Ridgid Granite top R4511 Tablesaw

[thrt15nc]

Curious if anyone else has one of these. I bought mine years ago and it's worked well for a long time. A couple of things have been happening with it. Lately I've noticed that there's a tiny bit of wobble in the blade. You can barely see it when it's spinning down. I cleaned up the arbor a little bit along with the blade washer. Things seem to fit together at their cuts, so I'm not too worried about that. But it's become almost impossible to raise and lower the blade. I've cleaned and lubed as much as I can from the blade opening, but now nothing seems to be helping. There aren't many replacement parts for it anymore and anyway, they're expensive for a used saw. An arbor shaft is $140, trunnion about $250, etc.

I'm considering pulling the tops off and going deeper but wondering if even then I'll be able to come up with a solution. Has anyone had problems with theirs and done any repair work on it?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Tom Swortzel

 

[gator]

There is a lot of toothed and rotating parts in a tablesaw that you cannot reach through the blade opening. You should take the motor off and try through the back and if that doesn't work the the top can come off. Unless something does not move at all it is doubtful that anything is broken, just gummed up with sawdust and needing a good cleaning and lube job. I don't know about you, but two or three hours of grunt work is better than spending $500-$700 for a new saw.

George

 

[tvrgeek]

Don't know how they mounted the stone top; I have the iron top version. Usually contractor saws the top does not come off as the trunion is mounted to it. Go under it and take a peak.

What is the condition of the belt? it can cause quite a bit if vibration.

I believe they were sourced through Emerson but which of the OEMs actually built it which week is a guess. Many shared parts with other saws including Craftsman. Might download parts manuals from similar saws and see if they are the same. Could be bushings or bearings are replaceable with generic parts. I am sure the arbor runs in stock bearings. I found many NLA parts are actually generic.

My tilt got very stiff until I flipped the saw over and really cleaned it all out. I used my engine hoist.

I might suggest it is time for a new saw with a riving knife. If you wore out a Ridgid, you got your money's worth. I have my eye on a Harvey or Grizzly. Can't afford a SawStop.

 

[thrt15nc]

I can't remember from setting it up, but I think it came with the top fastened on and I had to install the wings. I remember the body of the saw was heavier than heck. The saw interested me because I was fed up with a bunch of rust on the saw I had at the time and other pieces of equipment and also it had a heck of a price at the time. I'll take a closer look at getting the top off. I can't imagine that's going to be tough. I am interested in a new saw. So I'd try to sell this one. It's been used gently and these are the only two things I'm concerned about it. And like I said, the blade wobble doesn't seem to affect my cuts. I don't want to try to sell it with these two things going on though. I got the Ridgid lifetime warranty with the saw too, but like I said, most of the parts aren't available anymore.

Thanks,
Tom