New to the forum, TS issues

[Franklin Scott]

Hello all,

Live in Maryland. Originally from Indiana.

I picked up woodworking as a hobby a few years ago because I have always loved building things. My projects lately have gotten more complex and require more precision so I am in the process of upgrading my main tools and in the final stages of converting half of my garage (10' x 18') to a proper workshop. My first table saw was a direct-drive Skil-saw. It cut things and that's about it.

After some research I decided to upgrade to a used 113 Craftsman and restore it. I found a 78' for $75 on CL. Tt has the original Emerson motor, stamped wings, blade guard and splitter. I am going through the whole thing, nut by nut. So far I have cleaned and waxed the top, de-rusted and painted the cast innards light gray so it will be easier to see for adjustments. All the moving parts are lubed with graphite wax. I also have gotten the machined pulleys and linked belt.

That's the good. The bad is the saw had blade wobble and after looking it over, I decided to get a replacement arbor. I bought a reconditioned one on Ebay that came with new bearings. The flange side bearing was pre-installed on the arbor and the other bearing, obviously, had to be installed after placing the arbor in position on the cast housing. I put the arbor in the freezer and heated up the loose bearing with a hair dryer and was able to get it on the end of the arbor by hand. after that, I used a deep socket and mallet to get the bearing to position just pass the retaining ring groove. I was careful that the socket did not contact the race portion of the bearing but rather the inner metal ring.

The problem is there is still a little give from end to end on the arbor. It seems solid at first but if you push hard on one end it (arbor and bearings) will "give" and move about 1/16". Then, pushing on the other end will produce the same results. The pulley side bearing appears to be where it should on the arbor but I honestly didn't look to see if the blade side bearing was out of place. I have tried the mallet and socket at that end but it isn't budging so far and I hate to risk possible damage by really laying into it. Come to think of it, can the flange move at all?

Any thoughts? Is it likely that I already have damaged a bearing and need to start over or should I work at it some more?

Also, I took apart and cleaned the sawdust out of the motor. The arbor in it also slides end to end about 1/4", although much more easily. I am not as concerned about it because it doesn't affect the blade and it otherwise seems to run fine. Is the movement due to failing bearings?

Today I saw a reconditioned Delta 34-444 TS on CL for $350. Cleaned, painted with new motor, pulleys and linked belt. I am halfway considering scrapping or putting off the Craftsman rebuild so I can get back to having fun. I have no room for another TS so it probably won't happen but I am ready to be done with this Craftsman rebuild!


Looking forward to your replies and sharing on this forum.

[Charles Lent]

If the reconditioning was done right, the Delta 34-444 will be a great saw. We have one that we picked up 3 years ago that I believe was in a school shop some time back in it's former life, but it had been through several not so careful owners since. With a little clean-up it has proven to be a very solid performer and just as accurate as the Delta Unisaw in my shop. The original motor in the Delta Contractor Saw is a dual voltage motor that was specially designed to produce 1.5 hp on 120 volts to make it usable on 120 volt 15 amp outlets, such as usually available at a temporary job site. It can be wired for 240 volts if this power is available, such as in a shop, and when connected to 240 volts it will produce an additional 1/2 hp for a full 2 hp. The only real negative about these saws is the open frame, making sawdust control very difficult. There is a special bag available that you can attach to the saw's base that will catch most of the sawdust, but the open back where the motor attaches is difficult to cover since the motor must move and tilt following the blade lift and tilt adjustments of the saw. In my opinion, the $350 price is very fair if the rebuild was done properly. Just make certain that the "new motor" is a dual hp motor like my description above. Make certain that there is no run-out in the arbor, that the saw can be adjusted 45-90 deg and the blade raised and lowered without problems. It should also come with a round rail fence if it's the original fence and a standard Delta miter gauge to be complete. The original saw also came with two sheet metal fence extensions. All of this should be there and working correctly.

Charley

[glenn bradley]

Having been a 113 and a Delta 34-444 owner, I would take the Emerson/Craftsman over the Delta, especially when it is priced for a collector and not for a user. Others will have differing opinions but, 113 saws are so easy to come by that I would be tempted to look around for one in better shape before I sunk any more money into your current saw. If you find one in more reasonable shape, call the first one "practice" and walk away.

My 113 was a 1970's era. I ditched the stamped wings and added a router wing and a longer right side wing of oak-framed MDF. I also did the link belt, machined pulleys, PALs, an MJ Splitter, a decent fence, overarm dust/guard and tossed 100lb sack of cement in the base for mass. This saw made many fine projects so a 113 is a worthy foundation to build a good user out of.

315897

I knew I had an old picture around here somewhere.

[mark kosse]

howdy frank, and welcome!

the key to either of these saws is proper set up and a good fence. if set up correctly either saw will do what any quality saw will do. neither will do it well with the factory fence unless you don't mind double checking each adjustment you make. A quality aftermarket fence makes life simpler.


as far as your issues its hard to say without seeing everything. were the bearings the same size, both old and new? did all the spacer springs make it back in?

here in tx you can generally pick up a good condition craftsman for less than 100.00. i bought mine for 50.00 a 50's vintage with an original 1hp motor. i wouldn't put much time into it and you'd have lots of spare parts. i think the older craftsmans have lots of style but slightly weak raising tilt mechanisms, but again, they are plentiful.

adios, mark

ps looking at glens post it reminds me. and aftermarket miter gauge doesn't hurt either.

[Franklin Scott]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Well, after starting this thread I went back in the shop and gave a few hard raps with the mallet and deep socket to the flange side of the arbor and what do you know the bearing seated! I put a blade on it to check for wobble and it was difficult to see any...possibly a very slight one. Much better than the old arbor! It spins great so I think the bearings survived OK.

That gave me some inspiration so after that I painted the inside of the steel box. Now I just have to de-rust and paint the underside of the cast iron top and finish assembling. The saw parts are already together.

The Delta was tempting but I think I am through the woods on this Craftsman. It was just a frustrating moment for me. Composing this thread helped to sort things out in my head. I will eventually change the motor bearings but it's running good enough for now. In the future I want to build a rolling cabinet around it with dust collection underneath, router table and hinging extensions. Oh, and of course a new fence though I will probably work with the old one for a while.

I wasn't planning on going this far with the restore at first but when I discovered the arbor issue, it made sense to go all the way with it since I had to take it mostly apart anyway. I need to pick up the PALS kit...where can I get it? There is a Woodcraft store not too far away. I will check and see if they carry it. Also tried to pick up a cheap dial indicator at the local Harbor Freight to help me get the fine tuning but they didn't have it.

[glenn bradley]

Great news Franklin. As mentioned, I did a lot of work on one of those saws.

[Jerry Bruette]

Welcome to the Creek Frank

I doubt if you damaged the bearings on the saw arbor. It's more likely that either the shaft or the housing is a little out of spec on length. You could get a shim and put it behind one of the bearings, if you can accurately measure how much play you have. Shims are probably available from McMaster-Carr.

The motor may not have ball bearings, it could have oil-lite bushings/bearings. And I wouldn't worry too much about the end play on the motor shaft.

I'll echo the advice about getting a better fence and miter gauge, it'll make using the saw a pleasure instead of a pain.

I have a similar model saw and have done like Glenn with the wings, but I haven't added the router yet.

With a little more work you can have a very nice usable saw for relatively cheap and the satisfaction of doing the restore/improvements yourself.