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View Full Version : Turn an old table saw into ??????



Bill Carey
01-13-2018, 1:27 PM
My 30 yr old Grizzly blew the bearing on the arbor, and naturally I told my wife it was not repairable and I would need to buy a new saw. She agreed. (way to quickly - something big is coming to my HDList, I know it.) But I hate to throw it out. The motor is good, cast iron top and wings are flat and true. The fence is a Shop Fox. I could replace the bearing and make a ..... what?

Curious what you folks would do with it. Thought about a large disc sander. Already have a saw dedicated to the dado blade. Open to all suggestions, wild or sensible.

One more thing: the cabinet has to go, and whatever I make can't look remotely like the saw. She's nobody's fool, and likes to hang out in the shop with me.

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Brice Rogers
01-14-2018, 11:06 PM
A large disk sander would be a nice tool to have. I have an old lathe that I have turned into a disk sander. Very handy.

Mike Cutler
01-15-2018, 8:56 AM
Disc sander is the first thing that comes to mind. Drill the top and turn it into a down draft table, or maybe a mutli head router table.
The cabinet having to go is definitely a limiter. You sure it has to go?

Don't get rid of those CI wings what ever you do. Those are plattens, and can easily be turned into a high quality veneer ,and or, vacuum press. As a matter of fact it wouldn't take much to turn everything into a dedicated press station.
I have three of them, CI wings, lying about the shop,and they get used a bit more than you might think. Two statistically flat, heavy, metal plates can be pretty valuable.;)

Robert Engel
01-15-2018, 9:03 AM
It's not that hard to fix.

Fix it and use it in tandem with your new one :).

Bill Carey
01-15-2018, 11:03 AM
Disc sander is the first thing that comes to mind. Drill the top and turn it into a down draft table, or maybe a mutli head router table.
The cabinet having to go is definitely a limiter. You sure it has to go?

Don't get rid of those CI wings what ever you do. Those are plattens, and can easily be turned into a high quality veneer ,and or, vacuum press. As a matter of fact it wouldn't take much to turn everything into a dedicated press station.
I have three of them, CI wings, lying about the shop,and they get used a bit more than you might think. Two statistically flat, heavy, metal plates can be pretty valuable.;)

no, the cabinet could stay - and I'm thinking the top and the wings could make a great router table if I can enlarge the opening in the top enough to accommodate the lifting bracket on my Jessum router lift. I think thats my first choice, but I've never tried to modify cast iron.

Art Mann
01-15-2018, 11:11 AM
Excellent excuse to buy a new saw! I used to have two table saws. One of these was dedicated to cutting dados, rabbets and grooves and I kept a dado head and table top insert installed. I would still have that setup today but I ran out of room in my shop and had to sell it.

Bill Carey
01-21-2018, 7:04 PM
What made it even better was that I am in the middle of a project for her. And I have a 1 1/2 HP craftsman with the dado blades permanently installed.

Tom Bender
02-13-2018, 6:41 PM
Sell it and turn it into wood.

Gregory Halye
02-16-2018, 7:33 PM
I'ld save the motor and use it for a big disc sander or to run a nice wide drum sander, while the flat table surface would make a nice building area for a small CNC. Would the wifey like some flowers carved in wood on her kitchen cabinets? :)

Eric C Stoltzfus
02-22-2018, 11:25 AM
So what did you do with it in the end

Carlos Alvarez
02-22-2018, 11:55 AM
Fix, sell, use cash to buy more stuff.

Bruce Wrenn
02-26-2018, 8:57 PM
Motor runs too fast for a disk sander. Fix it, and bite the bullet. Better yet, have a friend take it to his shop, and then call you and tell you he fixed it.

Phillip Gregory
03-01-2018, 9:30 PM
It's not that hard to fix.

Fix it and use it in tandem with your new one :).

That's my vote, fix it up and use it as an auxiliary saw for doing other operations when your new, larger saw is set up for something else. Tablesaw arbor bearings are cheap, particularly on a 5/8" arbor saw of relatively recent manufacture. For example, leave a dado stack in this one, or use this one for the random crosscut when your other one is set up to rip a specific width and you don't want to mess with it.

If you want a good disc sander, go buy an actual good big disc sander as it will be far superior to a sanding disc in a 10" tablesaw. Ditto with a drum sander that somebody else mentioned. Both a good disc sander and a drum sander are far better than a converted tablesaw would be at disc and drum sanding, and no more expensive than an entry level 10" 3 hp cabinet saw.

Rich Dill
03-04-2018, 6:56 PM
Keep it and buy a new one, if you have the room. Buy or make a sliding cross cut table and have a dedicated "panel" saw. Make a nice outfeed table for a dedicated rip saw. Then of course you need all new dedicated blades and all the other accessories that go with that kind of set up.

Bill Carey
03-04-2018, 7:14 PM
so in the end, I tossed the cabinet, kept the motor and the table with the wings. I'm currently using the table as a small assembly table for boxes, clocks, etc. It's still dead nuts flat so it's nice to have. The wings may become a downdraft sanding table, since they are not solid but latticed, kind of. The motor will probably sit on the shelf and my kids can wonder what the hell I saved it for when I'm gone.

Mark Lawrence
03-08-2018, 8:14 AM
How about using the top for a welding table.

Charlie Jones
03-11-2018, 9:19 PM
That table would be fantastic as a router table if you could get the opening cut out.

Bill Carey
03-12-2018, 8:34 AM
That table would be fantastic as a router table if you could get the opening cut out.

I know - been thinking he same thing. Just have not figured out how to make the opening for my Jessum lift. And I really don't like working with metal anyway. Perhaps a trip to a machine shop is in order........

David Munyak
03-12-2018, 8:47 PM
I'm thinking the top and the wings could make a great router table if I can enlarge the opening in the top enough to accommodate the lifting bracket on my Jessum router lift. I think thats my first choice, but I've never tried to modify cast iron.

Bill,

I've done it to a Powermatic 66 top.

I made a plate out of a sheet of garolite that I got from McMaster-Carr upon which I mounted my big 3hp Porter Cable plunge router. That sits in a hole cut in the table saw top which enlarges the center of the throat plate opening. Imagine a large circle, slightly larger than the base of the router, overlaid on the center of the existing throat plate.

I dont have have a router lift. This modification was done 15 or 20 years ago. Long before the lifts came on the scene. I have to adjust it manually. But I'd imagine it could work with a lift.

I rough cut the hole with a fine blade in a jig saw, coming as close to the line as I could, and then, believe it or not, I pattern routed the finished hole in the cast iron with a cheap carbide router bit. You need serious hearing protection for this step, and it goes very slowly. Don't expect to use the bit for much afterward.

The original throat plate has some leveling screws that land on four bosses cast under the table. I wanted to use them to level the new plate so the bosses limited the diameter of the hole. I wish it could have been a bit bigger since it's a tight fit getting the router in and out, but I make it work.

If you are interested, I can take a few photos to post.

Kevin Beitz
04-29-2018, 7:27 AM
I would put a cheap bearing in it and sell to help pay for the new one...

Howard Henderson
06-26-2018, 8:21 PM
You have MY curiosity up! I'd like to see pictures!

You don't have before and after pictures of the router bit, too, do you?? lol

I'll bet that was one loud smoking scene!!


Howard

johnny means
07-08-2018, 9:49 AM
I would put a cheap bearing in it and sell to help pay for the new one...
Agreed. Seems like trying to invent a problem to answer a solution.