Upgrade an old craftsman

[Dwain Lambrigger]

I was thinking about upgrading my Emerson model Craftsman table saw. I have heard a lot about upgrading the fence, the belts, the pulleys and of course the blade. I thought that for $300.00, I could get it in pretty good shape. Am I crazy? I don't have much of a tool budget right now, and eventually want a big cabinet saw, probably used. I figure spend $300 now and get this in really good shape, or save up to about $600 - $700 and buy a used cabinet that I will have to do a lot of this to anyway.

PLease let me know what you think.

Thanks.

[Charles Wiggins]

10" Craftsman table saw with stand. Looks good. Cuts great. $75.
10" Craftsman table saw, $50.
10" Craftsman table saw. Large cast iron table, 1 1/8 HP, flex drive, dust collection added. Includes owners manual and all original accessories. $195.

Just some food for thought.

[Don Bullock]

What Charles is pointing out very well, your Craftsman saw isn't worth $300. I had the same dilemma. After I put almost $100 into it for a blade I still hated using it because of the trrrible fence. After buying a new saw I kept the blade and gave the Craftsman TS to Habitat for Humanity.They were thrilled to have it and I got a tax write-off.

[Thomas Williams]

I had an 80's era Craftsman that was bought new and served me well. I upgraded to the Ridgid fence, installed machined pulleys and a link belt. Took my time and tuned the saw well. I never had any real complaints about the saw. I would think that for under $200 you could upgrade, but remember that you will not get much of a return for your saw. You may be ahead to save you money for the used cabinet saw.

[Mike Henderson]

I have an old Craftsman saw that someone gave me (dead motor). I bought a 2 HP TEFC motor on eBay for $100, changed the pulleys, put on a link belt, and carefully adjusted it. Total was less than $200. You can't count the blade because you can take that off when you upgrade.

I've used that saw for a number of years now. Recently I added a Biesemeyer fence.

One day, I'll upgrade to a 3HP cabinet saw with a riving knife. When I do, I'll buy it without a fence and move my Biesemeyer fence over, and of course the blades. I'll take the motor and sell it on eBay and scrap the rest. If I only get $50 for the motor, I'll say that it cost me $150 for five+ years of table saw use, or $30 per year. I can live with that - especially since I couldn't afford any more when I was first setting up my shop.

Mike

[scott spencer]

The Emerson made Craftsman saw is essentially the same basic saw as the current Ridgid. It can be made into a pretty good performer, but I'm not sure I'd sink $300 into it unless I planned to keep it for a while.

Keep your eyes peeled for bargain fences, blades, pulleys, etc., and try to keep the costs down. Maybe you can find a bargain Biese fence or a cast off Ridgid fence as a result of a Biese upgrade.

[Brandon Shew]

I'm in your same boat. I have done a few minor modifications to my Craftsman contractor's saw. I upgraded the fence to an Incra TS-III (and then traded that for a Biese to save some room in the new shop). I put on a link belt and bought a nice Incra 1000se and some nice Freud blades.

In other words, I have spent money on the saw, BUT only on things that I plan on migrating to my next saw.

[Bart Leetch]

So does it have the align-a-rip fence? If so did you use locktite for the allen head screws that holds the fence on the shoe that rides the rail? This is the biggest problem that most people I have had the chance to talk to have had. These allen screws don't always stay tight.. I actually kept my fence when I got rid of the saw & put a cheap Ridgid fence on the saw & gave it away & put the align-a-rip fence on my Dads old 1950's Craftsman contractors saw & it lined right up perfectly. I've never had any problem with this fence.

Here are a few pictures of my fence on the 1997 saw it came on. I also kept the cabinet to put under my Dad's saw.

I got rid of the saw for because of the arbor which was not the same diameter from the flange all the way to the end so I couldn't use a stack dado set.

Is this the same fence you have?

[Curt Harms]

I'm in your same boat. I have done a few minor modifications to my Craftsman contractor's saw. I upgraded the fence to an Incra TS-III (and then traded that for a Biese to save some room in the new shop). I put on a link belt and bought a nice Incra 1000se and some nice Freud blades.

In other words, I have spent money on the saw, BUT only on things that I plan on migrating to my next saw.

If the Emerson saw doesn't have any major problems, e.g. bent arbor, blade tilt and elevation work properly, blade can be properly aligned with the (probably non-standard) miter slot, it's serviceable. Get it a good blade, good miter gauge and a good fence. The miter gauge and blade can migrate to a new saw, the new fence might migrate as well.

I had an Emerson saw and used it for a few years. Put a new Mule fence on it and link belt. Was at Grizzly in PA. as they were closing out the original G1023's. The basic saw was the same as the right tilt sold today, the fence was a Jet Lock knock-off. I think I paid $600 for it. I brought it home, took the Mule Accusquare fence off the Craftsman and mounted it on the G1023. Jury rigged the Griz Jet Lock knockoff on the Emerson saw and sold it. I used full kerf blades and an 8" dado on the Emerson saw with the original motor and it worked out okay.

HTH

Curt

[glenn bradley]

I used an Emerson C-man for quite awhile and felt it was worth what I put into it to make it decent:

Machined pulleys and link belt - $50
Pals - $20
Decent fence - $100

I agree blades don't count because you take 'em with you when you upgrade but, I would go thin kerf.

[Bob Genovesi]

I had an old Craftsman table saw circa 1955 that was my grandfathers handed down to me. It certainly was old, no wings, blade not parallel to T slot, fence was all but useless and not parallel to anything. It also had a 3/4hp motor but that was dead too.

I spent quite a bit of time and some expense trying to turn granddad's old table saw into something reliable and repeatable but that wasn't to be.

In 1998 I decided to purchase something new and settled on the Jet Contractor model with 1 cast iron wind and the 30 inch XACTA fence system. The saw also came with a 1 3/4hp motor wired for 110 volts.

Once home and partially assembled I ordered an additional cast iron wing, machined pulleys, and a link belt. I changed the motor over to 220 volts then gave the saw a complete tuneup using a TS-Aligner Jr.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/newtsajunior.jpg

Here's the saw in it's present state.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Jet-01.jpg

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Jet-02.jpg

I added a JDS Accu-Miter miter gage which matches the precision and repeatability of the saw.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Jet-03.jpg

This saw will cut what ever I run through it all day long and with the repeatable precision of something much more expensive at much less the cost.

This investment was definatley worth it.

[Bart Leetch]

Bob I am fortunate in that Dad's saw if set up would be able to go right back to work with no problems. I have the original 1 HP motor but the saw has a 2 HP motor on it that came out of a Craftsman cabinet saw back in the 70's & my old Sears fence is nice & square to the the miter slot & blade. If I was in a bigger shop I'd have it set 90 degrees to the old 1940 Unisaw using the same off feed table. You know it might be kinda fun having both a left tilt & a right tilt in the same shop.

[James Carmichael]

If you live in a metro area with lots of Lowes (or know someone who does), it may be worth your time to look around and see if you can still find a Bies or Unifence sitting on a dusty shelf. Lowes clearanced them a few months back and I've seen reports of the Bies being sold for as little as $60. Users on other forums often post the SKUs or UPCs from receipts, and these are useful to have when calling the stores.

I was in the same paradox, except you already have the saw. I was table-sawless and needed/wanted one as cheaply as possible. Here's the route I went:

Emerson-built Cman saw: $125 on CraigsList
Jet SuperSaw fence: $80 on Ebay
Jessem Mitr Excel: $100 on CraigsList (this was a budget buster, but too good to pass up)
PALS alignment & link belt: $40 from Woodcraft
Shop-made alignment jig: $7.00 depth gauge from Harbor Freight (though I've found a #8 screw in the end of a square piece of stock about as good).

I'm sure it's not the greatest, but it meets my needs, and I get some satisfaction from having made a rusty old machine useful again.

[Steven Wilson]

Dwain, you won't recover your investment when you sell the saw and buy a new one. Don't count on transfering fences over to a new saw. If you buy a used cabinet saw it will come with a fence, likely to be at least as good as the one you're planing on installing on your Craftsman. If you're comfortable dumping $300 into your saw and not getting anything out of that when you sell then fine, otherwise you might as well use your $300 to save for a new saw.

[Brandon Shew]

Don't count on transfering fences over to a new saw.

Why not?

The Incra TS-III that I had was a universal mount and could go on just about any cabinet saw or contractor's saw out there. I just installed a Biese on my Craftsman last night and it went on there just fine. I had to do a little drilling, but that's no big deal. I would guess that it could also be mounted on most other saws based on the instructions. There may be some exceptions for a random make or model, but most fences are made to be universal. If you buy a universal fence or at least a common model like Biese and he should be able to transfer that to just about any cabinet saw he is likely to come across.

That $300 could deliver many more years of use out of his current saw. Besides, he'd have to add at least $500-$700+ on top of that $300 to put it down on a used cabinet saw.

[Mike Henderson]

Dwain, you won't recover your investment when you sell the saw and buy a new one. Don't count on transfering fences over to a new saw. If you buy a used cabinet saw it will come with a fence, likely to be at least as good as the one you're planing on installing on your Craftsman. If you're comfortable dumping $300 into your saw and not getting anything out of that when you sell then fine, otherwise you might as well use your $300 to save for a new saw.
I put a Biesemeyer on my C-man and can see no reason why I won't be able to move it over to almost ANY other saw. I had to drill a few holes into the C-man and could do the same with any other saw.

Even if the old saw has NO value as a working table saw, you can part it out and sell the pieces on eBay - the fence, the motor, and any other parts that someone might be looking for to fix or improve their saw. You may not recover your full investment but the cost per year for the use of the saw will be very acceptable.

For me, the strongest reason to buy a new saw is to get the safety features, such as a riving knife.

Mike

[Lee Schierer]

Upgrading your saw will do little to improve it's resale value. However, it will be a major improvment to the point where you may not actually want to sell it. I upgraded the fence and belts on my craftsman and spent considerable time aligning it. It now cuts true and I don't have to recheck every fence adjustment . Unless you really want to get into production woodworking, the extra HP in a TS doesn't improve the quality of the cut or work coming off the saw. It will allow faster cuts in thicker stock.

Spend what you feel comforatable with in your shop. The $2-300 you spend on the fence and belts will make your woodworking life easier while you save for a bigger better saw if that is what you really want.

[Bart Leetch]

I find these discussions interesting because I've been on both sides of the fence. I now have an old Unisaw with a Shopfox Biesemeyer knock off style fence very close to the commercial fence I had one to compare it to when I installed it, just not quite as heavy duty. I've also had the Craftsman with the fence shown in the picture of one of my posts. Other that the length of the Biesemeyer style fence being longer there is no difference in accuracy. I have become used to the right tilt saw but still prefer a left tilt saw. I guess the Align-a-rip fence I have & the way I set it up using loctite with all the fasteners is what made the difference. Like I said in the last post I have now had it on 2 different saws & it was & is accurate on both saws.

If Dwain has this fence & cares to take a little time to set it up right he may not need to buy another fence. I know it moves much easier that my Shopfox fence.