HELP!! Stuck allen head screw in biscuit joiner

[AJ Roadster NJ]

I have a Porter Cable biscuit joiner. I've changed blades between the normal and FF (faceframe, tiny) blade maybe 20 or so times in the three years I've had it.

Yesterday I cut some FF holes, then changed blades as usual, just snugging the 5/32" allen head screw that holds the blade, and then cut 130 larger (#20) holes in a row.

I think cutting that many holes at one shot really torqued the thing down, now it WILL NOT BUDGE. I have to get the FF blade back in to finish my project.

I leaned into the 5/32" allen wrench that came with the joiner and twisted it about 70° or so. No problem, I say to myself, and go get the allen sockets out of the drawer, mount the right one on a 3/8" drive ratchet (no breaker, just the normal ratchet) and instantly broke the wrench off in the bolt.

So I dabbed some solvent on it and let it sit overnight. Today I went to Home Depot and bought the Rigid "guaranteed for life" allen set and, right away, twisted that bad boy up too.

What should I try next? Heat? Will I ruin the joiner if I apply heat, and if not, how do I get as specific as I need to be with that one little mounting screw? I don't want to destroy the blade's temper.

Any help appreciated...

AJ

[DARKPT]

I'm gonna guess it's sawdust that's holding that bolt in. Running so many biscuits in a row might have heated things up enough for the pitch in the dust to cook into a nice hard shell inside those threads. You might see if you can get your hands on a blade cleaning product used for cleaning the pitch off of table saw blades. I use Formula 2050 Blade and Bit Cleaner, and I think I got it at Woodcraft. If you can get that into the threads from both ends, you might dissolve enough of it to break it loose.

If it is baked sawdust, more heat isn't going to help. Good luck getting it out, but don't break it! Worst case, you now have a "permanent" regular jointer, and a new one could become your face frame jointer.

[rich grsc]

Do you have an electric solder gun? Hold it on the allen head bolt, that should get it hot enough. Dont worry, to change the blade temper, you would have to heat it till the metal turned red.

[Bob Barnett]

If I were you I would try some PB Blaster!

[AJ Roadster NJ]

Bob, my man, you saved the day. After reading your post I went out right away and bought a can of PB Blaster. I had my doubts because it smelled just like my gun cleaning solvent, which I had already tried. Anyway, I got it in there as best I could, then tapped on it lightly for a while to help the capillary action get the solvent down and into the bolt. I did this with the bolt head facing up and level to have gravity on my side in the fight.

I used a Bosch hex bit driver attached to my 1/8" ratchet and it didn't exactly come right off, but come off it did. The hex hole in the bolt head deformed slightly from the force I put into it, but in the end it came out and I'm happy.

I already have anti-sieze in the garage from the Roadster build and will apply that now when I replace the blade.

Zero kudos by the way, none at all, to Porter Cable, who were completely useless in helping out here even though this is a known problem with the tool. In talking with Lowe's yesterday, they told me they stopped carrying this tool because of this exact problem.

I do have to credit Lowe's, they told me that if I couldn't get it off and if PC kept stalling to just bring the machine to them and one way or another they would get me either a new machine or the old one fixed at no cost.

Whew. Now I can get back to that wine rack. It's almost done.

Thanks again Bob. I had never even heard of PB Blaster but will never be without it in the garage again.

AJ

[Bob Barnett]

Thanks again Bob. I had never even heard of PB Blaster but will never be without it in the garage again.

AJ

I'm glad it worked ut for you. PB Blaster is miracle juice!