Refurbing power tools

[jgammon]

Me?

Well, I saw the Unisaw rebuild online (can't remember if it's FWW or PWW) this year and have sought and found a table saw all my own to refurb!

It's a nice step up from my current table saw (Craftsman with a cast aluminum top which I picked up 6 years ago for $12.50) as a Craftsman contractor saw with a cast iron top.

Sure, it's no Unisaw, but I don't have a 220v shop to put a nice cabinet saw in quite yet (note: YET). But the saw was absolutely FREE! It has sat outside under a shop awning for 5-6 years, so the first job was to excavate it from the rust. Here's my basic approach:

Get a sense of how the top fared in the exposure. DONE -- looks great with only minor pitting which doesn't look like it will ever interfere with the cuts. Used a brass brush wheel on a grinder to blow all that rust off. It was quite a chore, but the top came through unscathed by the brush. I recommend the T-9 Rust Remover with phosphoric acid in it. It's great stuff at getting that rust off followed up by the use of the Boeshield top coat. More use of the Rust Remover later in the process.

Do what you can to find the owner's manual. DONE -- And BOY WHAT AN ADVENTURE THAT WAS! www.searspartsdirect.com is a great place to start that journey if you can get a decent view of the model number (not always that easy with a Craftsman saw)

Take the entire thing apart and get it back into the home shop for the detailed cleaning and inspection.

The key issues with this saw are: the missing blade guard (Found on ebay) and needing to replace both pulleys (also found on ebay), the rusted nuts and bolts which made for difficulty in disassembly, and the motor mount clamping screws (as named in the manual) whose heads had sheared off.

A little Liquid Wrench, more of the phosphoric acid, and a healthy bit of elbow grease applied to a screw extractor got one of those clamping screws out, the other...well, let's say we've retapped a new hole.

In all, I've managed the rebuild/refurb of this saw according to a combination of the alluded-to video and the guidance of Kelley Mehler's The Tablesaw Book for tuning up and general maintenance of your table saw. Highly recommend the book.

So, the ebay parts aren't here yet, but as soon as they are we will finish the reassembly and get that puppy set up and hummin'!

I'll keep you posted.

BTW, I'm quite new to wood working. The most complex thing I've built is a display for a full-size replica of a football helmet and a trash can for the kitchen. But I'd like to build some Arts and Crafts furniture for our house we are building in a few years and also do some lutherie.

Would love to hear what machines you've found that you're bringing back to life!

PS> I'll soon have a table saw for sale....

[jwatson]

I have a 1949 shopsmith 10 ER my dad actually restored for me. I keep an eye for tools I think might be good for restoration. some of these old tools may lack some modern safety features but other than that they are great tools.

[minorhero]

I restore tools about as much as I do actual woodworking. It started off as just something necessary in order for me to build my shop but it has grown into a side hobby. My goal is ultimately to have nothing but old tools in my shop.

Any time you are dealing with woodworking tools 25 years and older that were built in america, then your best resource for information is going to be www.owwm.org (Old Wood Working Machines)

OWWM is a forum for folks who re-build, collect, sell, and repair old woodworking machines. There is some incredibly knowledgeable people there that can walk you through just about any problem you might encounter in a rebuild.

Here are some before and after pictures from my machines:

Walker Turner 15" drill press before, the first machine I ever rebuilt

After:

Dewalt 7790 Radial Arm Saw parts: didn't take a picture before teardown:

After:

Walker Turner 24" Scroll Saw before:

After:

Rockwell 28-200 14" Bandsaw before:

After:

Rockwell 46-111 Lathe Before:

After:

[minorhero]

Continuation (wouldn't allow me to post this many pictures in one post)

Powermatic model 60 8" Jointer Before:

After:

Parks Planer (currently in teardown process)

Every machine was disassembled down to the last nut and bolt, cleaned of rust/gunk, repainted where needed, re-oiled/greased, and reassembled. Sometimes parts needed to be replaced (frequently bearings) other times not so much.

On average it takes around 40 days to tear a machine down, clean everything, repaint, and rebuild. And on average I pay about 1/7th as much as a similar quality machine brand new.

[jimmykx250]

Cudos to you for the effort to rebuild an old saw. I myself started with a free-bee craftsman table saw that my brother was kind enough to pick out of the garbage for me. It was a 1hp model with stamped steel wing extensions. This thing was definately aged and the fence was never accurate. I always had to measure from the blade to the fence then check what the distance was from the fence to the mitre slot at that exact location and then check the fence at both ends to make sure it was parallel. That saw was a work horse! I did quite a bit of restoration on that saw as well- nice thing was alot of the parts are all over e-bay. My father passed away a couple years back and I inherited his 1-1/2 hp craftsman table saw with cast iron extensions and the exacti-fence upgrade (which i think he paid around 300 bucks for 15 years ago)! I can say this much I really dont have a strong desire to replace this thing it is truly a dream. The only reason i would want a cabinet saw upgrade would be for dust collection reasons otherwise i cant imagine ever taxing the horsepower on this thing. If you spend a little time tuning a saw like this you can get the most precise cuts compairable to a saw costing more than triple the cost of these things. I think there is a satisfing feeling of refurbishing an old tool like these and getting them to like new condition or better! If you are like me this woodworking thing will turn into one of the most gratifing hobbies ou will ever get into- and one bonus, all the people you meet that are into woodworking seem to be real genuine,sharing and always willing to help people. Once again cudos to you.

[Dyami Plotke]

Musicman,

Congrats on the new saw. I hope it's as fun to use as it seems to have been to restore. So far I've not restored any power tools, though I do like and trust old power tools. I just have my local tool repair place do the dirty work for me. Also, my old power tools tend to lean toward no longer available hand tools. I have a 15 or 20 year old Porter-Cable (Ridgid branded) right angle drill it took me over 2 years to find.

Apple Wood,

My goodness. You're quite the mechanic. Nice work. Can I bring you my band saw for a comprehensive tune up?

[petersb]

I am working on a 6" Craftsman jointer that I picked up for free. It seems to be in pretty good shape. I have removed the rust off of the working surfaces and I am trying to decide if I should repaint it or just clean it up the best that I can. I will eventually repaint the base that it is on, it is in rough shape.

[SamV]

Well It's all from my Grandpa's cabenet shop. 1955 delta bandsaw and 1948 Unisaw. Here is the beginning...More to follow

[jgammon]

I knew there had to be many more restoration projects out there than just mine.

Brett: I debated repainting the trunion and stand, but cosmetics on this aren't a large concern for me and the amount of rust/wear on them is quite low compared to other parts of the saw (the stand is mainly oxidation which I may remove with a car polish [still mulling that over], and the trunion was so caked with pitch and sawdust, that it kept the rust away!). But if it needs paint, man, go for it!

I've passed over a Unisaw on Craigslist that was motorless since I'm still working from my very crowded garage. I'm sure I'll find other used cabinet saws that need restoration when I'm ready.

My key desire in all of this was to have a saw that is more accurate and versatile than my current saw as well as to have less vibration. The cast iron top will help with the vibration. My saw model (113.298470) came with only one extension and it's a stamped wing. In the future, I will probably get the cast iron extensions that are available for it to increase the weight of the saw and further dampen the vibration. I am also going to either 1) reinforce the stand to reduce vibration further or 2) ditch the bottom half of the stand for a home-made stand/outfeed table where I can craft a custom dust collection capability as well. The latter appeals to me greatly because I can do some more woodworking to get what I need.

I've got this crazy plan to acquire tools that are just beyond my capacity to master. What I mean is that for things like a table saw, I'm not good enough at woodworking to justify the big cabinet saw or 14" band saw with riser block. But, I can get a good starter tool here and there (and maybe find hidden gems for great prices) and work with them until I outgrow them (I did the same with my guitars). Then I can move up to the next level of tool that will help me do something I can't do with what I have. Case in point: My current saw (aluminum top) isn't nearly powerful enough to run a quality dado set well. This new saw will help me get there. My current saw is pretty accurate, but not measurably 'precise' if you know what I mean. This new one is. So as my skills grow, so will my quality of tooling. I don't go low end every time...you'll never grow if you aren't using stuff of serviceable quality, but I feel more satisfaction knowing that my skills require the stuff that the higher end tools bring.

Keep the pics and stories coming! This is great!

[Timbot]

I restored a craftsman table saw as well! I worked on it last summer, and it's my first table saw! Check it out!

All told it took me quite some time to clean it all and repaint it, but it runs like a dream, and has yet to let me down!

Oh, and Apple Wood? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. You make tool restoration an art man.

[minorhero]

I am working on a 6" Craftsman jointer that I picked up for free. It seems to be in pretty good shape. I have removed the rust off of the working surfaces and I am trying to decide if I should repaint it or just clean it up the best that I can. I will eventually repaint the base that it is on, it is in rough shape.

Different folks have difference preferences on how far to take a tool restoration. Some folk will do what you are suggesting, basically just enough to get the machine working. There is nothing wrong with that and the machine will run great for years and years that way. Other folks like myself take it all apart, clean it up, repaint, and put it back together. Then there is a third category, folks that clean the old steel parts till the gleam like chrome, and repaint the machines using autobody paint. There are not a lot of folks that take things to this level, but their works are always impressive. Below is one such machine, it is not one of mine, it was rebuilt by Shane over at OWWM. When you look at his restores it sets the bar at a whole different level.

[jwatson]

beautiful!

[petersb]

Different folks have difference preferences on how far to take a tool restoration. Some folk will do what you are suggesting, basically just enough to get the machine working. There is nothing wrong with that and the machine will run great for years and years that way. Other folks like myself take it all apart, clean it up, repaint, and put it back together. Then there is a third category, folks that clean the old steel parts till the gleam like chrome, and repaint the machines using autobody paint. There are not a lot of folks that take things to this level, but their works are always impressive. Below is one such machine, it is not one of mine, it was rebuilt by Shane over at OWWM. When you look at his restores it sets the bar at a whole different level.

In my mind, I would love to rework a machine to look that nice. I just don't have the patience to do that when I actually need to use the tool that is being worked on. I do really appreciate those people that take the time to do work, like the one you have pictured there. I could stare at the details of that tool for most of the day if I had the time.

[mikem]

I bought an older craftsman table saw this past winter through Craigslist. The model plate is covered up, but I believe it is a 113.298xxx. Not really restoring it as much as modernizing it, without breaking the bank. The saw cuts very nice. The first thing I did to it, which was recently, was put a zero clearance insert and splitter on it. I think the next thing I am going to do to it is put a new fence on it. I had been looking at putting the incra ts on it, but it would be awhile to do it as even the base model is $400. I have found I can get the Delta T2 for less than half and the modifications needed to make it fit can be easily done on the drill press, so I am thinking of doing that while the weather is still warm. This is at the top of my list as the fence is original, and it takes a lot of extra effort to make sure the The belt will need replacing some point in the near future, and when that happens, I will replace it with those new link belts. Finally, I think I am going to attempt to make my own over-arm blade gaurd.

[jwallweyfoundry]

I to would love to rebuild my tools to that state but then I would be upset with every piece of sawdust that was on it. I recently rebuilt my unisaw this was before

I now have it up and running but still wanted to put some flames at the bottom like some of the powermatic's come with as an option.

this is after

I still have some things i want to work better on this one but I am of the mind set that get it up and running and then I use it and it never gets more repair till is wont work at all. My suggestion is to get it to a place where you can use it and are proud of it. If that for you is to get it back to factory more power to you and you are more than welcome to come and rebuilt a couple of tools I have. I just seem to find a use for it before it is back up and running. The only other solution for me it to have two of each tool (i am working on that to)that way you can have one in pieces and the other one usable.