Just purchased a near mint Model 66 Powermatic

[William Mark Dulken]

I just purchased a 2003 Powermatic model 66 from a seller off Craigslist. They bought it new and soon realized it was more saw than they needed, put in storage for 12 years and decided to sell it last week. It is equipped with a 3HP single phase Baldor motor, has the 52in Accufence, mobil base and best of all it's Made in America. It's in really good shape, almost pristine, and I got it for $1400.

If it's got any need for attention it's due to neglect rather than abuse I suspect. I ran the saw in their shop before we dismantled it for transport. I heard a slight roar along with the blade cutting wind but figured it had to be the belts were old and cold because there is so little use on the saw the bearings could not be bad. I also grabbed the arbor once the top was off and could not get any lateral play.

What advice do you 66 owners have for me as I re-assemble and set this saw back up?

[Rich Riddle]

I change the bearings on all saws that age. "It hasn't been running though," some will say. Change the bearings anyway. It doesn't take that long and you will likely replace the bearings with much better ones than it had from the factory. You will also want to align the blade and miter slots along with the fence. Imperative to do that.

On a side note, thanks for posting an honest sale price. You got a fair deal to both you and the seller. Many times we hear stories about people buying saws like these for $500 or less. Those are mostly embellishments.

I have used many saws in military woodworking shops including Delta, Powermatic variations, General, and Sawstop, etc. Without a doubt, the Powermatic 66 cuts the best, followed closely by the General.

[William Mark Dulken]

Without a doubt, the Powermatic 66 cuts the best, followed closely by the General.

Speaking of realistic prices, my other choice last week was a 25yr old Canadian General 3HP saw on CL for $975. I choose the 66 because I always wanted one.

[David Kumm]

Good deal. I'd second the look at the bearings. Sitting can be worse than running and sealed bearings have about a 20 year life in best circumstances. The motor also has bearings. I'd put SKF explorer in the arbor spindle and regular skf in the motor. Dave

[scott spencer]

It's currently an "alleged" PM66....I don't see any evidence yet! ;)

[Judson Green]

Didn't happen!!!!

307222

[Jonathan Freinkel]

I got premium bearings from a motor shop near me for $9 each. It was cheap insurance and extremely easy to do!

I like my saw a lot more now! Its quieter and smoother than anything I have seen. Well worth the ~$20

[Chris Padilla]

William,

This is a pretty lousy gloat thread ya got going here with zero pics for us to salivate over!! ;)

[Matt Day]

Rich, try not to be too jealous/bitter about other people finding deals. They do exist - there was a $400 3hp Uni here last week.

[Peter Quinn]

Congrats, I look forward to seeing your pictures! (Hint hint....). I have some idea what they will look like as I have the same saw of similar vintage in my own shop. I'd suggesting following the assembly instructions in the manual and checking all tolerances as if assembling a new unit, clean and lubricate the bevel and height gears on the trunion. You might consider getting a new set of belts if they sat idle for 20 years. I'm not of the opinion that bearings go bad from sitting, this hasn't been my experience, I'd remove any surface rust and run the motor a while to see if it quiets down before doing an arbor and motor tear down. There is nothing wrong with the hearings on this machine as delivered, it's not a cheap Chinese import, I've seen them 30+ years in service on the original motor bearings and still running smooth, arbor bearings take more of a hit with heavy use. Enjoy it and work safe. PS...the OEM blade guard is pretty bad, best thing I did was install a biesmeyer splitter, an overarm guard would go a long way toward improved dust collection and a bit of extra safety.

[Don Jarvie]

Agree with Peter, if the bearings spin freely without any noise leave them. I put matching Gates belts on mine and cleaned and lubed everything.

[David Kumm]

You can always pry a seal off a spindle bearing and check. If the grease looks good, I would agree that it isn't likely that you need to go farther and put it back on. If shielded you take your chances. I've gone both ways. Dave

[Rich Riddle]

I simply find it much easier to install bearings when setting up a machine rather than when in the midst of a project and one starts acting up. Sort of the reason I change timing belts on a car prior to he belt actually breaking. In the military they call it preventative maintenance or PM.

[William Mark Dulken]

Thanks everyone. I'll get pics up soon.

[Butch Spears]

Grats on the saw.

Question for Peter and the rest of you WW? not to hijack thread, but might help OP and others as well.

I have same PM equipment. 66, 15" planer, shaper and 8" joiner. that I bought new about 15 years ago. have very little use on them.
having just retired, I am finally setting it all up to use.

What is the correct lubricant and grease to use?

I went yesterday to find the 50wt gear oil for gear box on the planer. guy says they did not have 50wt BUT just use 75. I said I would look other place.

So recommend what to use when we do not know.

to the OP, hope this helps you and all the rest of us.

Thanks guys for any info you can give us.

[David Kumm]

Others will have better advice but I run75-85 wt gear oil in my Delta planer. Gears run slow enough that i don't worry about anything other than not having something in it. I keep two kinds of grease on hand as there are a million choices and not all are compatible. Generally a standard lithium based LG2 is my all around choice as it is in most machines. Bearings that need to be greased get SKF LGHP2 which is a little higher temp. You don't want to mix greases that have different bases but just as important is not overlubing. Bearings with too much grease will fail and run hot. Every machine I've torn apart has either dried out crappy grease or way too much good grease. Bearings should be filled about 1/3. Same thing with oil bath. Too much oil will heat up the bearing so you only fill until the oil gets to the level of the bottom balls rather than submerging the bearing even half way. Dave

[William Mark Dulken]

Grats on the saw.

Question for Peter and the rest of you WW? not to hijack thread, but might help OP and others as well.

I have same PM equipment. 66, 15" planer, shaper and 8" joiner. that I bought new about 15 years ago. have very little use on them.
having just retired, I am finally setting it all up to use.

What is the correct lubricant and grease to use?

I went yesterday to find the 50wt gear oil for gear box on the planer. guy says they did not have 50wt BUT just use 75. I said I would look other place.

So recommend what to use when we do not know.

to the OP, hope this helps you and all the rest of us.

Thanks guys for any info you can give us.

Not a hijack at all, very pertinent to my questions on maintenance. Thanks

[Butch Spears]

Thanks David, very good info.

[Paul Pope]

Rich, try not to be too jealous/bitter about other people finding deals. They do exist - there was a $400 3hp Uni here last week.
I picked up this Unisaw last week with unifence. 3 hp single phase. The gentleman I bought the saw from had taken it apart and cleaned and re-painted the base housing. $800. :)

[Kevin Bourque]

On a side note, thanks for posting an honest sale price. You got a fair deal to both you and the seller. Many times we hear stories about people buying saws like these for $500 or less. Those are mostly embellishments.
.

Mostly embellishments? :confused: And exactly how do you know this Mr. Kreskin? :)

I'm one of those embellishers who bought a beautiful, lightly used Unisaw with lots of expensive extras for $500, and a 16" Laguna bandsaw with a box of new carbide tipped blades still in the packaging and other accessories for a song( I was so stunned I actually forget how much I paid. Somewhere between $600-$750),The 3 resaw blades alone retail for over $600, and an 8" General jointer, and 3 thickness planers, and a stroke sander, and a 36" drum sander, dust collection system etc...

These deals don't last long at all. The guy I bought the Laguna from said he had 3 people call him after I called and they all offered to buy it sight unseen!
Thankfully he was a gentleman and let me have "dibs".

Ya gotta be fast.

[Peter Quinn]

I use 85w hypoid gear oil in the planet gear box, white lithium spray lube on the trunion gears, almost anything else picks up fine dust and turns into a nasty sticky paste quickly. I use 3 in one oil in those little holes in the top of the planet that say " lubricate every X hours". Not much else to worry about.

[Butch Spears]

Peter that is exactly what I needed to know. I guess I can use mineral spirits to clean off any old grease on the trunion gears? then use the spray. I am going to service them tomorrow. Thanks again to all of you. Any more advice that anyone has to share, Please Do.

[Peter Quinn]

Peter that is exactly what I needed to know. I guess I can use mineral spirits to clean off any old grease on the trunion gears? then use the spray. I am going to service them tomorrow. Thanks again to all of you. Any more advice that anyone has to share, Please Do.

I use a small nylon brush and occasionally some solvent to clean the trunion gears, not a great joy, but when freshly lubed the thing works like a dream. Not sure what is the best solvent, I usually use mineral spirits or rapid brush cleaner.

[Don Jarvie]

It's a pretty simple machine to take apart and clean. It will give you a good chance to clean and lube it right.

[Dave Lehnert]

I have a JET cabinet saw that also had a "slight roar" I noticed it more when powering down the saw and the blade was spinning to a stop. After doing some research here on the Creek with the same issue I was all set to replace the bearings because that always fixed the problem.
I called JET to ask about replacing the bearings and they advised me to check the set screw that holds the pulleys to the arbor shaft. Turns out that was all wrong with it. I tightened the set screw and backed it up with another one.
I guess when others were replacing the bearings they had to remove the pulleys too. When they put everything back together they tightened the set screw fixing it, not the new bearings fixed it as they thought.

I would give this a check before going to the trouble of replacing the bearings. Quick and easy to do. Just make sure to unplug the saw first.

[William Mark Dulken]

Good advice thank you. I should be all into setting this saw up by now but I delivered it last week to my new home/shop location in torn down form and have not been able to get back up on my property due to icy conditions. Hopefully next week I'll get it up and running along with some pics.

[William Mark Dulken]

Finally got the saw inside the new shop, assembly soon.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v419/Goosedog/IMG_1671.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Goosedog/media/IMG_1671.jpg.html)

[Rich Riddle]

The photo should appease those doubters.

[Martin Wasner]

Sure it's made in the USA? Not assembled in the USA?

[Valentine Christian]

Mostly embellishments? :confused: And exactly how do you know this Mr. Kreskin? :)

I'm one of those embellishers who bought a beautiful, lightly used Unisaw with lots of expensive extras for $500, and a 16" Laguna bandsaw with a box of new carbide tipped blades still in the packaging and other accessories for a song( I was so stunned I actually forget how much I paid. Somewhere between $600-$750),The 3 resaw blades alone retail for over $600, and an 8" General jointer, and 3 thickness planers, and a stroke sander, and a 36" drum sander, dust collection system etc...

These deals don't last long at all. The guy I bought the Laguna from said he had 3 people call him after I called and they all offered to buy it sight unseen!
Thankfully he was a gentleman and let me have "dibs".

Ya gotta be fast.

A neighbor recently moved cross country, and sold his pristine unisaw with lots of the fixtures and tools he used in his cabinet shop. It went for $700, and the buyer didn't secure it well, and it went tumbling down the road as they left his shop. If I had known it was for sale, I would have bought it, as it was in immaculate condition. I was told he never mentioned it to me because he knew I had a Powermatic. Oh well.

[Valentine Christian]

My PM 66 has met my expectations except for two things, and the first one is huge:
1. Dust collection is unacceptable. Just unacceptable for a saw which otherwise is a great saw.
2. Riving knife options are sparse, and sub-optimal.

I have considered disassembling mine and seeing if I can make a blade shroud to help with the dust collection.

Anyone have good available or constructable riving knife solutions?

BTW, I like the modulus saw kit for MDF laminates. It's a nice accessory, and they are on ebay periodically. I paid just under $100 for mine, and they are often seen for probably an average range of $150-$175.

Anyone care to share their dust solutions for the PM 66?