Easy Wood Tools Ci2 blade stuck

So I was working on turning some pens and as I usually do, I changed out the normal blades on the Ci2 and Ci0 with my negative rake ones. Well, when I was finished up and tried to remove my NR rounded square, the allen key just spun but the screw did not budge, I didnt tighten it too much I dont believe, but it seems stuck.

I put the tool in the same drawer as has the red box with the allen keys and also left the original blade (with a brand new screw in a clear little bag) in that drawer as well. If someone is able to get that screw off, I would like to recover my blade. You’re more than welcome to use that new screw to keep with the tool.

Thanks and sorry!

Thanks for reporting. This is a general issue, I think, meaning it has happened several times before and seems to be happening with increasing frequency now.

I am not 100% sure, but I believe it is due to using the wrong allen wrench set, i.e. using a metric set when the correct set would be SAE, or vice-versa (I am not sure what actual set/size of required wrench actually is). Using the wrong set such that wrench that fits close enough that it works a few times but tends to strip it a little each time until no wrench can grab is probably what’s happening here. It’s possible that EWT may have switched to screws that are just made more cheaply, i.e. from softer metal, but I tend to doubt it.

I’m not suggesting you did this, probably you just got stuck holding the hot potato (or is it ‘potatoe’?). A non-enforceable, non-verifiable, non-everything solution is to make sure people know to use only the allen wrenches supplied with the EWT cutters, vs. any old allen wrench set of unknown quality and size that might be sitting conveniently nearby.

Dear lathe instructors (@talkers, @Lordrook, @Nate, @jnorine, @jlcourtman ), do you concur?

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That does seem to happen frequently. Happens to me at home too so I can only surmise they have cheaped out on their screws in the last couple of years. I wonder if we shouldnt consider cutting some grooves in the screw heads before we install a new one so we can just use a flathead screwdriver.

If it is the alen wrench size issue then I will say that folks tend to walk away with them all the time so outside of doing this (below) not sure how to solve for that.

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I’ve had to drill out four in recent months so yeah, it’s happening

I had a new Ryobi band saw strip out the hex set screws the first damn day. I went to Lowe’s and bought some replacements from the parts drawers and they were much better quality.

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Maybe picking up some quality replacement setscrews (from McMaster, Grainger or ??) would help?

And perhaps add a label on the handle(s) clarifying the hex head size?

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And make sure it is stressed in any lathe intro classes. Or any lathe classes, really.

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Notches have been added to some of the screws for flat head use

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