I've posted it before but yes, I was renting a Vermeer bc1000xl and it threw the blades. We were sending 8" oak logs though it when all hell broke loose. The bolts snapped, threw one blade out the shoot in peices and the other fell down under the drum by the bedknife. Once we shut the machine down, we examined the blades to see if we could determine what happened. Turns out the rental company didn't sharpen the blades before sending it out each time. As a result, the blades were no sharper than my thumb. That doesn't chip oak well. And it seems maybe a renter prior to me had put metal or concrete through the machine too. The blades were dull and severely chipped and the deeper chips had rust in them indicating it hadn't been sharpened or serviced in a while. All that dullness put quite a strain on those bolts. In the end, the rental company sent it out to Vermeer to be fixed and they replaced the bedknife, drum, drum bearings, blades and bolts, all around $3500. Later on, after I found out the motor was less than 1 year old, I decided to buy the unit from the rental company considering it was basically brand new and has run great ever since.
Moral to the story, get the repairs done and keep yourself safe. It may cost some money to repair it the right way but in the end, what costs more, a one time fee to repair the machine or perhaps a lifetime of rehab or the cost of a life as a result of using and being killed or maimed by a bad machine? :monkey:
Also, as an aside, as a result of this episode mentioned above, I only use my bolts once and always replace with new every time I swap over or change out my blades.
