john lawson
02-03-2011, 8:35 PM
For anyone who may be interested, I took pictures today of my 1984 Centauro CO
600 24" that I restored. I still need to put the fence on the table (it needed
one more coat of paint).
I started by disassembling the complete machine and stripping the paint. I was
able to get the original color, or very close, from Sherwin Williams. The
machine itself had quite a bit of rust so I wire brushed it, bought some
phosphoric acid and went over the whole body of the machine, wire brushed it
again, then primed it with an acid wash primer. It was a PITA process so I hope
it works as far as preventing any of the rust from reocurring. I then sprayed on
two coats of enamel.
I used EVAPORUST to take off most of the rust from the bare iron and steel
parts. If you have never used this product it is great. It works well and is
not toxic. I made a couple of containers that fit specific parts then lined the
container with plastic; dumped in the evaporust and left them for a week. After
I dried them I used an angle grinder with a wire brush to clean them up. I used
it on the top, the blade guard, and all the bolts and nuts etc.
The lower door latch was missing so I made one out of maple, painted it black
and then put in a cabinet latch. It now works better than the top door with the
original latch. I also had to make an insert for the saw blade.
I only have single phase power and thought long and hard before deciding to
keep the original three phase motor. I had an electrician friend check it out
with a meter and he said it looked ok to him. So, I bought a 3hp inverter vfd
from Dealers Industrial Equipment for $184.00 plus shipping.
http://dealerselectric.com/item.asp?PID=737
That saved me from having to hassle with a new frame motor, pulley and belts.
In addition the new drive gives me deceleration motor braking that is
adjustable. So far so good, it runs great.
The wheels are well balanced and the bearings look good so I left them as is.
One part was broken on the original Carter Precision Guides, and Carter wanted
$70 (they would only sell a set of parts) so I was able to fabricate the part
out of aluminum instead of the original zinc die casting, but it should work
fine where it is located. The bearings were shot in both guides and I was able
to knock them out so that will be a quick fix as soon as they arrive. These
guides are new to me and seem finicky to adjust so I will wait and use them for
awhile before deciding whether to keep them (my last saw was a Laguna with the
ceramic guides and I really like them).
After painting I added a set of Great Lakes Leveling Casters. They are really nice, much cheaper than Zambuss (may not be as good)
I fired it up today and it ran great. The factory setting on the brake was 5
seconds and there is so much inertia it caused the vfd to overload, so I set it
to 15 seconds and it works great! I have only the old rusty 1/2" blade that came with it and
I am waiting on some new ones to arrive. So, when the new bearing and blades
arrive I should be good to go.
Thanks for looking and let me know if you have any questions.
600 24" that I restored. I still need to put the fence on the table (it needed
one more coat of paint).
I started by disassembling the complete machine and stripping the paint. I was
able to get the original color, or very close, from Sherwin Williams. The
machine itself had quite a bit of rust so I wire brushed it, bought some
phosphoric acid and went over the whole body of the machine, wire brushed it
again, then primed it with an acid wash primer. It was a PITA process so I hope
it works as far as preventing any of the rust from reocurring. I then sprayed on
two coats of enamel.
I used EVAPORUST to take off most of the rust from the bare iron and steel
parts. If you have never used this product it is great. It works well and is
not toxic. I made a couple of containers that fit specific parts then lined the
container with plastic; dumped in the evaporust and left them for a week. After
I dried them I used an angle grinder with a wire brush to clean them up. I used
it on the top, the blade guard, and all the bolts and nuts etc.
The lower door latch was missing so I made one out of maple, painted it black
and then put in a cabinet latch. It now works better than the top door with the
original latch. I also had to make an insert for the saw blade.
I only have single phase power and thought long and hard before deciding to
keep the original three phase motor. I had an electrician friend check it out
with a meter and he said it looked ok to him. So, I bought a 3hp inverter vfd
from Dealers Industrial Equipment for $184.00 plus shipping.
http://dealerselectric.com/item.asp?PID=737
That saved me from having to hassle with a new frame motor, pulley and belts.
In addition the new drive gives me deceleration motor braking that is
adjustable. So far so good, it runs great.
The wheels are well balanced and the bearings look good so I left them as is.
One part was broken on the original Carter Precision Guides, and Carter wanted
$70 (they would only sell a set of parts) so I was able to fabricate the part
out of aluminum instead of the original zinc die casting, but it should work
fine where it is located. The bearings were shot in both guides and I was able
to knock them out so that will be a quick fix as soon as they arrive. These
guides are new to me and seem finicky to adjust so I will wait and use them for
awhile before deciding whether to keep them (my last saw was a Laguna with the
ceramic guides and I really like them).
After painting I added a set of Great Lakes Leveling Casters. They are really nice, much cheaper than Zambuss (may not be as good)
I fired it up today and it ran great. The factory setting on the brake was 5
seconds and there is so much inertia it caused the vfd to overload, so I set it
to 15 seconds and it works great! I have only the old rusty 1/2" blade that came with it and
I am waiting on some new ones to arrive. So, when the new bearing and blades
arrive I should be good to go.
Thanks for looking and let me know if you have any questions.