PM 66 Table Saw tuneup question

[Scott Davis]

I got an old PM 66 that I took apart to clean out inside and get tuned up and squared away. I have not tuned up a table saw before, having not really had one worth doing so previously. I followed some tips from a Youtube video by the Wood Whispererer.

It runs great, I hear no trouble with the bearings. They spin easily and silently. They look OK on inspection. The belts look fine. The saw has very low hours for it's age, it was always a hobbyist saw, and sat for long periods in all likelihood. The saw in 19 years old so I thought to replace them, but I don't think I have the proper tools or experience. Doing so requires removing the pulley and I don't know how to tension that. I don't have a bearing press to get them back in. I figured I would just roll with the ones I have until I note a problem.

A few questions:

1) I followed these tips because I don't have a special gauge to check parallelism and runout. Is this critical? If so, does anyone have a link to one they would suggest?

2) When you go to turn my blade, to check a single tooth front and back, it has a "memory". You can turn it about a quarter turn and it wants to come back. You can turn it a half a turn and it want to go forward a bit. It doesn't turn and then just stop at any point like the saw in the video. I reasoned this must be because it has not been run for 5 years, and now the belts probably have a memory to a certain oval shape. I don't know if this signifies a problem or not. Anyone's thoughts?

3) I the blade lined up using this video's tips till it was just right. I think there may be some run out, as I turn the blade, most teeth just barely touch my ruler the same way, but a few don't touch, indicating to me either the teeth are different, the blade is warped or untrue, or there is run out. I am not sure if this is normal or not, and thought this may be the reason that you check a single tooth front and back rather than different teeth.

I appreciate any help.

Scott

[Todd Burch]

Hi Scott. I have a '97 PM 66, so my saw is only 3 years newer than yours. I bought mine new.

I would bet the runout is the blade, but if you have multiple blades, you can test this. Or, take it to a sharpener and he can test the runout of the blade. Allowable runout on the arbor is .003".

I suspect your bearings are fine - don't jack with them. If the blade spins freely without the belts on - you are good to go. These saws are built to last, and permanently sealed bearings don't go bad by just sitting.

I suspect your "blade memory" is the belt. No big deal - replace them if they are cracked. Otherwise, I would just use the saw.

The top is easy to adjust - 3 bolts, but I think you said you did that. Someone makes a dial indicator setup - I hosted a woodworking club "special interest group" at my shop several years ago, and someone brought their jig. We adjusted my saw - it was out more than I thought it would be. I had to tweak some of my jigs after that! Worth it though.

Congrats! That saw should provide good service to you and whoever gets it next.

Todd

[John McClanahan]

I have a 1983 PM66. Everything Todd said is spot on. Age is no problem, these saws will last forever!

John

[Scott Davis]

OK, my blades are all pretty old hand me down blades, my Dad thinks they are very good quality, the labels are hard to read though. I will take them to a blade guy to look them over and see if there is run out or if they should all just be replaced with 3 new ones (I figure a rip, crosscut, and GP blade).

Do I need a dial gauge to adjust this appropriately?
Do I need to check the arbor itself for runout using some kind of jig with a dial gauge?

thanks, I want to make sure to set it up safely, and learn the best and most efficient technique

[Jeremy Brant]

Dial gauges are very helpful in fine tuning the saw. I have a pm66 built sometime in the late 80's (can't remember exactly). The belts were bad in mine when I got it a couple years ago. I initially replaced them with the same size belts from the auto parts place down the road. I didn't know better and quite honestly they worked fine. Once I got 'smart' I replaced them with the correct matched set that I picked up on eBay. You may have some vibration from the belt memory. What you can do is de-tension the belts and rotate 2 of them so they are in different positions than the existing memory. Re-tension and give that a shot.

[ken carroll]

Scott
"AX" type belts are better than the 4L belts specified for the PM66. From memory I believe you need AX23 belts but please check as my memory is sometimes faulty!
As far as a dial caliper, no you don't need to be that obsessive about parallelism. I guess there's no downside other than time and money spent on a dial caliper but a simple combination square int eh miter slot against a marked tooth front and back is adequate IMO.

Another test you might want to do is to check blade parallelism with the blade tilted to 45degrees. I had a table saw one time that was dead nuts at 90deg but quite poor at 45deg requiring shimming of the table top. My PM66 does not suffer this issue
but any older saw should be checked.