Stumbled onto a Unisaw,with question

[Dale Rodabaugh]

Stopped at a garage sale today,I was looking around at stuff,nothing really interesting.The guy there said he had an old Delta Unisaw.right away i said where ist it?It was buried under stuff,(junk)he started clearing it away and I asked him how much do you want for it?He said it was probably around a 1950 model.Anyway his wife said someone else was interested in it,and they wouldnt set a price.However they took my name and phone no.and said they would call when they decided if it would be for sale and put a price on it at that time.I did find out it was 1 HP.110 or 220 volts.My question is what to look for and what would be a fair price?Dev Emch seems to be very knowlegable on the Unisaws.Any info would be greatly appreciated.:confused: :confused: :confused: THX Dale

[Donnie Raines]

I suspect that the norm will apply here: the price is what ever someone is willing to pay for it. I have seen saws of similar vintage sell for as little as 200 bucks. I have also seen a few gents spend as much as 6-700 bucks. What was the diffrence...frankly I don't no for sure. If it was me, and the saw was in reasonable condition(not much rust..fence descent etc) I would pay in the 2-4 buck area. Were it a larger horsepower saw I would be open to spending more.

[Steve Schoene]

The thing to make sure about is that the cast iron trunnions, etc. is in good shape so that the blade still elevates and tilts. Just about everything else can be repaired fairly reasonably.

[Dev Emch]

Actually Bill S. knows more about unisaws than I do. I just do like the older ones. Also, I prefer the larger format saws over the unisaw size machine. The unisaw is a bit small for me.:)

You can buy an old unisaw for lots of money following a complete restoration. Or you can do it yourself. Be prepared to invest in new bearings, new belts, a new fence and possible new electric work. Then there is paint and stripping. And the time investment. Is it worth it? We think so. That is why we go this route. Aside from the occasional new Hoffmann or Martin which is a business capital investment, the vast majority of my stuff was bought second, third, forth or fith hand. My hinge pocket drill press is based on an old drill press from around 1890 sometime. And its not for sale!!!!!!

As for price. That is very hard to say. Several folks on here have gotten the 1940s unisaws for about 250 to 300 dollars. Thats a good price. Rotten paint and surface rust can be dealt with easy. You have to learn to see through the ugly and visualize the completed project.

You should be more concerned about cracked castings. These can be explicit or implicit. A dab of paint can hide a broken casting. I have gotten broken castings on machines I paid top dollar for from dealers as well as junkers I have bought on ebay only to find they have major cracks in them when they came home. Others have been bought as scrap iron junk only to turn out to have no significant flaws. Right now, I am working on getting the castings recast for my oliver tenoner. The top cope motor is why I bought this machine two years ago but a broken way support casting has kept the top cope motor from being attached and workable for all this time. It takes time to make patterns, have them cast and then remachine them in the wake of a busy schedule.

So you need to really inspect the machine to see what kind of work it will take to put it back online. Often your so drunk on finding the find that you sometimes ignore the major problems. Any machine can be rebuilt to factory new. Its just a matter of how much machine work that will take and how much of this has to be outsourced. If you have some home shop machinist buddies, this will help out major time. True machine shops charge from 60 to 200 dollars per hour depending on the type of machine work that needs to be done. For 60 dollars per hour, you get dingy, greeasy machine shops with vintage cast iron Kearney Trecker and Bridgeport milling machines and old LeBlond engine lathes. For 200 dollars per hour, you get hospital clean, West Coast Chopper types with brand new CNC Haas machining centers.

I have found that some semi retired, cigar chomping old timer wearing an Uncle Jessie Bib overall is more hepful than many of the CNC milling machine jockies. Often your rebuilding existing parts and this seems to present the CNC types with major intelectual challanges. When you hear the phrase as to how hard it is going to be and how difficult it is to position the work item and to test the CNC program, blah blah blah, warning lights should be going off in your head! My God Man, your restoring an old woodworking machine... not building a replacement for the space shuttle!!!

These are all the adventures of restoring old woodworking machines. There are lots of places where you can trip up and make mistakes. Mostly in paying to much to get the machine or in getting new parts made. So if the machine is in dire need of restore and as a paint job that looks like a 1960s acid trip, then your looking at $200 dollars with no broken parts. If the machine is a bit dingy with a tad of surface rust but otherwise, runable, I would say your looking at the $700 range. If the machine is sporting a concourse restoration, then you overr the $1000 dollar mark!!! And these machines will sell quickly leaving no haggle room.

Well equiped, personal hobby shops are as much an ego thing as anything else. To have a BRAND NEW vintage unisaw feeds this ego. So you need to know when to say no and when you can do most of the work yourself. From the sounds of it, this lead may be worth your while to follow up on. But be forwarned. It sounds like the lady may have other ideas. Clearly you caught them offguard here. The lady seems to think that this unisaw may be worth more than they think and so you can bet she is calling around to fish for pricing. I would be very careful here. If she comes back with a price around $750 to $900, then you know she has been talking to others about this. This will be confirmed when she admits to knowing nothing about it. That the saw belonged to her father, brother or any other convenient man in her life. In short, she knows nothing about or that it works or does not work but she does know the aproximate high value of the machine in the used market.

Good Luck and let us know how this all works out....

[Steve Stube]

I think the first but not the only thing to check is what size blade it will take. That approximate age and 1 HP motor (especially if it's original) may just turn out to be an 8" unisaw which is worth a bunch to the collector but maybe not so much to the home shop woodworker. early 8" unisaws were built stout and I kept one around for several years just for dado work for that very reason.

[Dale Rodabaugh]

THX for the comebacks.I hear you loud and clear about machine work.In this part of the country it is very hard to find a good machine shop.When I was building up my 55 Chevy pickup it took me about 3 months to find someone just to shorten and balance a driveshaft.As far as the Unisaw All I saw was the top of it.table needed a lot of cleanup,(surface rust),etc.Course thats just minor stuff.I will wait and see if they call me on it.I agree they are going to try and find out just how much they can get for it.If they call with a price of say $200. to $400. I will go look it over very carefully,then make a decision.I sam in the market for a new saw,but I dont want something that going to take a lot of time to restore.Course if the price is right I can put it in the garage and work on it in my spare time.Oh yeah theres a problem with that.Since I retired I am so busy I dont have spare time.:rolleyes: :confused: :D :cool:

[Bill Lewis]

Boy this sort of hits on a pet peeve of mine. Show you something for sale, then yank it away. Ok, I can understand giving the first person that was interested the opportunity to buy it. I've done the same thing. On the other hand, these folks may be phishing a bit. Possibly playing one potential buyer against another. if I were to get a wiff of that happening, I'd walk. Who knows they may come back to you again. I'm such a cynic :p , I hope it works out for you.

Sort of a related story:
I once called on a classified ad that for a tool that didn't show up very often, and was just what I needed at the time. I was the first one to call but the Husband who placed the ad was away/out of town, etc. I told them I was absolutely interested, and would take it for the listed price. Nope, I had to wait until hubby was back. In the mean time I was told to call back at some designated time, and I also left my name and number just in case. I called back at the designated time, and he still wasn't there, again given another time to call, so I called again later with the same results. I was again told to call back the next morning. I called, and they had sold it.
Why would you place and ad, then not be there to answer it? Or not designate someone to handle it for you?

[Dale Rodabaugh]

Bill,exactly why I never get my hopes up on anything.I have sold a few vehicles over the last few years.Boy you meet some real jerks.Had a pickup for sale ,a guy stopped and looked at it.said he wanted it,and left saying he was going to the credit union to get the money.Never seen him again.jiust one of many stories.:confused: :confused: :confused: :cool:

[Bill Lewis]

I completely agree Dale, after what happened to me that one time, I too don't ever get my hopes up. I've found that good things will come to you with time. Just remember it's not a lost opportunity if there is no opportunity at all.

[Bill Simmeth]

Dale, sounds like it could be a great find. Hope the sellers don't get greedy and offer it up at a decent price. The early Unisaws were 10" saws just like today. It should look like the one Ernie Hobbs posted about last week: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=24750

There was a "Junior Unisaw" made from 1949-1951. It was an 8" saw and designed like today's "hybrid" saws (like the Sears zip code saw). It looked like this:
http://www.owwm.com/PhotoIndex/Images/3177-A.jpg

Back to "real" Unisaws... the original 1HP motor is a repulsion-induction (RI) motor which has much more torque than today's motors. In today's world of "developed" horsepower it is more comparable to a 2-2.5HP motor. In fact, the very first Unis came with a 3/4 HP RI motor!

As to what to look for, the older Unisaws were almost bulletproof. There are 3 main things to look for:

1. cracked castings
As Dev mentioned look for cracked castings -- particularly the trunnions. This was one weak spot in early machines. Take a flashlight with you and carefully look at the trunnions while raising/lowering and tilting. If you see any cracks even only "hairline", pass.

2. worn arbor
With the saw unplugged, raise the blade fully, then grasp it and wiggle it to and fro. See if there is any play or slop. Depending on the asking price, if there's only a hint of slop, this need not be a deal killer. The arbor can be easily disassembled and rebuilt. There's a company in Massachusetts that will rebuild it for you mail order for like $89.

3. stripped elevation gears
While you are checking the trunnions, look over the gear trains for elevation and tilt. Make sure there aren't broken teeth. There will probably be a lot of crud, but you just don't want broken teeth.

As to price, you're thinking in the right ballpark. $400 or less would be a good deal. Good Luck!

[Dale Rodabaugh]

THX for all the replies.If they call me I will pretty much know what to look for.If they call I will post the results of my find.Bill & Dev,sounds like you have studied the old Unisaws quite a bit.This has got to be the best site I have ever been on.Honest answers and opinions,with no BS.You are all a great bunch of people.Oh yeah,if they dont call I will be down at Hartville in about a month lookig for a new saw.Unisaw?General?Shop Fox?I will be looking at all of them.:confused: :o ;) :cool: