A missing part found...

In my post of February 11, I discussed one of the problems that I was having in restoring my DeWalt Powershop 780 12" Radial Saw...that being, that the height adjustment mechanism needed to be reworked in order to prevent it from turning inside the main column.  I had to dismount the saw from the stand in order to get  thing home and assumed that I had lost a critical piece in the process of doing so.

The mechanism consists of a turn screw housed inside a shaft that is attached to the elevating handle on the top of the saw by way of a set screw.  Turning the handle raises and lowers the blade to the proper cutting height above the worktable. 

Everything topside worked fine, but the bottom end of the shaft was unsecured.  Thus, when turning the elevating handle, the turn screw did not move in and out of the shaft, but rather, the entire shaft turned inside the column.  As a result, the depth of cut could not be adjusted.

Upon examining the shaft and finding that it had a hole drilled in it, the obvious conclusion was that it had originally been fastened to the base on one side only.  The question was "how?" 

I decided that the easiest solution was to drill a second hole in the shaft directly opposite the original one so that a fastener could be inserted through the bolt holes in the base of the saw, securing the shaft on both sides

Following a trip to the hardware store,  I returned home with a number of options to fasten the shaft to the base, including a few spring pins of various sizes.  After a couple of fittings, I settled on one of the spring pins.

Using a ball peen hammer and a pin punch, I carefully drove the spring pin through the bolt holes in the base and through the shaft.  Oddly enough, I felt resistance against the pin as I was doing so.  Looking up through the underside of the base, I discovered that the new spring pin had wedged itself inside the original spring pin that had apparently been wedged inside one of the bolt holes.  

Figuring that two pins were likely better than one, I continued to drive the new spring pin through the shaft.

The end result was that the original spring pin wedged in nicely into the left bolt hole of the base and the new spring pin is wedged into the old one, providing a bit of extra stability through the right bolt hole. 

The shaft is now securely fastened and the column raises and lowers just as it should!  While I was at it, I also replaced the damaged electrical cord.  The saw will still need a good cleaning and lubrication, but the two main issues have been addressed and I have no doubt it will be in operation soon.