New (old) Craftsman 113 Table Saw questions

[John Emwonk]

Hi all,

At the suggestion of one of the forum members, I decided to seek out a Craftsman 113 model table saw, model number 113.298240. The blade was slightly off kilter so we adjusted the trunnions.

It seems to run very well, but when it slows down the motor and belt wobble. The belt looks as if it is running off center during the last revolutions when the saw comes to a stop. Is that normal? It runs smooth at full speed.

Any suggestions on what to do to enhance or improve the saw? The original fence it came with seems like it will be difficult to adjust correctly parallel to the blade.

btw, I paid $100 for it. Is that an ok deal?

[Rick Potter]

Hi John,

There are a few standard suggestions for that saw. My dad had one, and made a lot of nice stuff. The usual advice is to get a link belt, a set of PALs to adjust the table and a set of steel pulleys. This should smooth it out noticeably, and make the top really easy to adjust to the blade. I think Peachtree has it all, or check with Inline Industries (?). Jerry there is the guru.

You can occasionally find a nice fence on CL, or, more often find a saw with the nice fence...buy it, switch, sell it.

Rick Potter

[Troy Turner]

+1 for Rick. If you have a harbor freight in the area, they have green link belts, plus you can use one of their coupons. Depending on your budget for a fence, I'd recommend a Vega. Bought one and it bolted right up to my C-man saw.

[John Emwonk]

Thanks. Ironic seeing a $250 fence for a $100 saw but I understand the need. Just stings a little.

I'll try to track down Jerry.

Is the belt the reason it runs smooth at speed but wobbles near the end of the slow-down?

[Rick Moyer]

Are the pulleys square to the shafts and the allen screws tight enough?

[Rick Potter]

Old belts that sit for a while take a 'set', kind of like tires with 'flat spots'.

[Jon Wilson]

Having just purchased a 113.299xxx I am very familiar with your situation.

As far as the wobble, be sure that your pulleys are square to one another,
Be sure your allen screws are set on both pulleys, then I would check to make
sure the motor and motor mounts are in place and fully secured and then RUN to your
nearest Harbor Freight (with coupon in hand) to purchase one of their
link belts. With those first few things done the saw should purr like a kitty cat.

Next up a PALS system for adjusting the blade.

Then a nice fence to replace the POS that came with those saws.

You can at your leisure switch these around to your liking.
I went operational first and then functional.

Didn'tmake much sense to me to have a really nice square and everything else was ho-hum.

As an aside, I had a lock washer fall out of my saw a few days after I had it up and running,
which turned out to be a blessing in disguise... I got the opportunity to completely dismantle the saw,
clean it all up, lube all the moving parts and then put it all back together. All in all it was an awesome experience.
** I have to be truthful about this, I had a lot of help and encouragement from other SMC members **

If you have any questions, or need any advice, let me know either here or through PMs

[Joe Hillmann]

Does it make acceptable quality cuts? If so I would just use it as is.

As far as the fence not being square if you look on woodgears.ca you will find several examples of homemade fences that cost very little to make.

[Troy Turner]

Thanks. Ironic seeing a $250 fence for a $100 saw but I understand the need. Just stings a little.



Good thing is, if/when you upgrade, you can keep the fence and stick it on your new saw :D Yeah, buying a fence that costs more than the saw will get you...but you'll thank yourself later.

[Myk Rian]

Is the belt the reason it runs smooth at speed but wobbles near the end of the slow-down?
Motors have a capacitor which acts as a brake during shutdown. Don't worry about it.

[John Emwonk]

Thank you all for this wonderful help.

I bought the saw based on advice from this forum and I'm already very impressed with the difference in quality from my 12-year-old craftsman "limited-edition" saw.

I just had some surgery to day that will make my left arm pretty much worthless for six weeks, so I'm going to brush up on the enhancement techniques suggested here and look forward to being able to use both arms again.

[Curt Harms]

Good thing is, if/when you upgrade, you can keep the fence and stick it on your new saw :D Yeah, buying a fence that costs more than the saw will get you...but you'll thank yourself later.

That's what I did. Bought a Mule Cab fence for the Craftsman saw, the Griz 1023 came with a crappy Jet Lock knockoff fence, crappy Jet Lock fence went on the Craftsman, Mule Cab fence on Grizzly.

[John Emwonk]

All,

Thanks again for the help. I just picked up the Linkbelt at Harbor freight.

Is it possible to get a good fence or less than the $260 Vega that was recommended? Also how do I verify the pulleys are square? Will a square on the shaft work?

[Troy Turner]

There's fences out there that are less than the Vega...I want to say a Delta fence or some sort, but can't remember which one. You want to make sure they're in line with each other. A straight edge touching each pulley at the same time will help verify.

[Lee Schierer]

Motors have a capacitor which acts as a brake during shutdown. Don't worry about it.

I don't think so. The capacitors create a phase shift that allows the motor to start, but it does nothing for braking.

As for the saw alignment. Make sure the motor is mounted parallel to the table. It hangs on a bracket off the back and the weight of the motor tensions the belt. If one or more of the mounting bolts is loose or missing the motor could be crooked which would cause the belt to run funny.

[Curt Harms]

All,

Thanks again for the help. I just picked up the Linkbelt at Harbor freight.

Is it possible to get a good fence or less than the $260 Vega that was recommended? Also how do I verify the pulleys are square? Will a square on the shaft work?

This would likely be my choice. Delta T2 $179+$8.99 shipping for me.

http://www.toolbarn.com/delta-36t30.html?gclid=CJLNq4bu6bwCFVLxOgodpCYAQw

To align pulleys either a straight edge or I've heard of a string being used.

[Dick Brown]

Lee is right on about the motor mounted parallel to the saw. I have redone a bunch of these old saws and to get everything lined up true, more often than not I have to shim the base on the pulley end of the motor. Usually, one or two washers between the motor base and the mount will do it. One of the things I see very often is the little 1/4" bolt that keeps the motor from tipping away from the saw if the belt is removed is tightened down to where the motor won't move to keep tension on the belt. When it is tightened down the belt will either be slack and slip or tight to the point of damage to the saw when raised or lowered. As far as alignment of the pulleys, a straight edge is great but if you are putting it on the outside of the rim, pulleys need to be the same distance from the center of the "V" to the outside. I have found that a visual check after everything is in place, aligned as best you can and been run to find it's "comfort zone" will tell you if it needs any further adjustments. Just eyeball down the belt and if anything is wrong, you will see a slight bend in the belt where it starts around the pulley. Works for me.

[John Emwonk]

Thank you all for the wonderful help. There is so much knowledge on this forum that is invaluable.

I am underway with the upgrades everyone has suggested.

Meanwhile a dark thought occurred to me: what is the dust collection recommendation for this saw? DC hose above and below blade? Or something else?

thanks again

[Troy Turner]

Defiantly something below. A lot of folks have made something or another, and depending on the size of your d/c will determine what you put down there. I used to close my saw (back included) off as much as I could and had a 2 1/2" hose running to the bottom. Did ok I reckon. Better than nothing. Then I came across a Jet d/c with 6" inlet scaled down to 4". I bought what's called a "big gulp" and screwed it to the bottom. Now I leave the back opened so I don't choke it out and I'm going to bet it catches 90% of the dust. Overhead is a different story. I don't have anything yet, but a lot of guys go with a sharkguard or build their own.

[Curt Harms]

I did a mobile cart/base with built-in dust collection. Rectangular frame with the saw sitting across the narrow dimension on angle irons. The frame interior had a sloping plywood floor high in the front low in the back by the motor. The sides below the saw sloped sort of like a farm grain wagon.
http://www.e-ztrail.com/grain.php
I put fixed casters about 1/3 of the way from back to front and two handles in the front so it was sort of like a wheel barrow. I was concerned about it being tippy but I made the frame wider than the saw body and covered the top on either side of the saw. The dust collector attachment was where the door is on the wagons. It worked pretty well with a dust collector. I doubt something like what I built would work with a shop vac, there wouldn't be enough air flow volume.

[John Emwonk]

Hi John,

There are a few standard suggestions for that saw. My dad had one, and made a lot of nice stuff. The usual advice is to get a link belt, a set of PALs to adjust the table and a set of steel pulleys. This should smooth it out noticeably, and make the top really easy to adjust to the blade. I think Peachtree has it all, or check with Inline Industries (?). Jerry there is the guru.

You can occasionally find a nice fence on CL, or, more often find a saw with the nice fence...buy it, switch, sell it.

Rick Potter

i tried twice to reach Jerry via the customer service form but no response. I'll try a phone call.

i had to take a break while recovering from surgery, but I have managed to build a rolling base with one good arm, and got the screws needed to adjust the plate the blade sticks through.

what is the "exacticut" function? Necessary? Are the parts still available somewhere? I see a plastic yellow plug in the table top but instructions are spotty.

[Rick Potter]

As I understand it, you take a straight edge, place it along the edge of the blade teeth, and scratch a line in the yellow plastic. This tells you where your cut line it when you use the miter gage.

Rick Potter

PS: If you are looking for the PALS adjustment kit, try Peachtree Woodworking, they have everything you need, as well as the link belt.

[Stew Hagerty]

I thought I would post a couple of photos of my vintage Craftsman and the mods I have made to it.

286198286203

I sealed it up the best I can and hooked it up to my DC.

I added a Vega U50 fence (FANTASTIC upgrade!!!), and built a cabinet under the extension.

I also replaced the small original cranks with a pair of cast iron handwheels that I bought from Grizzly. That made a huge improvement in easy of use.

A couple other things...

I put on a "Leg-Up", which is a great add-on for a one man shop.

Of course, I put on a link belt & steel pulleys, and PALS.

I use thin kerf Freud blades, I have two really good miter gauges (an Osborne EB-3, and an Incra V120 with a piece of Woodpeckers Superfence attached), as well as several sleds & jigs.

And you know what? I have a pretty darn good saw. Oh sure it's a bit underpowered when I'm cutting 8/4 stock, but I don't do that every day. I'm a one man shop, primarily a hobbyist with the occasional outside the family project. Maybe someday I'll move up to a Hybrid or 110V Cabinet Saw, but for right now... this works just fine.

[John Emwonk]

Will that fence you mention above fit my craftsman 113?

It seems to be wider, but I'm not at home so I can't measure. It also goes 50 inches from the blade? I'm certain my saw table is not 50 inches wide. Do these fences come with their own rails or is the factory rail used?

how would your fence compare to this one?

another guy here recommended this less expensive one. Now I'm stuck!

http://www.toolbarn.com/delta-36t30.html?gclid=CJLNq4bu6bwCFVLxOgodpCYAQw

[Stew Hagerty]

Will that fence you mention above fit my craftsman 113?

It seems to be wider, but I'm not at home so I can't measure. It also goes 50 inches from the blade? I'm certain my saw table is not 50 inches wide. Do these fences come with their own rails or is the factory rail used?

how would your fence compare to this one?

another guy here recommended this less expensive one. Now I'm stuck!

http://www.toolbarn.com/delta-36t30.html?gclid=CJLNq4bu6bwCFVLxOgodpCYAQw

Hi John,

Since I was the last to post in this thread, I assume that you were talking to me.

The Vega fences are a direct bolt-on for virtually all of the older Craftsman saws. As I said, I have the U50 model and added an extension table to the right to accommodate the long fence rails. They also make a 26" model for those that do not want or need the longer top.

As for a comparison to the Delta... They are both good fence systems. But, since I have never installed a Delta onto a saw like this, I can't speak from direct experience. I don't know that the Delta will be a direct bolt-on the way the Vega is. The Vega is intended as an after-market replacement, where the Delta is simply the one that they use for their own saws that they are selling separately. One thing that I really like about the Vega, is the micro-adjustment feature. I use it all the time when fine tuning a cut.

If you have questions give the guy at Vega a call. He is very happy to help with any questions or problems you may have. It's a really great company with personal service. For me, that means a lot!

Oh, and one more thing... The Vega is Made in the USA.

[John Emwonk]

Thanks Stew

I'll give the guy at Vega a call. I was happy to see that company is near my home town.

[Dave Cullen]

what is the "exacticut" function? Necessary? Are the parts still available somewhere? I see a plastic yellow plug in the table top but instructions are spotty.

That yellow plastic plug is the "Exacticut" dohicky. It has a slightly rough surface that takes a pencil line very nicely. You cut a board or piece of laminate and use the cut edge to scribe a thin pencil line across the yellow insert. Repeat for the other side of blade (with miter gage). You now have 2 pencil lines that exactly line up with the saw blade. It's the nicest feature of my saw IMO.

[Stew Hagerty]

That yellow plastic plug is the "Exacticut" dohicky. It has a slightly rough surface that takes a pencil line very nicely. You cut a board or piece of laminate and use the cut edge to scribe a thin pencil line across the yellow insert. Repeat for the other side of blade (with miter gage). You now have 2 pencil lines that exactly line up with the saw blade. It's the nicest feature of my saw IMO.

Yeah, and you can still get new ones through Sears parts. I know because I replaced my a couple of years ago. It may seem kind of gimmicky, but it actually is kinda nice.

[John Emwonk]

The vega guy will not call back and the U26 that was out of stock on Amazon at $228 or whatever has been replaced by one from Rockler for $328. So bad customer service and availability other than at high retail prices makes what looks like the better option lose the sale... Too bad...

[Dave Cullen]

I didn't get any reply when I emailed Vega questions either. And the U26 was out of stock for a long time and when it became available again the price was a lot higher than before. I got lucky and picked one up off eBay from a local guy. I'm hoping to have it installed this weekend.

[John Emwonk]

I hope this isn't a stupid question --

The Pro 40 Vega looks beefier and it's also cheaper than the U26.

I don't need a 40-inch capacity. PLus space is an issue. Is there some downside to buying the 40-inch version and hack sawing the extra off the end, and make it a 26-inch fence?

Failing that, are there other good-fence recommendations that are an easy bolt on or retrofit for the Craftsman 113?

It looks like the delta is OK but requires retrofitting.