Restoration - Powermatic 66

[David Falkner]

This is my first new thread at SMC and it will be a long one, be forewarned (I hope this is ok, if not, then moderators please let me know - it'll take a few days to get this posted because I can only sit here and do this for short periods - too many projects calling my name!). You may or may not follow along, you may get bored, you may look at the photos only and never read a word of what I write, you may look at this and wonder why I even tried to restore this saw (and jointer but I won't be covering the jointer here), but I can pretty much guarantee you'll like the results of my efforts. So dive in, gander at what you want, offer comments, or just come back once in a while to see what I've done - I took over 300 photos but I won't inundate you with all those. I will post enough to cover the 'story', though.

This post is more about me documenting what I've done to restore these tools and wanting to share the process than seeking guidance or help. You'll see things you may have done differently or not at all but I do hope you enjoy the trip - David

Here's the background and a prerequisite for understanding how all this took place -

I owned a woodworking business in the mid 80's to early 90's, and we designed and built custom furniture, did restorations, refinishing, repairs, etc. I added a partner (an old friend) in the late 80's. It was a good business and at one time we had about 10 people working for us. In 1990 we bought a Powermatic Model 66 table saw and a Delta DJ-15 jointer. When I decided a few years later to get into the Technology field my partner and I worked out a deal by which I would end up with the saw and jointer if he closed the business since I owned all the other tools anyway.

Well, a year went by and he did decide to close the business but I had no home shop or place to store the saw and jointer. But another friend in the same business needed both and asked if he could use them. He had done some work in our shop before and even rented some space from us at one point. He used our/my tools and took good care of them. So I decided to let this other friend take both tools to his shop and for the next few years I checked in on my tools often. Then it got to the point where I checked on them every few years. Finally, after many years of not seeing them and still not having a home shop, I sort of wrote them off.

Then, a few years ago, a friend at church told me he heard that the guy who had borrowed my saw and jointer had abandoned them in an old building, that the motors were burnt up, and they were likely just boat anchors now. I viewed it as my fault for not checking on them and my fault for even loaning tools like that out - stupid move, really.

I found out where the tools were located and couldn't believe where they were and what I found. A woodworker friend, Adam, went with me figuring we'd find the tools covered in sawdust and just neglected. We were not prepared for what we found.

Looks like a vibrant neighborhood from the front, right? I was concerned about even having my MINI parked there!
303259

I looked in through the broken glass and iron bars and saw this -
303260

Driving around back we saw this locked door -
303261

I couldn't get my phone in very far but I took this shot. If you look closely you'll see a contractors table saw in the dark area to the left. My saw and jointer aren't really visible but they are behind the contractors saw. The sunlight shining in is not from a skylight. The roof is simply missing in several areas, including where my saw and jointer were parked.
303262

We left and came back in Adam's truck and I had a guy who had worked there meet us because he had the combination to the lock to get us in the back door. Adam and I loaded the saw and jointer into the back of his truck by ourselves - these are HEAVY tools! And I was still in my dress clothes, didn't even take my tie off. We stopped for a bite to eat and I snapped this shot - one guy walked by and asked if we were headed to the dump. :rolleyes: Uh, nope!
303263

More tomorrow... David

[Andrew Hughes]

That place looks haunted hope your saw isn't.:eek:

[Justin Ludwig]

Tomorrow?! Wha? You can't do that to us.

Keep'm coming! Along with the story.

[Carroll Courtney]

Welcome David to the forum,lots of PM owners here including myself.Stupid?Na you made no mistakes on loaning the equipment but you should be disappointed with your friend,if he's still a friend.Hope so,never know the story behind why people do what they do but he could at lease help you load them.Anyway getting to the table saw,your not along on this and your in the right spot.Lots of people here have done the same thing that your starting up to do including myself.As you stated lots of pics will help putting things back together again and hope you also have a manual for the TS with a parts list.So welcome,we'll will roll up our sleeves help you along-----Carroll

[Moses Yoder]

I am also a PM66 owner, interesting thread, will be following. Mine was 3 phase 1-1/2 HP motor, I added an inverter and cleaned the top, the rest is as I found it still which is in pretty good condition.

[Jesse Busenitz]

I just bought a PM66 couple months back... same golden color. Cool story so far!

[David Falkner]

Thanks, Guys! I'm looking forward to this little ride - I have stacks of lumber to reorganize in the shop so this will be updated during breaks on this rainy Saturday in north Louisiana.

We got the tools home and into my garage where I could really see how bad they were. The saw was directly under where the roof had been leaking, apparently for quite some time. This is some seriously deep rust! I know a lot of people would have just given up at this point but I do like a challenge. One thing I found that I knew I would have to deal with at some point is that the center was about 0.090" below the perimeter of the table corner to corner and about 0.075" across the middle. I couldn't tell if it was rust build up on the perimeter or if the saw top actually dipped that much near the blade. All I could do is clean it up and see what I had to deal with.
303280

I started by dry sanding with 80 grit. A LOT of dry sanding with 80 grit.
303279

I switched to finer and finer grits, even using a 1/3 sheet air operated orbital sander with wet/dry paper and WD40 with 3 in 1 oil. After a couple of weeks doing this just about every night and as much as I could squeeze in on weekends, I got it cleaned up enough to move on to the inside. When I got it to this point I measured again and found the dip in the center from corner to corner was down to below 0.050" and across the middle was down below 0.030" so some of that had to be rust build up. That's still not close enough but it's going the right way.
303281

When I took the top off this is what I found -
303282

Everything was locked with rust, seized as it could be. Even the arbor would not turn. I worked on it three weeks to get the trunnion to move a half inch. Then little by little with progressive pounding using dead blow hammers, heavy mallets on blocks of wood, lubricants, penetrants, and chipping away at what I could I finally got the trunnion free to move, albeit tightly.
303283

Hate to leave this but I need to get out in the shop - more later!
David

[David Hendricks]

I am riveted. I am hoping to begin the restoration of a pm65 this spring so I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

[Doug Ladendorf]

My 1968 PM66 was crusty but not like yours. Big job there. Looking forward to the result.

[Dave Cav]

Hi, David, and welcome back to woodworking and to machine restoration. I have restored Unisaws and PM66s, although none quite as bad as yours. Of the two, the PM is easier to restore and, I think, ultimately more robust.

If you go over to OWWM dot org (Old Woodworking Machinery) you'll be welcomed with open arms and find lots of people who have restored machines in the same or worse condition. Sounds like you're off to a great start, though.

A quick tip for the rust removal on a CI top or table: next time, hose the cast iron top down with WD 40 or what ever else your favorite penetrant is, let it soak in for a bit, and then start scraping with single edge razor blades. It's generally much quicker than sanding and will remove an amazing amount it rust in a fairly short time. It is messy and takes a lot of razor blades, though.

[Matt Day]

I love these threads! I hope to do a restore one day.

Welcome to the forum!

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Try Barkeeper Friend to clean up your table top.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAkGBwgHBgkIBwgKCgkLDRYPDQwMDRsUFRAWIB0iIiAdHx 8kKDQsJCYxJx8fLT0tMTU3Ojo6Iys/RD84QzQ5OjcBCgoKDQwNGg8PGjclHyU3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nz c3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3Nzc3N//AABEIAGQAZAMBEQACEQEDEQH/xAAcAAEAAwEBAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAABAUGAwcBAgj/xAA3EAABBAECAwUGBQIHAAAAAAABAAIDBBEFEiExQQYTMlFhFC JxgZGxFVKhwdFC4QckJTRiY/H/xAAZAQEAAwEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQMEAgX/xAAtEQACAwAABQEGBgMAAAAAAAAAAQIDEQQSITFRQQUiYaHR8B MycYHh8RSxwf/aAAwDAQACEQMRAD8A9xQBAEAQBAeX/wCIVu1F20hhhtzRRnTWu2NkIbnvH8cZxn19FsoScHq9SixvmPP dV1nVI2yCPVLeBkBzZXNz681pUI CmUpJdz hNCc5 iae97i5zqsZLicknaF5ku7Ni7E5ckhAEAQBAEAQBAEB8JABJOA OqA887X6P NdoGajVstDG1RXIdGcZDnHII5 Ly6K q5QjjRXOtyemSt/4fXLDC0X4Bn/rf/Cu/wAqPgrdDfqewaFJF G1q0cm59eFkbsjB4ADOPksbevS9LEWKgkIAgCAIAgCAIAgKjVZ 3TzCnGcNGDKR18ggPyyOONoGBhAfR3fTapBwmY6F7bNfg9n0I8 ioBdVpm2IGTM5OGceXogOqAIAgCAIAgCAHgEBmY7AZE w/xyOLuPqolJRWslJt4jhLZibC xcsthhbze9waBnlxKzwvnbLlqjp3KtQWzeEOvq k2rDK9PU680z2hzY2SguOeOMefpzHUKyceMrjzSr6HEZ0TeKXU nVLwc90eS4DnnyXFXEws6dmdzqlHqW2hv/ANxDn3WuDh8//FoKy1QBAEAQBAEAQBAYe4HMswwu8LHFuPUHCxcVvNFehop7MoN M07VLPaAy9oPZ7entG6CuWxkBsm7YQzAGeGM8 GF7bdVdeUrH6nmJWTntnVH71Xs1Us6P7PplGrDdsMi9lsbI2ku b75c1zeOXMYTw65581Nd8lPZt4u5Eqk4ZFdTp2ebq0NIjWpmy2 XZe17cElhawjLgPeOd3Hj8SvJ9rRqWSqWG3gXY1k3puOzrXd1N K7m4tb9B/dXR3Foeb0LhSQEAQBAEAQBAEBltch23JHD l7Xj4HAP6rPxMdin4LaXjwyema9C026V6Q 1sfPtzBIXM2va2HgBjG3fxweQzz4 vOl9JR7dPH7nnxsXVPuSPxzRILFmZ0krIy8F721rWQ0bm 97vujutnLyPmufwbGkv r77kqyHf6n3s/ZdqUticGR1Z0xFdz2OaCzYwnbuGdu4uI Kxe0KutcPX1 /0NHCz6SZv9HZs0 I9X5cfmf4Q6JqAIAgCAIAgCAICi1qMPtvH5q/2JXFq2DR1B5JFJLpUGp1tkxk3N8EjJC17M89runw4j0WHhuNsp flF11EJrwVUHY2pFO2QutygNAcyzaMjHn8xaGjPTgTt8wVss9s TccjHDNDgIp9XpaUYttu04lznCPxOOTzWLhZSna3I12pRhiNnS G2nAPKNv2XpGU7IAgCAIAgCAIAgKfUPe1THlCPuVD7BFJLckpU u8qwe1yd6xhjjdkgE4J4A8l5lFKlLlk8X0RptsaWpaRNP1nUrc sIn0oV4XSbHOlkcC0bA7dgsHDpxxxVttFUVis1r4dO Z0ZVXbOT/Ln9foTqTWvddka4OBAHA548cqeDi05Nllz6JGpondSrnzjb9lu M53QBAEAQBAEAQBAUdh/ oW5Okbfs3K5k8i2SlrwzkPZqjNJLMJ7LN8vekN2YLtxcDgtPIk/VY48dJLOmLp6 M8/Aslw0d0jjsRpMedstri0N8bDgBmwDw/lx9Au5e1Ll4 fnfJwuDh8fvoWHZ6jXoPv1qpcRITK4u5kk4 nySniHdZ73ov9HcqlXDp5NXpDt2nRf8ct hIWsqJiAIAgCAIAgCAIDL3JP8lbkzgzyljSDxwSf2Co4ifLWWV R2RRQaXqpa/2a /YTw3WXAgdP6SqIcRQ/zQ S qJlVau0vmSJKWrCZ74re4OLuEk5wzOcYAZ0yMZ8uqq/G4ZrJR X8nX4du9H8/4HZqKarembamMj3jBJeXAZPTPqkb4O LgsXY6dclW Z6zV6IcRTRnmyU/Qgf3XpmYskAQBAEAQBAEB8ccNJ9EBiNQsxRsqRzyCOGNofI9xw Bk4/b9Vlt962MC6HuwciTXnhfFPJp8jZQMABj9w/fHVc3RrdkY5nnphEHLlb3SNU1G3Ztd2 iWRHOXCRri3hkEkHhk8FTfwtNUOZWaya7pzljj0ItezVbYlZDZ gdMWDk5u8kceAHQZPHmcfNW8XrpUkvHpmYRRnO02arQpO9lnkH J7I3Y9Tla4S5oqXkrksbRcLogIAgCAIAgCA/L/A74IDE2NPmtwxS1JAJGgBzc4yAs9tWy5ktLYTxYTtLqzwRuZPG MkDLsgl3xwAsc6Zt6k/v9y1Tj6s7MqiMkxwNZnmWtxlUyqvl3TOlKtdinp6VdZZm3Asie T7z3jl0AAHJa51SsikoZ8SI2QhFrdNHoDGxyTxtOQxjG58 a2wjyxUfBlk9elyuiAgCAIAgCAIAgKyfSoAXSRvljyc7WEY/UICsnDoThsrz8cIDkyaVxwXlAT61FtjxzzD4EfwgLWnUiqRlkQ PE5c5xySUB3QBAEAQH//Z

[David Falkner]

I've been out in the shop since 8 this morning reorganizing my lumber from stacked horizontal to stacked vertical and I'm half finished. It rained all day so it was a good day to be inside working. But I figured I would post a little more on this restoration. Thanks for the comments!!

After getting the trunnion to move I felt there was hope after all, that I could get this fine tool back into working shape. Until I tried to get the pulley off the arbor, that is. I used penetrants, mild heat, dead blow hammer, heavy mallet on blocks of wood - basically anything I could think of to get that pulley off. No luck, no success, no movement at all... for over a month. Almost every evening, just about every weekend, I would try to get this pulley off.
303351

Alternately I turned my attention to getting the height adjustment shaft out of the trunnion. I finally got it to rotate but it was bent and would not come out. It would move back and forth a little bit but I couldn't drive it out. I think when it was loaned out they must have dropped the saw or in some fashion bumped it pretty hard, maybe it leaned hard in their truck - I don't know. There was a mark on the handwheel and the knob was slightly bent.

Because I was having to pry/hit/pound so hard to get it to move I figured I'd better give it some support, so I bandsawed this little Maple block to make me feel better about hitting on it so hard
303352

I began trying to straighten the bent portion of the shaft and finally resorted to filing it down so I could remove it from the trunnion. But the first thing I did after that was order a new shaft and worm gear - $14, not too bad!

Next, I took everything out of cabinet -
303353

And then every fastener and piece removable came out -
303354

Now over on my workbench I got back on the pulley. Same technique of penetrants, puller, etc. and after another week or so it came off - whew! I didn't want to have to order that assembly 'cause I think it was a bit more pricey than the shaft I ordered.
303355

And that's all I have time for tonight. I'm playing guitar in church tomorrow morning (actually, I play every service...) and I'd rather save my falling asleep for the preaching, not while I'm pickin'! ;)
David

[Chuck Hart]

This makes for great reading thank you for posting this story.

[David Falkner]

The good thing at this point is that all the pounding had not damaged or broken any piece. Only the bent shaft needed replacing.

The cabinet is now stripped of all parts and cleaned as good as I could get it but there's WAY too much rust to paint over. At this point I figured my only choice was sandblasting. Until I got everything off I thought there might some remote possibility that I could wire brush it and primer heavy but that would never really work.
303374

Here's the fence in all its glory -
303375

Not really usable as is, I'm thinking.
303376

And I can't even begin to see through this cursor. The brown specks are paint although it's hard to see that in the photo. But I figured I could replace the plastic without much effort.
303377

Here's the bottom side of the rail tube. I assume water stood for long periods between this and the angle iron rail. Pretty badly pitted. This is after quite a bit of cleaning, sanding, etc. It was almost as rusty as the top although cast iron has its own look with rust that's a little different from a steel tube
303378

[joe maday]

I have seen a craigs list ad in NY...Long island that is selling new......the arbor, bearings and flange with nut for 100.00....Just an idea

[Kevin W Johnson]

David,

I await the end result of your restoration. Having done so to a '79 vintage PM66 myself. There's something to be said for saving these machines.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?182051-Powermatic-66-Restoration

[David Falkner]

I have seen a craigs list ad in NY...Long island that is selling new......the arbor, bearings and flange with nut for 100.00....Just an idea

Thanks, Joe, but I got it off and working just fine.

Ok, I finished building two lumber racks yesterday and today and reorganized all of my lumber - what a job! Back to the restoration - David

I asked Adam, my friend who helped me retrieve the saw and jointer, if he knew a good sandblaster. Turns out he had used a shop 5 minutes from my house. The guy was really nice and as I described the saw and its parts he just said he'd do it for $100, that he didn't need to know how many pieces.

So I began prepping everything for sandblasting. I can assure you that this takes a long time if you do it right. Each piece had to be thoroughly cleaned with Naphtha to ensure the duct tape would stay in place through the blasting. Prepping each piece with duct tape trimmed precisely where I did not want any blasting - machined surfaces, through holes for shafts, gears, etc. After all, if they blasted an area that I had not intended then it would have been my fault for not protecting it good enough.

I used cardboard secured with duct tape for the top and extension wings. Also, I wanted to preserve as much of the labels and Powermatic markings as possible, so I taped those off, as well.

After two nights working several hours each night and most of Saturday, I had the pieces ready.
303394

Prepped and ready for blasting -
303395

We took the saw in on Monday morning and they said it would take 3-4 business days to get to the saw for blasting. That worked out well for my timing to clean up in the garage and get ready for the saw to return. Only thing is they called Monday afternoon the same day about 4 and said it's ready and they close at 5. Oh, and it was about to rain so they suggested I come get it now before it starts to rust again. LOL! Quick service isn't always what you want .

Adam and his truck were in town and available at that time so this all worked out for both of us. He lives 45 miles away and very little of this would fit in my MINI...

Parts back from blasting
303396

Another view. I didn't send the plate that the magnetic starter mounts on because I wanted to use that to match the Powermatic Gold paint. The panel under the starter had never seen daylight and was not faded, rusted, or marked up.
303397

Since I had to pick it up before I was ready and it was about to rain, I used rattle can primer and covered every piece that same day.

Primer in a hurry before rain and rust coming back -
303398

Gotta' go pick my daughter up from work (Starbucks, a cool first job for a teenager!). More in a little bit - David

[David Falkner]

Then I started looking for a match to the Powermatic Gold. Before anyone bothers to tell me, I have searched and searched and found all sorts of paint formulas and recipes and I've been to automotive paint stores looking for something that would be an exact match. I was not willing to settle for 'close' and I certainly wasn't going to paint it Powermatic Mustard Yellow or whatever the current color is called. My jointer is that color and it's fine for that but this saw is a 1990 and came in PM Gold so that's what I wanted.

Several automotive paint stores locally said they could get a perfect match but the cost was around $150 for the catalyzed finishes and clear coats they recommended. I'm too frugal (cheap) to spend that much on paint for a table saw. So I kept searching... for two years the saw sat in the shop, primed and ready. I painted all the internal pieces black right away and they were ready. Each time my daughter asked me to build her a small table or something I just said, 'When I get the table saw together' and it sort of became a standing joke around here.

But still it sat on its side, like this, for two years.
303400

At least I had done all the body work right after I primed it, so that was out of the way.
303401

More Bondo work -
303402

I used the side of the cabinet as a resting spot for small pieces and the inside for parts and sandpaper storage. It had become a fixture in the shop, sad to say.

Then, after two years, I announced to my wife that I had decided on black and would start painting right away (late October 2014). She just laughed and said she would have painted it black two years earlier if it had been up to her.

But I decided I wanted the inside of the cabinet white for higher reflectance when I needed to see inside there. I no longer have those young eyes that can see in low light so white made sense.
303403

Continuing on with painting everything in sight! Everything in white was brushed on very heavy and followed up with Rust-Oleum in rattle cans - High Performance White.

Underside of table -
303406

Underside of extension wings -
303407

I'll try to get some more posted tonight in a bit - David

[David Falkner]

Hey Kevin - I actually reviewed your restoration during mine and really enjoyed yours. I wish I could have matched the color with some off the shelf paint like you did but that isn't the case with the PM Gold. I trust you're still enjoying your saw, right?

[David Falkner]

Moved it back to my spray booth for the cabinet (outside in the back yard, at night no less). I used Rust-Oleum High Performance Gloss Black Enamel in rattle cans from Lowe's. These have a decent spray tip and it went on well, smooth.
303417

Brought it inside after two good heavy coats. No bugs, no drips, no runs, no errors. I also caulked with black Silicone every gap in the base to the cabinet, every void in welding, every place where two pieces meet and didn't close up precisely. I have thoughts of later creating as close to negative pressure inside the cabinet as possible for dust control, although that may be a pie in the sky dream and is definitely not on the front burner. But sealing these up now was certainly easier than later with everything installed.
303418

Here's a sample of the cleanup process. This worm gear was encrusted with what seemed to be the equivalent of concrete. This packed sawdust/grease/rust combo would not soak off with any number of solvents I tried, would not wire wheel or wire brush by hand off, and I couldn't budge any of it with compressed air. What I ended up doing, for 3 hours one night, was to use a small brass rod sharpened on the end like a chisel and chip away at what seemed like each molecule of the crud. My hands were sore!
303419

After 3 hours it looked like this -
303420

Many parts required the same attention to get cleaned and ready for assembly. No single part came clean with a good soaking in solvents or wire brushing. Every part required a lot of time and there were nights, like this worm gear, where I cleaned one part only.

Here is my layout table with parts, some ready and some soon to be.
303421

I believe all of these are ready. And I got lucky on the angle scale. There was a blemish on it and when I tried to get it off it just started getting bigger, which wasn't cool. But then I looked a little closer and realized it still had the protective plastic on it from 1990. I peeled it off and there was a brand new angle scale under there!
303422

That's all for tonight - I'll probably finish this restoration thread tomorrow evening. Thanks for following along!
David

[David Falkner]

Remember that height shaft that was bent and I had to support it with a wood wedge block because I was having to beat it out of the trunnion? And remember I said one of the first things I did was to order a new one? Well, I didn't remember the 'part ordering' because it happened two years ago. As I was laying out all the items for assembly I came across a bag I had not seen with some parts. Lo and behold there was a new shaft and worm gear... the same worm gear I had spent 3 hours cleaning a couple of days earlier!! Bummer! Of course, those are new bearings on the arbor.
303493

Here are the parts laid out for assembly, including 3 different sets from different years of PM manuals on the 66. Even though I have a reprint from 1990 none of these show the three belt pulley. But that's ok, I figured out where the third belt went... ;)
303494

I didn't show this earlier but the only clean portion on my old rust bucket of a saw was the magnetic starter. When I pulled the cover off I was quite surprised to find not only how clean and dust free it was, but also the original wiring diagram tucked neatly in the lower right corner.
303495

Since I couldn't get a match for the PM Gold I wanted to preserve some little facet of the original color, so I masked off an area under the starter in case I ever want to go back and look at it for matching later (doubtful).
303496

**** I've been out in the shop all evening (actually since about 4:30 and it's 11:30 now - that's like a second job!) uncovering a rats nest of a wood stack under my lathe so I'm not going to finish this restoration thread tonight. I did find some cool lumber ranging from Brazilian Rosewood to Cocobolo to Padauk to Macassar Ebony... a boat load of wood I haven't seen in over 7 years - neat stuff! I'll hit this again tomorrow. ****
David

[Jesse Busenitz]

Great job! I never would of had enough patience to do a complete restore....

[David Falkner]

Great job! I never would of had enough patience to do a complete restore....

Thanks, Jesse! Patience I have in spades and it was actually a lot of fun to restore. I don't want to do another any time soon, though - I'm ready to do some woodworking! I love your signature, btw.

The trunnion, remember, took many weeks to even get it to move when I first started this project a couple of years ago. Well, when I put the trunnion back in I expected it to move rather freely - it didn't. Because I wanted it as freely moving as possible I started shimming the mounting brackets/bearings until it moved as I expected. I have some 0.003" brass shim stock and I used three pieces on the right and two on the left, if I remember correctly. You have to be very careful each time you loosen the bolts and raise the flange or it will move left/right and then you have to start all over. As you can imagine, this took a while but I think it's worth the effort.
303515

This is how it moved when I first mounted it -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZSGsB71Mzs

One thing I failed to mention is all the fasteners required to put this back together. There were only a few specialty fasteners I reused but I went with a list of all the nuts, bolts, washers, set screws, etc. to an old fastener company and they had all but a few items. It's a neat place if you've never been to a true fastener supply company. We used to have a few around here but now there's only one, but I handed them the list and for the next 20-25 minutes or so the young man individually bagged and wrote on each what the bag contained. Total invoice for this - about $14. Fabulous!
303516

As you can imagine, there was a LOT of this - cleaning threads after the sandblasting, rust, and painting. Most of it I did prior to assembly but I forgot about some, like this one, and had to do it in place around what was already installed.
303517

My friends will pick on me for the detail I go to on a project but they love it when I help them with their projects. Here's an example on the start/stop switches. I couldn't leave this looking dingy so I pulled them out of the starter box and cleaned best I could but in the end I needed to repaint the lettering bright white.

Before/during -
303518

After -
303519

I know it will run better with the lettering properly tended to... ;)

Earlier I showed the video of the trunnion, where it was too tight and then after shimming I was able to get it freely moving. Here are some photos of the trunnion installed.
303520

[David Falkner]

And after shimming, and a couple hours of tweaking, it moved like this -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1O9nWHX1Dz0

The worm gears are centered and backlash set as best I could so that there isn't much play when changing direction. Only the tilt gear is active in this photo but the raise/lower gear was set to the same specs when I installed it. You can also see the back Silicone caulk I used on any gaps in the cabinet seams.
303521

Everything mounted!
303522

Another view, tilted -
303523

One more -
303524

When I got the saw back a few years ago one of the first things I did was to take the motor down to a shop in town and let them make the necessary repairs. I understood that the motor was 'burnt up' but in fact, the windings were still good. They changed the bearings, cleaned the motor, replaced the capacitor and fan - $160.

I've got 'work' work to do so I'll cover the fence later today (I hope I get to it). Thanks for following along!
David

[David Falkner]

Well, I didn't get back to this last night. I had a big quote to work on last night and it was due today, along with a 500 mile round trip drive to deliver it - north Louisiana to south Louisiana and back to north Louisiana, all before 2 o'clock this afternoon! Long day... :)

On to the fence. It was pretty bad if you remember from the photos. Cleaned up like the rest of the saw, put on new UHMW that Adam gave me, and now it works better than I remember it ever working. Very smooth and accurate.
303664

303665

303666

Earlier I said that I would just order a new cursor but I couldn't find this particular design. I found a few that were close and many that said 'discontinued' but were very pricey. So I used some lacquer thinner to remove the paint from the cursor, after testing a hidden area to make sure that it wasn't going to eat into the plastic. Then I used some Meguiar's to polish it until it just sparkled. No need to replace it, just a little elbow grease and patience and it's about as good as new! :D
303667

I went back with 1/2" MDF on the fence but have yet to find the plastic laminate I want. I'm kind of holding off until I decide on what I want for my extension table and I'll use the same for the fence. So for now it'll stay as MDF. And since I'm into guitars and gearing up to build acoustics, I made a push stick out of Walnut I milled to 1/2" and then shaped like a Grand Auditorium guitar with a Florentine cutaway. It may not work any better than a simple push stick but it has to sound better!
303668

[Doug Ladendorf]

Great work on the saw and nice stylin' on the push stick! Are we almost caught up to today?

[David Falkner]

Great work on the saw and nice stylin' on the push stick! Are we almost caught up to today?

Yes sir, let's finish this! Thanks!

Obviously by showing you the fence you can see the top is mounted but here's a shot of just the top and for the first time you can see the cabinet. As noted earlier I masked off all the labels that weren't removable but one PM item not salvageable was the stripe. I saved a portion of the original and gave it to a friend who owns a promotional products company and he made me a roll of the stripe. Hard to see the colors but it's a match with a little hint of metallic in the dark green center section. It's been in my desk for two years so it was fun to finally get it out and put it on. However, it took 4 attempts to get it on straight... 4 very time consuming attempts! I think Sandy and I together spent 2 or 3 hours just on that stripe because I had no tolerance for it being more than 1/32" off level and wanted zero wrinkles. Also, when I painted the table and extension wings on the underside and on the casting inset on the mating edges, I figured it would just easily scrape off, so I didn't mask it. I was wrong. It took only minutes to put the paint on but over an hour to get all the paint scraped off on all these edges - ugh! :( I put it on thick enough that I didn't want it to influence the wings being mounted squarely so to me it was important to get it off.
303669

Having some good 8/4 Purpleheart and Maple along with a well setup jointer equals a nice, hard, solid straight edge for clamping the extension wings on and helping keep them level.
303670

I won't bother posting the close up photos but in all my detail oriented rebuild I never noticed that the wings are not symmetrical. There are two holes in the front edge but only one hole in the back, yet they'll mount on either side of the table. No matter how much I adjusted, persuaded, shimmed, etc. I couldn't get the top like I wanted. So after hours tweaking I walked away. I came back early the next morning before work and noticed the holes, so I went back and looked at my historical reference (early photos) and noticed that the wings were swapped. So even though it made no difference for mounting the rails I swapped the extension wings back to where the two holes were in front. Lo and behold the top was now in what I would call acceptable tolerance!
303671

Here you can see what a difference it made to paint the edge black. The wings are still not swapped in this photo, though.
303672

Notice the holes in the extension wings? Now they are swapped! :) I also won't bother with photos of the brass shims for the extension wings but I went through the leveling process with the Purpleheart and Maple another 3 or 4 times until I was satisfied with the flatness of the top. I wanted to have it Blanchard ground but there isn't one in the area. I designed my own that I could build in my shop but it was a Catch 22 scenario - I needed a table saw to build it but mine was in pieces. I may one day pursue that little design but it has moved way back on the list for me. I spent several hours with a smooth file and fine wet/dry paper going over the joints after everything was mounted. The joints are smooth and the top very level relative to where it was.
303673

A few days ago when I started this thread I mentioned that the top was almost 0.090" out corner to corner with a dip in the middle of the top (at the blade). I know some of that was rust, but that's a long way from flat! Well, I improved it a bit. Here's the setup I used with a 48" HF level (which may be more than 0.005" out on its own).
303674

And here's a close up of that feeler gauge (a Craftsman set I bought in 1968, matter of fact) showing 0.005". It bumped when it went under but that's not too shabby. I have a 24" Starrett straight edge that I placed perpendicular to the T-Slots and across the blade opening and got a better reading on that, albeit on a smaller sampling of the top - 0.002" bumped the straight edge and 0.0015" just touched when it went under. I'm gonna' call that close enough!
303675

[David Falkner]

So, just as a reminder on where I started this process -
303677

And where I am now -
303676

Another view - I think it's a nice looking saw and I'm pleased with the color scheme I chose. I know it shows dust but I keep it fairly clean and I'm ok with it.
303678

And here's a panorama of the shop three weeks ago. There's a router table and a miter saw set up now. It'll change again... they all do!
303679

If you look at the process photos you'll notice there was a large pile of 'stuff' behind the saw. I have dispensed with all of that and reclaimed it as usable space.

Thank you all for following along, for the suggestions, the compliments, the comments - I've enjoyed this!
David

PS - It's time to build a project on the saw and I did for Christmas. I'll post a quick build thread later tonight or tomorrow.

[Dale Schafer]

Well done! It's just like a bought one;)

[Mike Henderson]

Great thread. Thanks for posting your step-by-step progress.

Mike

[Doug Ladendorf]

Nicely done David. It's finally home to Papa. My 66 has the same Incra miter gauge. BTW your Youtube link has been truncated and doesn't work. Would love to see you playing a Koa Takamine!

Doug

[David Falkner]

Nicely done David. It's finally home to Papa. My 66 has the same Incra miter gauge. BTW your Youtube link has been truncated and doesn't work. Would love to see you playing a Koa Takamine!

Doug

Thanks, Doug!

Ah, did not realize that link was no good. I'll take it out of my signature. Here it is - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSpLecPAn4AJEp6qHC7C44A. We just posted an old song, Power In The Blood, but the drums and bass were too loud (I can't do anything about how it sounds out front but it sounded right in our monitors). We're doing an original song this Sunday and I'll post it, assuming I don't mess up the finger picking! :eek: Subscribe and you'll get the new ones as we put them up (we only do about one a month).

Thanks on the 66!! It's a great saw and an equally good miter gauge.

[David Falkner]

Well done! It's just like a bought one;)
Thanks, Dale! It came out well and I've had a couple of guys over who commented on my 'new' saw. Makes ya' feel all teary eyed, don't it! LOL! ;)


Great thread. Thanks for posting your step-by-step progress.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. I probably take too many photos when I work on something but that's just part of my enjoyment. Glad you liked it!

[Lee Reep]

David,

Great restoration! I like the black color. I have a Powermatic 14" bandsaw, and have never been all that crazy about the color. I actually think Powermatic should have kept the black color, maybe as an option, that they used on the anniversary editions a couple years ago.

[David Falkner]

David,

Great restoration! I like the black color. I have a Powermatic 14" bandsaw, and have never been all that crazy about the color. I actually think Powermatic should have kept the black color, maybe as an option, that they used on the anniversary editions a couple years ago.

Thanks, Lee. I sort of developed tunnel vision while doing this and realized well into it that I had sort of followed the Anniversary Edition theme. I like the look, especially when it's clean. I knew it would but it definitely shows dust!

[Jesse Busenitz]

Great thread, but..... what happened to the jointer??????

[David Falkner]

Same process, almost. Turned out the motor was good and I chose not to sandblast/repaint. I put a new link belt, new balanced cast iron pulleys, sharpened the knives, new bearings in the cutterhead, and set the tables to coplanar.

It started out like this -
303708

And now it's like this -
303709

It's so smooth I set a nickel on the outfeed table, started the jointer, jointed a board, shut it down, and the nickel never fell. Then I bought a PM 54a, so the Delta is for sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-nxrDFgqbc

[Don Orr]

Wow David-that is one impressive restoration job. Congratulations on resurecting a wonderful tool and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

[David Falkner]

Wow David-that is one impressive restoration job. Congratulations on resurecting a wonderful tool and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come.

Thanks, Don! It is a good tool and was fun to restore.