New Old Craftsman

[Dick Brown]

With a little work, Rustoleum overhaul, welder, steel, Shop Fox Classic fence for a pattern, and an old Craftsman 1H.P belt drive saw, new steel pulleys and belt, plus about $90. including the price of the saw, and a little help from me, this is what my buddy ended up with. He is all smiles as his old saw was a Craftsman direct drive w/ Craftsman fence. Makes me wonder why I spent $1100. for my cabinet saw. Note the roller on the end of the fence to hold it snug to the rail and at a true 90 degrees while moving. Improvement over the Shop Fox.

Dick Brown

[Dick Brown]

Sorry about this not in the post. Note roller.
Dick Brown

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Very nice...being a big fan of old iron and shop made mods, I love this setup. Just sold mine...a 1975 Craftsman with a Ridgid fence, puleys and belts on it.

I love the big stove as well. Sure would love one of those for winter shop work [yeah it DOES get cold here once in awhile]!!

[Bart Leetch]

I have a Shopfox fence so am interested. Could you take the fence off & flip it upside down so the rollers can be seen better. Are they adjustable & what are the rollers made of?

I took the UMHW off of my fence & replaced it with Baltic Birch covered with laminate. The laminate makes the the fence surface harder & slicker so the material slides along the fence easier.

Also having the switch on the left side makes it easier & safer to access in an emergency & turn on when ripping wide material. No ducking under the wide board to try & reach the switch to turn it on or off.

I would look for a magnetic switch & place a knee board over it with a finger hole through it to turn the saw on a knee bumping the board will turn the switch off & leave his hands free to keep control of the situation if it is trying to go bad.

[Don Baer]

I would look for a magnetic switch & place a knee board over it with a finger hole through it to turn the saw on a knee bumping the board will turn the switch off & leave his hands free to keep control of the situation if it is trying to go bad.

Bart that is a great move on your part. I would personally advise a lot of folks to look at this as a safety measure.

[Corey Hallagan]

Nice looking set up Dick. Your buddy now has a nice table saw thanks to you. I had a right side switch on my old craftsman and now I have a delta and I much prefer the left side switch.

Corey

[Dick Brown]

The roller is an old guide roller off a band saw. The bracket has a slot in it so the roller can be set just a 64th away from the rail when the fence is clamped down. Hope this helps. I also put one on my shopfox fence and love it. Would work on a lot of these type fences. I see some of the new fences have an adjusable nylon screw at each end and on the outside of the angle that rides on the guide rail to do the same thing. If I build any more of these, I will try that. Do a search for the new "Pioneer" saw ads. I think they are the ones that are doing it that way.

Dick Brown

[Dick Brown]

Bart,
I was wrong about the Pioneer fence. Don't know which brand it was. Looked at a lot of heavy iron in the sales room that day and didn't take notes. When you are 72, have the right to get confused once in a while!
Dick