Reply To: Seized Depth-of-Cut Adjustment Knob
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While double nutting sounds great, the thread is #9-32 Whitworth left hand. Good luck finding those nuts. ( one source says #9-34 LH ….not any better)
Another thing to try is derusting the works.
First wash the parts in a 1-2% detergent bath to get the oils off. You can even boil the parts for a couple minutes.
Use a toothbrush or small brass brush to clean what you can. Then use a derusting bath. Evaporust, citric acid or vinegar will all work.
Leave the parts in the bath for maybe 24 hrs. Wash again and clean the threads up with #0000 wire wool or your brass brush. The threads should look pretty clean at this point.
If the adjuster nut still isn’t freed up, try a couple heat&cooling cycles. You don’t have to get too hot. Even boiling water and an ice bath will free up any stuck rust.
You can use chanellocks, but only gently – certainly not hard enough to further damage the parts. At this point you could try your penetrating oil again. This time let it penetrate for a few hours.
And use some locktite to put the screw back into the frog. Blue if you want to ever remove it or red if you want permanent. ( both types break down with enough heat)
And if you don’t have a tread file, a small triangular file and patience will restore the threads for use.
Good luck
- This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by Larry Geib.