| Stepping up to a poorly maintained machine can | | | | can be removed with spray oven cleaner. Some |
| create a spectrum of emotions from apprehension to | | | | in-house sharpening can be done to carbide tools with |
| frustration. When the handwheel on your table saw | | | | a diamond stone. High-speed steel cutters such as |
| forces you to one knee, requiring two hands and all of | | | | turning tools and shaper knives can be sharpened on a |
| your strength to raise the blade, and when the | | | | bench grinder or honed with a bench and slip stones. |
| machine screams and smoke billows as stock is fed | | | | Alignment of tables and fences is also important. The |
| through, face it: It's time to do a little maintenance! | | | | position of a tabletop is important especially if it has |
| Perhaps the most straightforward part of shop | | | | slots cut in it for miter gauges. The slots need to be |
| maintenance is the obvious reason behind it: safety | | | | parallel to the cutters. The same is true for fences. |
| and efficiency. It is very important to keep cutting | | | | Lubricate gears and ways that raise and lower arbors |
| implements sharp. More accidents occur with dull tools | | | | and tables. Lubrication of exposed gears and ways |
| because more force is required to operate the tool. | | | | should be done with graphite, spray silicon, or paste |
| You'll need a few tools to get you started, including a | | | | wax. These dry lubricants prevent build up of sawdust |
| grease gun, an oil can, WD40™, graphite, silicon | | | | that would occur if the parts were greased or oiled. |
| spray, and paste wax. It is also convenient to have a | | | | Bearings with grease fittings or oil caps should be |
| set of wrenches, sockets, hex wrenches, and brushes | | | | attended to periodically with the appropriate lubricant. |
| for cleaning gears. Finally, pick up some abrasives such | | | | The tables and beds of all machines should be |
| as steel wool, fine silicon carbide paper, and a mill file | | | | inspected and, if necessary, filed flat. These surfaces |
| for deburring shafts and nicks in tabletops. | | | | should be kept free of rust and paint splatterings and |
| Cutters such as saw blades, knives for jointers and | | | | should be cleaned with steel wool or fine silicon-carbide |
| planers, shaper cutters, bits for routers and drill presses | | | | paper. Once clean, an application of paste wax will |
| and turning tools must be kept sharp and free of pitch | | | | help prevent rust and allow stock to slide across the |
| and resin in order to cut cleanly. Pitch and resin on | | | | surface with less effort. |
| cutters and saw blades, which can cause kickback, | | | | |