Powermatic 66 Restore Complete.

[Chris Rosenberger]

About a month ago I sold 3 machines & took a heavly used 1991 Powermatic 66 as part payment. I have been using Unisaws in the shop, but decided I wanted to give the PM 66 a try. After I got into it, I found the saw to be in pretty good shape. I replace bearings, polished the table, changed the motor to 3 phase, added a Unifence, repainted & built an outfeed table. I had an Excalbur sliding table on the Unisaw, so I added it to the PM66. The metal motor cover would not work with the Excalbur table so I built a wood motor cover. I am very happy with the way it turned out.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66AMurry.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66Murry.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66A.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66B.jpg

[Terry Kelly]

Most Excellent!!! Great job it really looks awesome...

[Bruce Page]

That turned out great. Nice looking shop too. Have you done a shop tour yet?

[Jay Brewer]

Beautiful work Chris, everything turned out superb.

[Jim O'Dell]

I agree...VERY NICELY DONE!!
Now, is that OSB on the floor? What type of finish does it have on it? And I second Bruce's comment. We need a shop tour complete with more pictures! Jim.

[Michael Short]

Excellent setup for this saw. I really like the infeed / outfeed setup that you have. You have another vote here for a post of a shop tour. Thanks for sharing your restoration.

[Rob Haskell]

Hi
Where did you get the new motor? I've got the same table saw, held up fine with many years of hard use on wood and aluminum.
thanks
Rob

[Brodie Brickey]

Very nice job. What was your method for polishing the table top?

Thanks,

Brodie

[Rich Torino]

All I can say is Wow.... talk about making a diamond out of a lump of coal.. Well Done

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thank for all of the replies.

Bruce,
I have not done a shop tour. I have been making alot of changes in the shop the last 2 months. I still have a few more to do. I will see after that.

Jim,
That is OSB on the floor. The shop has a crawl sapce. I finished it with 3 coats of polyurathane.

Rob,
The motor was an older 3hp 3ph motor I had on hand.

Bodie,
The top was the biggest challenge. Someone had used a belt sander with a coarse belt on the top. It had alot of scratches. I did not want to spend the money to have the top reground. I used my Festool Rotex 150 sander to resurface the top. I started with 100 grit paper & worked up to a micron grit paper that I use on solid surface tops. I got most of the scratches out.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Wow! What a sawing station! I'm jealous.

-Jeff :)

[Roy Wall]

Chris -

Beautifully done - are the drawer/storage under the extension wing homemade?

Fabulous work - love the outfeed table (that's the way to do it if you have room).

Lastly -- is that an old General Lathe way in the back?

NICE SHOP!!!

[scott spencer]

Great job....it does my heart good to see a nice piece of machinery restored!

[Doug Shepard]

Very nice. So what's the verdict on the PM vs Unisaw switch? Just curious.

[Joe Mioux]

What a great restoration... You did great!....

[Dennis Kelly]

Great Job Chris,
What type of blade guard do you have? It looks very convenient and sturdy.

Dennis

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks again.

Roy,
The drawer unit is home made. It was from my old setup.
The lathe is a General 260, 20". It is around 12 years old.
I had an 5' bed extension on it. That was one of the items in the deal for this saw.


Doud,
As far as cutting, I cannot see much difference. Both saws cut very well. One of the main reasons for making the change was the larger throat opening & the dust door. My hands do not work as well as they used to. I was having alot of trouble changing blades on the Unisaws. If I dropped the nut inside the saw, it took alot of time to get it out. The PM66 has more room to change the blade & if I do drop the nut, I just remove the dust door. The thing I think I am really going to like is the left tilt. I never gave it alot of thought before. I really liked it when making the motor cover.

Dennis,
The blade guard is a Biesemeyer guard. I have been using them for over 18 years.

[Rich Schneider]

I had the same problem with my Exactor sliding table on my new PM 2000 when I switched it off my Unisaw (From my understanding the Exactor and the Excalibur tables are very similar). The cover and the bracket interfered by about 1/4". I called Exactor and they told me they make an alternate bracket with a lower profile so the motor cover clears for jus this situation. It was about $25.00 with shipping and 4 days later the problem was solved.


The metal motor cover would not work with the Excalbur table so I built a wood motor cover.