pm 66 ?

[cameron bailey]

I have a powermatic 66 with a 5hp baldor motor. When I rise the blade it will move to the left .03". I have tighten the hex nut and set screw. The blade is at .0005" of the miter slot and stays 90 deg. from .5" to 3" in blade highth.
Any ideas what could be wrong? There is no blade run out.

[Joe Chritz]

First welcome.

Second I think I am confused. The blade moves left .03 and is still parallel with the miter slots? Is this just the first 1/2 inch or somewhere else. The second part of your question would indicate that it is aligned correctly if it is .0005 at all heights.

Any problem with the blade is likely to be in the trunnions but perhaps if you clarify the problem a bit we can get an answer for you.

Joe

[Karl Brogger]

There's a circlip on the shaft that the trunnion pivots on. Some how on my Model 66 this came loose. I took a big pry bar pushed it over, replaced the circlip, pushed it back into place and tightened the nut. Some how the original clip had started to deform and that's how the whole assembly was moving around on me. I think mine was going to the right though.

[cameron bailey]

I will have to check that. When I first started to try to fix this the hex nut on the shaft was loose and the motor was sagging. I could lift the motor up and down and move the blade.
I was wrong. I checked it at every 1/2" today and came up with this.
I put a dot on the blade just under a tooth and checked it on the dot from front to back. This is the outcome. The blade stayed at 90 deg from below the table to 3 1/8" above the table. But it did not stay squared with the miter slot.
At 3 1/8" it was .000", 2 7/8" .000", 2 1/2" .004", 2" .0075", 1 1/2" .009",
1" .012", 1/2" .008". But every time I lowered the blade it was a shorter distance from the front to the back of the blade.
Thanks for looking and the help.

[cameron bailey]

Ok, I am still trying to figure this out. I have pulled everything out of the saw and put it back together. I have been working on this for over a month know and am going crazy. I have been on the phone to powermatic 3 times now and they have no idea what is wrong. I have pulled the worm gears and cleaned all the pitch out of them. I pulled the pivot bolt and it is not bent. The sir clips are not bent and met up flush with the trunnion.
I bought this saw used and it has been like this from day one. The guy I bought this from used it to rough build his house. The saw could have been like this from powermatic and never noticed due to the way it was used.
Her is a short clip of what it is doing. If any one can help it would be great.
I bought this saw used so I could get a pm 66 made in the states with a baldor 5 hp motor. But I am about ready to sell it and get a saw stop if I can not get it set up right.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6461650286894878986&hl=en

[cameron bailey]

Any Idea's?
Thanks

[Travis Porter]

How did you verify the blade is square to the table?

Have you checked the blade from both sides and front to back?

The reason I ask this is when I had my PM66 the top was dished on one side of the blade opening and not the other.

[cameron bailey]

I used a Machinist Square, and a Digital Angle Guage.
I did check both sides. I just put a straight edge on the top of the table on both sides of the blade and it does not look like it has sagged at all.

[Travis Porter]

I am just making suggestions/comments. It is odd. I did a bunch of checks on my saw before I got it where I wanted it. Of course, then I sold it.

Have you tried a different blade? Do you get the same results?

Have you checked your trunnion assembly to ensure it is snug? At one point in time I did not have the trunnion assembly snugged up to the carriage. Caused me all kinds of grief.

How much runout do you have in the arbor?

If I remember correctly, the up down mechanism needs to be centered in the gear assembly. Is yours? This seems to stand out to me for some reason.

How smooth is the up down?

[cameron bailey]

I am just making suggestions/comments. It is odd. I did a bunch of checks on my saw before I got it where I wanted it. Of course, then I sold it.

Have you tried a different blade? Do you get the same results?

Have you checked your trunnion assembly to ensure it is snug? At one point in time I did not have the trunnion assembly snugged up to the carriage. Caused me all kinds of grief.

How much runout do you have in the arbor?

If I remember correctly, the up down mechanism needs to be centered in the gear assembly. Is yours? This seems to stand out to me for some reason.

How smooth is the up down?


All suggestions/comments are all appreciated. I have tried different blades with the the same results. This last time I worked on it. I took the whole trunnion apart and put it back together except for the arbor. Everything is centered and tight. I just have not put the motor back on yet.
There is no run out on the arbor.
The gear is centered and I adjusted it so there would be no slop and it moves up and down smooth with no binding.
Thanks

[Travis Porter]

I broke out my online manual. Looking at it the trunion assembly pivots up and down on a very large stud. Based on what you show in your video (which I watched several times) it is like the nut is not secure enough or the stud (called the saw arm pivot shaft) itself is bent/warped slightly, or the bearing arm is not parallel.

can you rotate the stud possibly?

PS - when I had trouble with my PM66 I didn't find much assistance from WMH either. I would get promised call backs, follow ups, etc and they never happened. Now I have a PM209HH planer and find the manual contradicts itself and I haven't gotten very far getting feed issues resolved with it.

[cameron bailey]

I broke out my online manual. Looking at it the trunion assembly pivots up and down on a very large stud. Based on what you show in your video (which I watched several times) it is like the nut is not secure enough or the stud (called the saw arm pivot shaft) itself is bent/warped slightly, or the bearing arm is not parallel.

can you rotate the stud possibly?

PS - when I had trouble with my PM66 I didn't find much assistance from WMH either. I would get promised call backs, follow ups, etc and they never happened. Now I have a PM209HH planer and find the manual contradicts itself and I haven't gotten very far getting feed issues resolved with it.


I took the pivot shaft out and rolled it on my table there is no high spots. The nut is as tight as it would get and there is no play or movement in it.
At this point all I can think of it that the pivot arm is bent or the holes were drilled wrong. I just do not know of a way to tell and hate to have to
start buying parts until it is fixed. My luck I would end up buying 50 parts before I get the right one.
Thanks

[Travis Porter]

I took the pivot shaft out and rolled it on my table there is no high spots. The nut is as tight as it would get and there is no play or movement in it.
At this point all I can think of it that the pivot arm is bent or the holes were drilled wrong. I just do not know of a way to tell and hate to have to
start buying parts until it is fixed. My luck I would end up buying 50 parts before I get the right one.
Thanks

I can easily see buying several parts and my luck being what it was, none of them would be right......

Thinking about it, it would seem where the stud mounts to the trunnion frame would be the likely culprit, and I don't see much adjustment there.

[cameron bailey]

I can easily see buying several parts and my luck being what it was, none of them would be right......

Thinking about it, it would seem where the stud mounts to the trunnion frame would be the likely culprit, and I don't see much adjustment there.

I agree, After looking at it some more I put a dial indicator on the pivot shaft (see picture) and when I moved the blade up and down there was no movement at all. But I did notice light showing through the back side of the frame where the pivot shaft nut meets up (see picture). When I raise and lower the blade the gap stays in the same place. So I am thinking the holes where not drilled at 90 deg? When I back the nut off a little a gap will show on both sides of the frame but nothing changes.
Thanks for all your replies.

[Jason White]

Awhile back, I read about a guy who removed the cast-iron table from the cabinet in order to transport the saw. When he did that, the factory-installed "shims" between the cabinet and the table fell out, throwing everything off.

Is there a chance your shims are missing?

Jason



I have a powermatic 66 with a 5hp baldor motor. When I rise the blade it will move to the left .03". I have tighten the hex nut and set screw. The blade is at .0005" of the miter slot and stays 90 deg. from .5" to 3" in blade highth.
Any ideas what could be wrong? There is no blade run out.

[William M Johnson]

It appears that you may have some axial play on the shaft that the arbor rotates on. I would place the dial indicator down inside on that shaft to see if it moves. There has to be some device to keep the assembly from sliding on the shaft. It appears that a side load is being introduced by cranking the handle. You need to find out what counteracts the side loading.

[Travis Porter]

I think you have found your culprit. Now how do you tell which hole is not drilled at 90 degrees?

[CPeter James]

I have a PM66 and as I remember it, there are three mounting points for the table. I think that the table and trunion assembly are not parallel because you need shimms on one of the rear mounting points. When you raise the blade, it is coming up at an angle to the table because the pivot bolt is not parallel to the table.

CPeter

[cameron bailey]

I have a PM66 and as I remember it, there are three mounting points for the table. I think that the table and trunion assembly are not parallel because you need shimms on one of the rear mounting points. When you raise the blade, it is coming up at an angle to the table because the pivot bolt is not parallel to the table.

CPeter

I have never had the top off so I do not know if the shims are in there or not. I will have to look. There is 3 mounting points with two in the front and one in the rear. I will add some and see if it helps. I hope this is it.
Thanks