Another Powermatic 66 Restore

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have just completed the restoration of my third Powermatic 66. This one was built in 1966. I traveled to Michigan to get it. It was not in to bad of shape for being 44 years old. The motor was burnt up, the dust door was missing & some rust. I tore it completely apart, cleaned and painted everything. Changed the arbor bearings & installed a 3 hp 1 phase motor. I do have one hangup though. The saw has a Powermatic overhead blade guard. I have never seen one of these before & never seen a picture of one. It looks like there should be a top cover for the guard. Would anyone know what type of material this cover would have made of & the size it should be?

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66MI.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0453.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0454.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0452.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0451.jpg

[Brian Weick]

that is an awsome job you did and a great saw~ so what are you going to do with it~:D
One more thing ~ you suck!:rolleyes:
Brian

[Ben Cadotte]

Nice job on the saw. So when are you going to send it to me for a thorough testing? :)

[Andy Livingston]

That looks fantastic. Should be a great saw! Did you fabricate the access door and motor cover, or did you part out from other saws? Did you do your own paint job?

[Doug Shepard]

Very nice. Now you've just got to drive it back to Michigan to repatriate those archaelogical remains. I'll volunteer to store it.:D

[J. Z. Guest]

Very nice work Chris. I don't think anything is missing from the blade guard. It seems like it would prevent you from accidentally dropping your hand onto the blade and that's it. Has it got a splitter of some sort, (I can't tell by the pix) or just the guard you picture? Were you able to get the old fence to lock parallel? I think I'd be more concerned about kickback from lack of a splitter or riving knife than the guard itself. Without a ZCI or overarm dust collector, it is going to spew a lot of dust.

What are the two levers on the fence? Front & rear?

[Jason Beam]

VERY nice!

That's one dandy restore job, there. I wonder ... could they have mounted a sheet of clear plastic on the ledges created by the "bent" top edges? Glass, maybe (surely not?)?




What are the two levers on the fence? Front & rear?


I believe those are "LOCKED" and "Micro-Adjust Mode" - one engages the micro adjuster (i think that's what that dial on the side is for) and the other completely locks the fence down solidly.

[Terry Mays]

Good job Chris next time I'm up your way and have sometime I might stop by and see it in person.

[Victor Stearns]

Chris, Sure looks better than the day it was built!
You metion third restoration. What happened to the first two?
Keep up the good work.
Victor

[Jim Becker]

Outstanding restoration, Chris!

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks for all of the kind words. I enjoyed doing this saw more than the others for some reason.

I will try to answer some of the questions.

Brian,
I am not sure what I am going to do with it.

Andy,
The dust door was missing. I found an original on the E auction site.
The motor cover came with the saw when I bought it.
I did the painting.

Doug,
With the price of diesel now around $5 a gallon, I do not think I will make it back to MI for quite some time.

Jermey,
After some adjustment the fence locks perfectly parallel.
I installed a shark splitter on the saw.
The two handles on the fence lock the front & rear of the fence. You lock the lower handle first. This gets the fence parallel & then you lock the top handle.

Jason,
The left guard has 3 screw holes in the top edge. I was thinking it might have had a piece of plexi glass on it, but was not sure & did not know what size it would be.

Terry,
Stop in any time & welcome to Sawmill Creek.

Victor,
The other 2 restores are machines I am using in my shop. The first was a saw owned buy a former employer. It is a 1967 PM 66. The first time I used it was in 1975. The company that owned it was a remodeling firm. The carpenters cut everything on the saw. Cement blocks, bricks, heavy angle iron & sometimes they even cut wood with it. I was able to purchase it in 2003. It was in bad condition, but it did have all of its parts. I was not interested in restoring it back to original state so I sold off some of the original parts to help pay for the new fence system.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0291.jpg

The second restore is a 1994 model. It was used in a factory. It looked like it had cut alot of solid surface material. It was in fair condition.
Link to a post about this saw.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=72699

[Randy Davidson]

You have me drooling in my coffee cup this morning Chris. Beautiful restorations.

[George Sanders]

Very nice work. Now I know what a real saw looks like.

[John Keeton]

Well, the first report (3rd restore) was great, but the one with the router table extension, DC setup, etc. is a work of art! Color coordinated, well designed, and you may have missed your calling if you are concentrating on woodworking. There has to be a great market out there for that kind of restore/readaptation of these old machines. Not cheap I'm sure, but worth every penny!

Honestly, I never really considered this type of thing when I started looking for new machines for my shop. I would LOVE to have that kind of setup.

After posting this, I went back and looked at the prior restore posted in January - these are simply stated - masterpieces!!

[scott spencer]

Chris - That's a striking difference from the "before" to the "after". Awesome job!

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks again for all of the kind words.

[Bob Feeser]

Chris,
Will you take 10 grand for the green one. That is just how desirous it is. Many have new condition new saws, but very few have new condition old saws. What a beautiful restoration job. What did you do to bring up the top so well?
You could write a book on the entire restoration process. I think it is really ashame when someone gets ahold of old iron, and then ruins it by painting all over everything. Your disassembly, and refinishing, and bringing up some of the components, like the cord, all attention to detail that made such a difference. My hat is off to you.
The old 1966 in that kind of condition has a character to it that my new 2004 does not have; it has history, personality, tradition.
Where are you getting these old ones to work on?

[Charles Shenk]

Great saw! Congratulations on a job incredibly done. I too have an old PM66 and over time have noticed how much better made the old ones are than the new. Much more iron, heavier gauge sheetmetal with nice rolled edges, larger trunions, 3 belt pullies, more elegant hand wheels...

I hope you use but don't abuse that saw. They're like race horses that need to run.

[Chuck Saunders]

I have always felt that Powermatic looks better green. Beautiful job

[jeremy levine]

Well, the first report (3rd restore) was great, but the one with the router table extension, DC setup, etc. is a work of art! Color coordinated, well designed, and you may have missed your calling if you are concentrating on woodworking. There has to be a great market out there for that kind of restore/readaptation of these old machines. Not cheap I'm sure, but worth every penny! ......- masterpieces!!

All of the above and more, really great. You should make a video of a restore.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Chris,
Will you take 10 grand for the green one. That is just how desirous it is. Where are you getting these old ones to work on?

Is that an offer Bob?:D
I might even do free delivery even with $5 diesel.
The 1967 saw came from a former employer, just a block from my shop, The gold 1994 saw was included in a trade for woodworking machines.
The 1966 saw came from MI. Someone posted it on a working website & I was able to make an appointment first.

It is funny about the pea green Powermatic color. I hated that color. But I had never seen a machine in good condition in that color. I had redone 3 1960's PM machines for my shop, before I decided to paint one the original color. It is now my favorite Powermatic color.

Thanks again for all of the kind replies.

[Brent Ring]

I agree - A video needs to be in order for the next one. Simply masterful!

[Matt Meiser]

Beautiful job Chris. I home my jointer comes out looking 1/2 that nice!