[How-To] How to make a saw blade washer

DavidR8

DavidR8

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The washer that goes next to the blade on my Unisaw is pooched. Years of use have taken all of the dish out of it and it no longer spreads the clamping load evenly. I found one on eBay but it will be about $50 CDN to get it here.

Dimensions are 2.25" diameter, 5/8" bore, total thickness is .25 though thicker is not an issue.
My thoughts are to chuck up a length of 2.25+ stock and turn the diameter and the features on the flat side, then take it out, bandsaw it off slightly thicker than .25 put it in the 4-jaw, center it, bore the hole and turn the shallow taper.
My concern is grip on the edge which might be an 1/8"
One other though is to bore it and then put it on a mandrel. Parallelism of the flat side to the small flat on the tapered side is the most important aspect not concentricity of the bore to the outside diameter.

This is what I want to make
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Looks like one side is tapered? Does it need to be tapered or is it just cosmetic? (Edit: duh, I totally did not comprehend the second sentence of you post :) )

If you want/need the taper, I would drill/bore the hole first, then machine the OD & the flat side along with that counterbore/recess. Then with your thought on mounting it on a mandrel, if you already have one, to machine the taper & the flat. If you need to make a mandrel I'd make a mandrel with a shoulder to help with keeping the washer parallel. Or simply use CA glue or double sided tape to stick the flat side on a faced off piece of stock to machine the taper & flat.

Of course as they say, always more than one way to skin a cat (who the heck skins cats anyways? :D ). I'm sure others will give you their ideas also.

DavidR8 said:
Parallelism of the flat side to the small flat on the tapered side is the most important aspect not concentricity of the bore to the outside diameter.
Click to expand...
I'm lucky to have scored a round mag chuck to use with the lathe. Parallelism is one of the great things it comes in handy for & I have been able to easily true up all sorts of things I have wanted to. Naturally great for making spacers (or washers) where both sides need to be parallel to each other, that was actually the very first thing I made with it. Of course a round mag chuck is just a luxury item & not needed by most but I'm happy to have one.

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darkzero said:
Looks like one side is tapered? Does it need to be tapered or is it just cosmetic?
Click to expand...
Thanks Will.
The shape generally matches the shape of a the stamped washer. But as a machined piece of greater thickness than the washer I 'think' the taper is cosmetic.
I suspect the dome on the washer is there to ensure the clamping force is exerted on the edge of the washer against the matching mating surface on the arbor flange.
So maybe I don't need to make the taper and focus on cutting the recess and making sure the faces are parallel.
After I cut the piece off the bar stock I could chuck it up with a set of parallels behind it to keep it parallel
 
Yeah I totally didn't read your second sentence, I edited my post above. Well I did read it but it just went through one ear & out the other, lol. Or should I say through my eyes & got lost somewhere.
 
I have a chunk of round 2.25" stainless in my stock pile that I could try to use. It is slightly magnetic but I have no idea what grade it is. It takes forever to cut on my bandsaw so I wonder if I should just pick up a length of CRS or maybe HT4140?
 
Both sides, they come as a set.

Greg
 
Gotcha, that would be a challenge as it would move the blade out of alignment with my riving knife and the fence tape measure.
 
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