Old Arn Gloat

[Matt Meiser]

I won't spoil his gloat, but another Creeker agreed to buy my contractor saw which he picked up tonight. That meant I got to buy this saw, which I picked up last night.

Its a 1947 Unisaw. Its has been stripped and repainted, new bearings, and had the top reground. It had a Unifence but the seller offered me the choice of that or a brand new Biesemeyer from the Lowes clearance a while back. Since I've been using a Biesemeyer for the past 7 years I decided to stick with that. It needs a few things taken care of but overall is in good shape. It has the original 1-1/2HP single phase motor repulsion-induction motor which is an absolute beast.

The biggest problem is that the reground top caused the miter slots to be slightly less than the standard 3/8" depth, meaning the miter bar on my Incra gauge is proud of the top. I got the stock miter gauge with it as well, which was also ground to fit properly but I'm not giving up my Incra so I'm taking my it's miter bar over to my dad tomorrow so he can mill it thinner. I don't think running it through the planer is a good idea. :rolleyes: That was a surprise to me but in won't be a major issue since the miter gauge is the only thing I run through the slots. If I ever make a panel sled I can accommodate.

I also need to figure out dust collection and I want to put modern pushbutton controls on it--I got used to having a mushroom head pushbutton where I could hit it with my knee and don't want to give that feature up. I found a guy reproducing the motor covers in fiberglass so I'm planning to order one of those. Then I need to build a new side table/router table and I just realized tonight that it sits about 1" lower than my old saw so I have to slightly modify the legs on my outfeed table.

[Rick Gifford]

That tractor makes a great mobile base! Might see a new fashion started now.

Congrats on the classic Unisaw, Looks like someone did a great job refinishing it.

[Richard M. Wolfe]

Matt, congrats on the old unisaw. We have two in the "communal" shop. The one in use right now is a 1939 model and the other, which I plan to put in my backyard shop, is a 1940 model.

If that old bullet motor cuts like the one we have you're not going to like it.....you're gonna love it. You talked about getting a motor cover for it. Neither saw we got had one, and in the case of the 1939 model it never did - no mounting holes, whereas the 1940 model did. Check and see if there are mounting holes on yours, and of course if you want a cover drilling and tapping would be simple enough.

We took the door off the front and mounted a plywood plate in its place. A bracket goes in the center and a 90 degree elbow off it and hence to the dust collector....works well and is not in the way. Whatever kind of dust collection you have check it every once in a while as thin rips that fall into the cabinet beside the blade tend to build up on the cabinet dust collection opening and can accumulate to the point of not letting sawdust out.

Have fun.

[David DeCristoforo]

Sweeet. '47.... that's the year I was born. The switch doesn't look like a "stock" switch ( at least not from what you can see in the pic) so you won't be giving up anything "vintage" there. But if it is the original switch, be sure to keep it. They must have done some pretty serious grinding on the top but thinning down the miter gauge bars is not too much of a "biggie". You will definitely want to get the motor cover or dust collection will be a lost cause. All in all a nice score....

[Cary Falk]

That's a great looking saw. You are going to love it. I love mine. I got the following mag starter from a place in Tennessee. PM me if it is what you are looking for. It was the same price as the grizzly/woodworker's supply one you see all the time but has the mushroom stop button.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/DSC_0103a.jpg

[J. Z. Guest]

Looks great Matt. It almost looks new. I wonder if that old 1-1/2 hp motor will have the guts you're used to...

Are you planning to pop a new 3 hp in it at some point?

[Cary Falk]

Looks great Matt. It almost looks new. I wonder if that old 1-1/2 hp motor will have the guts you're used to...

Are you planning to pop a new 3 hp in it at some point?

Jeremy,
The general concensus is that the old RI motors are more powerful then the current day motors of similar hp. That Unisaw has a oval opening and will not hold 3hp motor without cutting the cabinet.
Cary

[Mike Goetzke]

Nice lookig saw Matt.

If your Dad has access to a mill would it be better to mill the miter slots deeper? I know, you would have to be extremely careful with setup. Just a thought.....................never mind.


Mike

[Matt Meiser]

That tractor makes a great mobile base!

Yeah, but if you thought the General hover pads were expensive.... :D


Check and see if there are mounting holes on yours, and of course if you want a cover drilling and tapping would be simple enough.

It does have the holes but they don't really look used. The instructions for the cover I downloaded from OWWM.com said something about drilling them. So it must have varied by year.


The switch doesn't look like a "stock" switch ( at least not from what you can see in the pic) so you won't be giving up anything "vintage" there. But if it is the original switch, be sure to keep it. They must have done some pretty serious grinding on the top but thinning down the miter gauge bars is not too much of a "biggie". You will defiantly want to get the motor cover or dust collection will be a lost cause. All in all a nice score....

Yes, right now it has a "heavy duty" switch mounted in the stock box. Looks like a light switch, but its one of the ones that can handle a motor load. But especially with the Biese fence the stock location is hard to reach. I don't really know the history on the grinding--just that it was done , and looks nice. But the miter slot thing caught me by surprise when I put my Incra on there.


If your Dad has access to a mill would it be better to mill the miter slots deeper? I know, you would have to be extremely careful with setup. Just a thought.....................never mind.

He has a benchtop mill so mounting the table on there would be tough. But that was my first thought.

[John Shuk]

Cool saw Matt!

[Craig McCormick]

Matt,

Cool stuff! I have an unrestored 1950's Uni sitting in my garage because it won't fit in my shop. I hate to part with it but don't really need it. It works great! Old arn is nice to have around.

Enjoy your new toy,

Craig McCormick

[Matt Meiser]

Well, its most of the way set up. This is its final location. I installed the fence in a modified position that basically give me no room to the left and an extra 10" to the right--about 40" capacity. To do that, and provide room for the back rail to pick up my overarm guard I had to make a new back rail. Of course my steel supplier didn't have 2"x2-1/2" angle like Biesemeyer uses so I had to get out the plasma cutter and "adjust" the 2-1/2x2-1/2 piece he did have so that my outfeed table would still work right. Its all fitted up, but I need to take it back off and paint it now. I stuck down a new tape measure, but can't use it as they provided the wrong cursor with the fence. I should get a replacement from Black and Decker later this week.

The outfeed table is my old outfeed table with a new top--since I had to buy laminate for the side table I went to Home Depot and got a damaged 4x8 sheet for $24, giving me plenty for both.

Yesterday I ordered a fiberglass "goose egg" motor cover which will be here in about 2 weeks and this morning I ordered a magnetic starter which should arrive in a couple days.

That will leave just connecting the dust collection. After researching the options, I'm probably going to take a deep breath and cut the cabinet. I'll save the off fall so it can be welded back in some day if desired. But good dust collection is more important to me than a pristine cabinet (and there's some other holes drilled already so its not mint anyway.) I forgot how important dust collection was until I started using this to build the tables with nothing!

[Jim Becker]

Awesome gloat, Matt!

[Sean Troy]

How great to see a vintage saw in such good shape and put to good use. good for you!

[Walt Caza]

Congrats Matt,
That Unisaw will serve you well...for a looong time!
When I upgraded from contractor saw to cabinet saw, it felt like real shop progress. I had retrofitted a Delta Unifence on my old contractor saw, and
used it with good results for more than a dozen years. I now use the SawStop Beis. clone and enjoy it as well.
It sounds like you are gonna go with your Incra fence over the fresh Beismeyer.
Kinda neat that your new 'old' saw came with the option of all of the 'big 3' ripfences!

Good luck with sorting our your dust collection and mag. switch.
take care,
Walt
:)

[Matt Meiser]

It sounds like you are gonna go with your Incra fence over the fresh Beismeyer.

No, Incra miter gauge.

[Walt Caza]

Sorry Matt, musta read too fast...
W

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

That tractor makes a great mobile base!


darn, you beat me to it. LOL.


Nice pickup!