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[Mossagatemac]

Hi Everyone - looking for some advice on next steps for my Beacon Star TC-14.  I spent a few weekends cutting slabs and noticed that the carriage is really stiff to move, like maybe there's some rock grit getting in to the guide bars or something.  I'm pretty new to slabbing so wondering what your take is on it.

Tried moving it back and forth a few times to work the grit out but it seems like it gets stuck and is very hard to move.  I don't want to force it but not really sure what else to do at this point.

Do i need to take it apart at this point? 
Is there a way to prevent this in the future?

Attaching a pic of the carriage setup

[Felicia]

Not familiar with that machine, this is probably a dumb question, did you spray in a little Wd40 where the carriage meets the guide bars, or some lithium grease? Could be gummed up stuff.

[Mossagatemac]

I should add that the picture is before using it for a few weeks...  just wanted to show the setup.

I ended up taking off one of the rails and there are a few spots that have some small nic in the metal. Going to try cleaning out the holes on the carriage and maybe use some steel wool on the guide rail? 

[Felicia]

A clean out is good. Steel wool, and/or try a very fine sanding stick on the nicks, make sure nothing is sticking out. Like I said, never used that machine. Hope it works for you I.

[Slabbercabber]

Cleaning is always a good first step but that shouldn't be an issue with a saw that runs in oil.  You are using oil, right?  If removing any burrs doesn't help, the next thing to check is the wear on the guide holes.  If they are worn large enough the carriage may misalign and bind.  The only help for that is bushings.  Not a job for a home shop.

[Mossagatemac]

Yes - using oil.

I took the guide rail out and attached a picture of the burrs.  There were two or three spots like this, and two are shown in the picture.  Seems like something may have been stuck and was pushed down the rail?  I cleaned that up/ smoothed things out and put it back, and it seems to move better now.  Still a little stiff towards the front end of the saw but doesn't stuck like before.  Going to give it another try.

There's virtually no slop or side to side movement on the carriage when it's on the rails which made it seem like the holes weren't overly worn.  Not an expert by any means though.

Now the part of the vice that sits on top of the carriage is a different story in terms of movement but will likely make a different posting on that... 

Do you typically need to clean or wipe off the rails between uses? 

[Mossagatemac]

Those burrs weren't the problem.
I started to have some more trouble and took it apart further.  The rods slid easily through the carriage when it was off the saw but when the rods were held in place the carriage wouldn't move easily.
I did two things...
1. Noticed that there was a very slight bend in the rails, so i did my best to straighten those. 
2. Took the entire carriage system, guide rails, and guide rail mounts off the saw and aligned everything so it would slide easily, and then reinstalled on the saw.  I noticed that when placing back i to the saw, the cutout for the guide rails in the saw was a bit narrow and very tight on one end causing the rails to be pushed to the side.  I expanded the slot on the saw housing so that the carriage assembly/ guide rails/ etc would easily fit in.  Once i did that, the carriage moves much more freely when installed.  It seems like the pressure put on the rails by the housing was causing it to offset slightly and the carriage to stick. 
(Tried to show in the picture)

If anyone has a version of this saw, I'd like to connect with you on other adjustments and what you've learned - so please message me

[gunsil]

I was going to suggest checking the rails for parallel, seems like you figured it out though. You shouldn't have to wipe down the rails often unless you turn the machine off for a while. Old oil and particles can dry on the rails with prolonged lack of use so if you shut down for a while do clean rails and inside carriage holes for rails.

[Volvoman]

As a new member here, I just found this old thread about the difficulties you had with the carriage on your TC-14.  Having used a TC-1 extensively, the 10 inch version of this saw, back in the early 1980s, thought I’d share a similar experience and what we did to remedy the problem.  We observed the saw carriage would bind on the guide rods when sawing very hard rocks of large size.  Sawing softer rocks or small rocks was no problem.  Our assessment was the power feed mechanism was forcing the carriage into the rock faster than it could cut the material, eventually causing it to bind and if not stopped in time, would forcibly bend the rods.  Replacing the blade with a new one helped, but the rods on which the carriage traveled had evidently been bent sufficiently to prevent even a new blade from powering through the larger/harder rocks.  We contacted the company engineer to discuss the issue. His recommendation was to substitute the original threaded rod used to propel the carriage with another having finer thread, including a feed pawl with finer thread as well.  The finer thread served the purpose of slowing the feed rate.  In the meantime, as we awaited the finer threaded feed rod, we discontinued using the power feed and used a gravity feed system instead.  This consisted of using a small nylon rope tied to the back end of the carriage and threaded over the small pulley located at the rear lip of the main tray.  The other end of the rope was tied to a bucket of sand, the amount being determined by conducting a trial and error approach until the right balance was achieved to pull (as opposed to pushing by the power feed) the carriage while the rock was being cut.  The gravity feed provided a variable rate of speed, faster through soft material and slower through harder material.  In fact, it worked so well, we opted to not install the new power feed rod/pawl assembly! 

As this is an old thread, you may have solved your problem with the binding carriage long ago, but in the event anyone else is having a similar issue with their saw, perhaps what we found to remedy the problem will work for you as well.

VVM

[R.U. Sirius]

Thank you for posting this wealth of information! Keeping the rails perfectly parallel is difficult, and the alignment should be checked often.

As for the "gravity' feed, I never quite understood why this or other constant-force options are not standard, and why constant-rate motor feed has become the norm. Diamond blade materials work optimally within some range of radial and tangential forces. Feeding at a constant rate cannot control the forces, as forces will vary with the material hardness, oil viscosity,  and blade wear.