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enter image description hereI have an old Sears tablesaw. It was my Grandfather's and it is well over 40 years old.

Please excuse me for not being the sharpest tool in the shed, but about a year ago I accidently started the blade with a piece of wood already inserted into the teeth. The saw has never run right since. It keeps slowing down the deeper I get into the cut. I keep having to retract and let the blade regain its speed. Well, today I was trying to cut a 4 food section of plywood and the saw just can't handle it. I dug into the problem some more and here's what I came up with.

The motor turns a wheel with a belt on it. The belt turns another wheel with a lug on it. The blade mounts onto this lug. Well, I noticed that the lug is turning freely of the wheel.

The problem is that I can't find how to stop the lug from turning. I found where I believe it mounts in the back, and found a pin of some sot neat it, but am unsure if that's relevant.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

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    Welcome to WSE. I`m not sure if it will help, but Is there a model number for the saw? Also, I would have thought there might be a key between the lug and the pulley wheel it attaches to. Have you taken the lug off of the wheel?
    – Ashlar ♦
    Aug 15, 2020 at 16:54
  • In the 'back of lug' pic, is that like a cover that you can pry off?
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Aug 15, 2020 at 17:41
  • Hi there everyone.
    – phkc070408
    Aug 15, 2020 at 22:01
  • Hi there everyone. Ash: I don't know the model number or where it would be on it. It was given to me by my Grandfather. He had it for at least 50 years and we don't even knwo where the manual is. I don't know how to take the lug off of the wheel. Aloy: AFAIK it isn't a cover. I don't even know why there is that marking in the chassie of the motor.
    – phkc070408
    Aug 15, 2020 at 22:23
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    @phkc070408 please edit your question to put your clarifications in the body of the question, not hidden in comments.
    – user5572
    Aug 16, 2020 at 17:54

1 Answer 1

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To me it looks like you've got a stripped belt.

It's a bit hard to tell for sure from your photos but it looks very much to me like the spindle and wheel which are connected by the belt are gear-like, to accept a toothed belt, and it looks like the belt was originally toothed, but that the teeth have worn away.

Your belt should look something like this:

enter image description here

... but it looks like the teeth are gone. I'd take a closer look and see if you can make out if the belt should be toothed.

The belts do wear down and will particularly wear down or even just strip straight off if you overload the blade. Also the rubber they're made of will just degrade over time which will contribute to the wear. I have worked with saws which used toothed belts before so they definitely are a thing, even if not all saw drivebelts are toothed.

If you take the belt off you may be able to see some writing on the belt which will tell you what the specs of the belt are. If not, you can work out the specification with a few measurements.

Gates are a company who make the "Powergrip GT" line of belts which are a high quality belt I have used in the past. If you look on their website you can find a guide on how to specify the belts - I believe you'll need a pitch (distance between each tooth), the number of teeth on the belt (which will give you the overall length), and a width. The belts can be metric or imperial.

The guide on specification can be found within this PDF (around page 8 or 9 I think):

https://www.gates.com/content/dam/gates/home/resources/resource-library/catalogs/powergripdrivedesignmanual_17195_2014.pdf

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