Help!! Unable to remove blade on Mitre Saw

[Tara86]

Hi guys - was hoping anyone might have some ideas on how to remove a blade on my old Mitre Saw? The flange won’t budge and during attempts to loosen its stripped the hex hole. Tried WD-40 and no amount of force would make it budge.

Its an Ozito Compound Saw I purchased a few years ago and had replaced with a good quality blade about 18mths ago. As I’d gotten a new sliding saw I’d put it away and hasn’t been used. I understand that given the time frame it has probably caused the flange to stick but hoping there is something we haven’t tried that might help? The blade was fairy new when I replaced it but did have to use a (Bush?) so it would fit and wondering if that can make it difficult to remove?

TIA

[Noah]

This happens all the time!

You may already know this but it is a common confusion as most are reversely threaded.
So the arbor nut / bold will tighten in the way the blade turns when powered. So have a quick look at how your mitre saw spins when it is powered and then go in the opposite direction to loosen the bolt.

If you're still stuck you could try heating the nut up with a pin flame just enough to loosen, just make sure that you do not heat it up to hot that it will melt plastic and damage the saw itself.

[Tara86]

My partner and I had ‘strong debate’ over which way to loosen ha ha. The instructions said we had to turn it clockwise which is the same way the saw spins when on. Also it’s embedded in our brains ‘Left Loose - Right Tight’.

Turning clockwise works for my sliding saw but it doesn’t have the added arbor as it’s the original blade.

I will try turning it left tomorrow and see if that helps at all - I’ll never hear the end of it should it work ha ha.  Unfortunately I don’t have a pin flame but I’ll ask a few mates who might have one. 

Thanks for your help!

[StevenSee]

Try using multi grips on the sides of the flange, works with my grinder.

Steve

[Jason]

Thanks for joining in the discussion @StevenSee, I'm sure @Tara86 appreciates the suggestion.

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. We're pleased you could join us and look forward to reading about your projects and plans. Feel free to post whenever you need assistance or have something to share. And please let me know if you ever need a hand getting the most from the site or have any feedback about how we can improve Workshop for you.

All the best,

Jason

[Tara86]

@StevenSee Thanks for the idea!

We did try using them but found it hard as the blade safety guard was in the way. Took it off and it still wouldn’t budge. 

[StevenSee]

Sorry that did not work, I live in the Penrith area if you want pop over with the problem saw and we could work on it together.

[Premveneer]

Hi There, I have the same problem. bought ozito mitre saw in april and finished first project, trying to get to remove the blade and replace with a craftright blade available blade from bunnings. however when i am removing the arbor nut, it way too hard. I have tried WD40 as well. is there a repair show i could take it? or take it back to bunnings? thanks

[MitchellMc]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @Premveneer. It's great to have you join us and many thanks for your question.

I have two of these saws in my collection and both are quite old and rusty as I keep them outside in an undercover workshop. I've just had a look at them now and mine have two different fixings. One is an allen key similar to @Tara86's, and the other is a standard bolt. Both un-screw by turning them clock-wise which is the opposite to a normal bolt. First, you need to ensure the power is off and you have removed the plug from the power point. You then need to lock the blade in position and I achieved this by placing a piece of timber under the blade and pressing the saw down onto it. For the allen key version, I cheated by using my impact driver and after about 20 secs of struggling it unscrewed the allen bolt. On the bolt version, I removed the guard on the side of the machine, attached a spanner to the bolt and tapped it with a hammer. This broke the bolt free easily.

If you are unscrewing the bolt in the correct direction which is clockwise and you are struggling to remove it, then I would suggest returning to a Bunnings store and seeing if they can assist. They will assess the machine and work out what would be the next course of action.

Please let me know if you need further assistance or had questions.

Mitchell