Cleaning, Lubricating the Powermatic 66 Table Saw

[Joe Kuhn]

I decided it was time to clean and lubricate my Powermatic 66 Table Saw. I looked in the owners manual to see what it said. It says to "remove the table by removing the three mounting screws and exposing the working mechanish of the saw". :mad: Is that all you have to do! Considerably more is involved. Your have to unfasten screws from the front rail assembly and back fence rail. Then you have to detach he table extensions from the table. I certainly couldn't handle the combined weight of the table with the extensions attached. Then remove the table. After cleaning and lubricating you have to reverse the procedure plus go through the miter slot alignment procedure. Apparently the designers didn't give any thought to providing access for maintenance.

I would appreciate any tips from other 66 owners about how to service it without going through the above procedure.

[Chuck Wintle]

It seems as though your manual was written at 4PM on a Friday afternoon! :D

[James Hart]

It's not for everybody, but I laid on the ground and stuck my hand through the front door of the 66 and was able to reach all of the gears that tilt of raise/lower the blade well enough to brush them out with a soft metal brush and apply lubricant.
I'm 50 and a bit overweight, at 5'9" I don't have what you'd call long arms.
What else are you looking to do inside the saw?

Jim

[Todd Burch]

I need to lubricate my saw? I thought it was all sealed bearings. Are you talking about the blade raise/lower and tilt mechanisms? Methinks I can reach those from below.

I clean mine out with a blow gun.

Todd

[Joe Kuhn]

Thanks to all of you who replied. I got sidetracked trying to figure out how Quick Reply was supposed to work. Never did.

I want to get access to the raising and tilting mechanism. I will follow you suggestions about blowing our the mechanism. I will also take off the side motor cover and see what I can see. I will get on my back and stick my head through the front access panel and take a look. It is sure getting hard to raise the blade. The saw is about 5 years old and hasn't been lubed.

[Travis Porter]

The bearings are all sealed. The only thing you really need to do is clean up the teeth on the gears and the ways for the raise/lower and tilt mechanisms. Once cleaned put some dry lube on them. If you are going to the trouble I would also shift the belts so that any memory they may have developed can be minimized. You should be able to get to all of this from the motor cover area and at the front in the hollow for the tilt mechanism. If you do take the top off (they only talk about the saw in the main manual as they used to sell several different models of fences and they had separate manuals) there is an allen screw in the very top of the kingpin that holds the arbor assembly and bearings in position. Double check and make sure it is tight. If it does come loose it will cause wierd problems (arbor nut coming loose with zero clearance inserts). Mine came slightly loose one time and took me forever to figure it out.