New year clean up

I spent the best part of today putting a replacement part into my table saw. The TS is a Record Power TS250C with all the side extensions.

I've had it for a few years now and the lower dust collection shroud had failed a few months back. I had a lot of dust underneath the saw instead of inside the dust collector due to the shroud breaking. However Record Power have an excellent after sales service and give a 5 year warranty on all parts that have failed due to a design fault.
The dust shroud had cracked at the mounting screws when the blade was tilted to 45 degrees. I had too much work on in the latter half of 2013 to fit the replacement part but finally got around to do it today January 3rd 2014.

Essentially I removed the top cast iron table with extension tables and the rip fence assembly. This gave me access to the internal workings of the table saw. I was then able to remove the old shroud and install the new one. I took the opportunity of renewing the extra cardboard shrouding I had installed some time ago to improve dust collection. I found that the cleaning the internal casting carrying the motor assembly with mineral spirits prior to applying Gorilla Tape to the cardboard to secure it in place was satisfactory. In the past I have used gaffer tape, duct tape, DUCK tape all to no avail. It appears that Gorilla Tape is the best so far. All gaps were sealed with the tape.

I then took the opportunity of reassembling all components of the table saw and setting everything with callipers, straight-edges and depth gauges to tune the saw. Next I used a random orbit sander to clean-up the cast iron to 320 grit then waxing the cast iron to a nice sheen. The sliding table was next to be set level and parallel to the main cast iron table. Then the dedicated dust extractor was emptied, cleaned and a new air filter put into place.

The first cut was a revelation. There was no dust on the floor! Result!

I shall take some time cleaning all the other large fixed tools in the shop in the next few days to get ready for projects for 2014.