Went to lock down my rip fence on my Delta 36-5000 and the handle snapped off, the bolt broke off with the threaded tip still embedded in the cam that locks the fence in position. Went online to see how much it would cost to buy a new one, checked the Delta website and almost every other single part supplier- not one of them offered the broken part. Delta and a few others offered the plastic handle part, but that part wasn't broken, it was the bolt going through the handle that broke. Here's a picture of that:
I took the handle assembly apart to discover that the plastic handle is just that, a plastic handle, a metal rod going through the length of the handle, held in place with a hex key screw cap, and a thick end piece with two flat side enabling you to lock it with a wrench. The threaded stub that broke off seems very likely to break off like it did due to the design of having such a long shaft reduced down to such a small threaded area (8mm x 1.25). Picture of the guts here:
I had to remove the threaded tip out of the locking cam, went to drill it out and it started rotating further into the cam. I thought this would be a problem, didn't realize the hole for the threads goes all the way through to the hole for the bolt that holds it in place, so kept moving it with the drill bit, it threaded itself all the way through and just need a nudge to eject it out. Bagged up all the pieces and went to my local Ace Hardware store, rummaged around for a bit, a clerk helped me locate the correct size both in diameter, thread pitch, and length (8mm x 1.25×4"). I bought two washers, a smaller one for the top under the hex head, and a larger one for the end of the plastic handle so I wouldn't crush the plastic when I tightened the whole thing up. Two pictures here, the pieces separate and the handle assembled:
I then reattached the handle to the fence, two more pictures, first one unlocked, second one in locked position:
I hope this helps anyone else who has this happen to them, seems pretty straight forward. Thanks for looking.
I took the handle assembly apart to discover that the plastic handle is just that, a plastic handle, a metal rod going through the length of the handle, held in place with a hex key screw cap, and a thick end piece with two flat side enabling you to lock it with a wrench. The threaded stub that broke off seems very likely to break off like it did due to the design of having such a long shaft reduced down to such a small threaded area (8mm x 1.25). Picture of the guts here:
I had to remove the threaded tip out of the locking cam, went to drill it out and it started rotating further into the cam. I thought this would be a problem, didn't realize the hole for the threads goes all the way through to the hole for the bolt that holds it in place, so kept moving it with the drill bit, it threaded itself all the way through and just need a nudge to eject it out. Bagged up all the pieces and went to my local Ace Hardware store, rummaged around for a bit, a clerk helped me locate the correct size both in diameter, thread pitch, and length (8mm x 1.25×4"). I bought two washers, a smaller one for the top under the hex head, and a larger one for the end of the plastic handle so I wouldn't crush the plastic when I tightened the whole thing up. Two pictures here, the pieces separate and the handle assembled:
I then reattached the handle to the fence, two more pictures, first one unlocked, second one in locked position:
I hope this helps anyone else who has this happen to them, seems pretty straight forward. Thanks for looking.