Shopsmith Forums

steve4447 wrote:You are right on the money...That trunnion bolt is exactly as you described With the spring and washer...and yes I have indeed tightened it with an allen wrench as a cheater...but there is a limit to how tight you can tighten it with that spring assembly...It always maintains a little slack in that spring...and yes the bolts attaching the table and trunnion are all tight...

That's why I'm stumped..

I just got home and checked my jigsaw table. The knob clamps it up nice and tight (using the T-handle allen wrench). But with the knob loosened slightly, the table behaves as you describe. The curved guide and slot are nowhere close to a precision fit -- just painted cast surfaces from what I could see without disassembling it.

My knob does, however, does torque down nice and tight. It does not rely on spring force to hold the table when tightened. I suspect that if you can figure out why yours does not tighten fully, you will have your problem figured out.

Oh, I missed that... my knob also locks down tight.

The knob itself can screw down tight with the whole table portion removed. Does the threaded portion on your knob bottom out?

Looks like the threaded portion extends a total of 1 inch from the handle, including the portion with the spring and the washer.

The spring holds the washer about 1/8th from the handle when loose.

It looks like the threaded portion and the handle are separate pieces since I don't see how they could get the large washer on it otherwise, but I don't see a way to take it apart. Still, it might be that the threads extend too far from the handle and keep the whole knob from tightening down enough.

Let me know if that doesn't make sense, I'll take some photos.

I was going to ask the same question. Is there something in the screw hole that keeps the knob from being tightened all the way?

I checked mine, and it tightens fine.

Mike

The problem seems to be centered in that one part and the fact that I can't get the clamping action to get tight and stay tight...

The screw is not bottoming out in the hole prematurely....and I have experimented with placing an additional washer under it and so on...but rather in the way that the assembly allows the part just a little additional clearance ..after I stop tightening it....

I even experimented with tightening it tighter than I would consider reasonable or normal...With a cheater...And in comparison..It stays put with just the ordinary bolt and washer no where near that tight...Just what I would accept as an ordinary amount of torque for a similar application...

There appears to be no way to disassemble and re assemble the assembly with it's spring and captive washer...I assume that they are staked together on a press when manufactured and never to be serviced in the field...

Thans again to all of you who have tried to help me with this

I have the remains of a lot of jig saws but I never found any spring connected with the table tilt part. Try removing the spring and use just the washer and bolt. A picture of where the spring is located would be nice.

The spring is hidden inside the knob behind the captured washer. You can see the knob and washer in this photo... The spring is in there too around the top of the threaded portion of the knob. It actually is mostly inside the knob handle itself in a hollow under the thinner portion that is not knurled. Hope all that makes sense.
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Does the spring retract fully into the knob when the knob is tightened, or is it preventing the knob from pressing against the washer and trunion?

fitzhugh wrote:The spring is hidden inside the knob behind the captured washer. You can see the knob and washer in this photo... The spring is in there too around the top of the threaded portion of the knob. It actually is mostly inside the knob handle itself in a hollow under the thinner portion that is not knurled. Hope all that makes sense.
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And in this picture, it looked like it was fully compressed......

But, I guess it is not. For the record, on my scabbed together jigsaw/filing station I used a T-knob with a fender washer. It works great!

No reason to have a spring there, unless you want to be able to tilt the table without loosening the knob. I'd take the spring out and never look back.

rcplaneguy wrote:No reason to have a spring there, unless you want to be able to tilt the table without loosening the knob. I'd take the spring out and never look back.

I don't think you can get it out...At least not without distroying the whole knob?