com/showth...+blade+problem

Paul

Paul Many thanks for those detailed instructions