Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 10, 2014 16:50:54 GMT -5
Yep, truth folks, I finally cleaned my Covington ten inch saw. I know, amazing huh? I've been wanting to slab some shrinkwood but my oil being the consistency of chocolate pudding, I thought I'd better hold off till I cleaned the dang saw and changed out my blade. For those of you not unfortunate enough to have chosen a Covington ten incher to waste your money on, just let me say the saw is a real bastich to do anything with. Everything is designed to be done by a tiny Asian kid with itty bitty fingers. Bolts holding the top on are a real SOB to get loose. Coolant wells are so narrow you have to have special tools to clean them out. You feel like a surgeon before you are done, complete with a tray of weird scoops, sponges, rods, scrapers etc. Need a scrub nurse to hand you tools. " Nurse, past me the sponge on a sticky thingee. Nurse pass me that weird squarey pointy goo scoopy." Then to top it off, of course, the slot for the blade in the table is too damn short so the new BD blade I bought won't focking fit without surgery on the damn table top. After two hours of oily misery and cussing during which I would have gladly done a tapdance on the face of any Covington sales rep to cross my path, I finally got the dang saw up and running and broke in my blade on some obsidian.
So, hopefully, barring any of the other varied and interesting ways this rig screws up, I'll be able to finally do some cutting and post some new slab pics.....Mel
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bsky4463
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since September 2013
Posts: 1,696
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Post by bsky4463 on Jun 10, 2014 17:39:11 GMT -5
Nice, quit typing and start cutting! Cheers
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Post by snowmom on Jun 10, 2014 18:13:16 GMT -5
LOL ! sending encouragement! : )
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Post by Toad on Jun 11, 2014 0:41:11 GMT -5
How about pics of the freshly cleaned saw?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2014 9:07:07 GMT -5
Now it is for sure going to break down. Good luck. The Lortone 12 is no fun but that sounds way worse. The last "moving cleanup" I did I enticed my daughter-in-law with some of my best pendants and "wow" was that an easy clean up. Make pendants, trade for cleaning services, does it get any better than that? Jim
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 11, 2014 21:10:40 GMT -5
Did some cutting today after I got back from the shooting range ( What fun! The shooting range, not the saw) so I'll actually have some new photos to take and post. Too late Toad, already got it dirty some. Gulldanged piece of crap saw had the power feed overheat and stop after first five cuts. Let it cool two hours and managed three more cuts before it again shut down. I wonder, do Covington designers even use saws? Do they just draw fanciful, pretty saw pictures and think, gee this looks cool, or do they actually test what they build? You know in some states it gets hot and a heat sensitive power feed motor is not exactly a bright thing to put on a saw that might be sold somewhere "HOT" you know. Blankety blank fuggin saw anyway! Wood pics to follow tomorrow if I get time and don't put the saw in the yard for target practice.....Mel
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 11, 2014 22:08:59 GMT -5
Dang, and I thought Covington was supposed to be good. After reading this, I don't think I want one. But, kudos for hanging in there! Don't shoot it!
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Post by 1dave on Jun 12, 2014 6:53:32 GMT -5
Did some cutting today after I got back from the shooting range ( What fun! The shooting range, not the saw) so I'll actually have some new photos to take and post. Too late Toad, already got it dirty some. Gulldanged piece of crap saw had the power feed overheat and stop after first five cuts. Let it cool two hours and managed three more cuts before it again shut down. I wonder, do Covington designers even use saws? Do they just draw fanciful, pretty saw pictures and think, gee this looks cool, or do they actually test what they build? You know in some states it gets hot and a heat sensitive power feed motor is not exactly a bright thing to put on a saw that might be sold somewhere "HOT" you know. Blankety blank fuggin saw anyway! Wood pics to follow tomorrow if I get time and don't put the saw in the yard for target practice.....Mel Could LINE DROP be the problem? Previous owner of my saw kept a fan on the 1 1/2 hp motor to keep it running. I replaced his #18 wire feed (dropped 120 volts down to around 80 volts)with #12 wire and have had ZERO problems. And no fan.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 12, 2014 8:35:28 GMT -5
Dave: I have a pretty heavy cord going to the saw (300 volt) but I'm not sure of the wire size. The cord supplied with the saw is another issue and since there are extra cords going to the power feed etc, it's beyond my meager skills to change that out. I'll try to pick up a #12 cord today and see if that helps. Had thought about a fan too. I'll see if I can find one that will clip onto my saw table. Tell me, would changing the length and diameter of the extension cord going to the actual saw power cord have any effect?..Mel
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,709
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Post by Fossilman on Jun 12, 2014 8:38:55 GMT -5
Target practice-can I help!!! LOL
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 12, 2014 8:49:09 GMT -5
I'll admit I have a bit of a temper. Used to have the Lortone 14 inch drop saw until it pissed me off one time too many one day and I took it out in the driveway and beat it to death with a sledge hammer......Mel
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Post by parfive on Jun 12, 2014 11:46:20 GMT -5
. . . so which model Covington ya got there, Mel, poetic justice or penance? : )
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 12, 2014 14:17:47 GMT -5
Hardy har Rich. You are just always sooooo funny *L*.....Mel
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Post by phil on Jun 29, 2014 21:38:39 GMT -5
Tell me, would changing the length and diameter of the extension cord going to the actual saw power cord have any effect?..Mel Yep. it sure would. Too long and you get voltage drop, too small and you lose power. How long a cord are you using and what size?
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Post by catmandewe on Jun 30, 2014 9:06:02 GMT -5
Mel, I was having problems with my 30" Covington overheating all the time so I decided to put a new motor on it, while I was rewiring the motor I noticed that the wires going to the motor were 16 gauge (this is a 1 1/2 HP 220V motor) so I checked the switch and it was a 15 amp switch (which is on a 30 amp breaker) and it had 16 gauge wire also. I yanked the switch and all the wiring out of the saw and replaced it with a 30 amp switch and 10 gauge wiring. I have not overheated since. I also had to change the motor mount cause I kept burning belts and exploding pulleys but since I changed the motor mount I have not had any more problems there. Now I am reworking the feed system, I think I have it figured out now.
You would think for $10,000 they would pay a little more attention to detail.
Tony
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Post by Rockhobbit on Jun 30, 2014 9:36:50 GMT -5
Pics Mel, PICS!! LOL Sheri
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Post by jakesrocks on Jun 30, 2014 9:56:30 GMT -5
So what's the problem cleaning the saw ? I have an older 10" Covington. When it comes time to clean it, I field strip it down to a bare carcass with the arbor still attached. I take it out in the driveway and hit it with my power washer. All that PSI peels all of the crud out of the tank, along with a little of the original Covington green paint.
Guess the older Covington 10" saws were just built better. I've never had a problem with anything overheating. But then the older saws had real American made motors for the power feed.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,487
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Post by Sabre52 on Jun 30, 2014 12:18:40 GMT -5
Don, My old saw was a Beacon Star so I know nothing about the older Covington ten inch saws. The new Covington has an odd double oil sump which I can see no reason for except to make them so narrow you can't hardly get anything in it to scoop out the gunk. My old Beacon Star had a lift up hinged table top which you simply rotated out of the way. The new Covington has "hard to get at with normal human hands" bolts which have to be removed so the whole table top can be removed. Also very difficult to get into the narrow sump to unbolt and change blades. Was obviously built for little leprechauns to work on, not regular sized men......Mel
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Post by rockjunquie on Jun 30, 2014 12:53:40 GMT -5
Was obviously built for little leprechauns to work on, not regular sized men......Mel Mel, I haven't seen you, but from your posts I get that you are a Paul Bunyun type, bigger than life and not regular, at all.
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Post by phil on Jun 30, 2014 12:57:53 GMT -5
On the 10 inch Covington at the senior center where I used to teach, I removed both sump plugs and replaced them with a home-made "U" tube. The narrow side where the blade is would never get good flow of oil from the reservoir side. When it's time to clean, we just pull the "U" and let it drain into a bucket while coaxing the sludge with a long handled spoon to keep it moving. There were so many students using this saw, it had to be cleaned every week. I thought of replacing it all with a drain tube that empties into a bucket all the time, drilling a small hole in the blade guard for some tubing, and setting up a swamp cooler pump to deliver oil directly to the blade. Never could get City approval tho, and they own the equipment.
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