My 4th Powermatic 66 restore.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have completed my 4th restore of a Powermatic 66 Table saw.
I found this 1970 saw when I went to look at a Delta HD shaper. The saw had a 2 hp 3 ph motor. I completely tore the saw apart, stripped paint, cleaned parts & painted. The saw came with the original Jetlock style fence. I had a 50" Biesemeyer fence & mobile base that came off of a 1995 Powermatic 66 that I use in my shop. I installed a new 3 hp 1 ph motor, built a custom motor cover & extension table.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0481-1.jpg

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[Tom Henry]

Nice Work!!!!

[Norman Pyles]

Nice restore!!!!!

[Mike Heidrick]

Awesome Chris!!

How did you make the top look sooo good?

[Tim Thomas]

Super clean looking. I like seeing old tools restored like this. Excellent work, and I like the touch of the real wood faces for the fence system. What wood did you use for that? It looks great. Also, you say this is the 4th Powermatic 66 you have restored, do you typically just restore these and sell them or do you do so much woodworking that you actually need 4 saws? :D

** edit **
I did some searching through your other posts about restoring saws. Nice job on all of them. I guess I know what you do with them now, but I am still curious about the wood on that fence. I have an Aluma-Classic Shop Fox fence and I was considering replacing the stock extruded aluminum faces with something solid like MDF. Now I'm thinking that it would look much nicer if I used real wood. :)

[Lawrence Smith]

Beautiful restoration. If I ever need my 66 refurbished I know who to contact.

[alex grams]

Awesome work.

Do you restore them for the pleasure of doing so and just nab one whenever you see an old cheap one with potential? Or do you do this for other people (either customers for some profit or just for friends and let them cover the costs of your labor and parts?)

Either way, beautifully done. Before I took a different route of getting a new tablesaw I thought about refurbishing an old PM66 or Uni, and imagine I would have had a TON of fun doing it.

[Randy Davidson]

A work of art Chris. Beautiful.

[Simon Dupay]

Great job!:D Oh, how I love those old PMs.

[Gary Herrmann]

Beautiful job. Wish I had the time, patience and skill to do that.

[Brad Noble]

>>
Awesome Chris!!

How did you make the top look sooo good?<<

Sorry Mike, I just had to join you with this question. So Chris, how DO you get the top to look so good?

Brad

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks for all of the kind replies.

I restored this saw for fun. It is not very often I run across the early 66s.
I am not sure what I will do with it yet.

The fence faces are walnut.

The top was finished with a Festool RO150 random orbit sander. I started with 180 grit Rubin paper & work up through the grits of Rubin & Brilliant paper until I get the look I want.

[Grant Davis]

A real thing of beauty and a saw anyone would like in their shop.

[Michael Donahue]

BEAUTIFUL!:eek:

[Rick de Roque]

Great job on the rebuild. I have to replace the bearings on my Griz 1029. How hard is it to do? looks Like you have done a few. Whats the procedure?
Thanks,
Rick

[Sarit Sotangkur]

Will sanding the top like that cause it to go out of level?

[Thomas love]

Nice job Chris, I have the same saw. Is the motor cover all wood? I need to make one.
Tom.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Great job on the rebuild. I have to replace the bearings on my Griz 1029. How hard is it to do? looks Like you have done a few. Whats the procedure?
Thanks,
Rick

Rick,

The job of changing bearings on the PM 66 is a fairly simple job. Remove the pulley, loosen a set screw, then the arbor & bearings slide out of the casting.
Then the bearings are pulled from the arbor & then press the new bearings on. The only other table saws that I have changed bearings on is Unisaws. The job of changing bearings on a Unisaw in a more challenging job. On a Unisaw you have the added challenge of not breaking the casting in the process. I am not sure where the Grizzly 1029 fall. I have found that a good place to start is to study the parts list & the saw its self.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Will sanding the top like that cause it to go out of level?

Sarit,

I have used this process on several cast tops & have not had that problem. It is easier than sanding wood in that respect. Just keep the sander moving.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Tom,

The motor cover is all wood. Let me know if you want pictures or measurements of the cover.

[Matt Benton]

Chris,

When sanding down the top, do you use something like WD40 or Boeshield? Also, is the sandpaper you mentioned wet/dry?

Thanks!

[Chris Rosenberger]

Matt,

I sand the top dry.
The sandpaper is the same paper I use for sanding wood.
I did forget to mention that if I have used disks available I use those first before using new disks.

[Matt Day]

Wow, that is some great work. I'm glad to hear you can get a top to look that good with just regular sandpaper and a ROS! Thanks for the tips.

[Chee Fang]

Nice job. I have a PM66 on han also. How do you remove the old paint and rust?

Regards.

[Tim Thomas]

The fence faces are walnut.

Thanks Chris. My local wood supplier always has plenty of walnut on hand, so I just might do the same. I'll be sure to post up some pictures when I get roundtuit.

[Brad Ridgway]

Chris,

I'd like to follow up by repeating the last question and asking some more if its ok...


1) did you blast, use liquid stripper, etc?

2) How'd you protect the top of the table top / extensions when stripping / painting the sides of the same (mine has a lot of runs/etc i'd like to get out on the table sides). Did you disassemble the extensions or handle as one unit?

3) do you do do anything on the interior of the biesemeyer front rail / fence on the other saws. I have a lot of rust & flaking in both. Seems like they ship unprotected.

4) when you say pull it apart, i assume that includes the trunions? Is there any play in the 4-bolt mounting when reinstalling? Any tricks to that alignment?

5) assuming you don't paint the worm/gears for raise / tilt? just tape them off?

6) what is your painting technique (including type/brand) if you don't mind me asking?

7) My saw is only a 99 and doesn't seem to have any flex in the bearings. Would you recommend replacing anyway?



thx
-brad


p.s. i found this link while digging around (nice work as well):
http://www.dreamshopwoodworks.com/powermatic_66.htm

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks for the reply Brad. I will try to answer your questions.

1) did you blast, use liquid stripper, etc?

I used paint remover.

2) How'd you protect the top of the table top / extensions when stripping / painting the sides of the same (mine has a lot of runs/etc i'd like to get out on the table sides). Did you disassemble the extensions or handle as one unit?

The extensions were removed from the table. I sanded the top surface of the table & extensions after final assembly.

3) do you do do anything on the interior of the biesemeyer front rail / fence on the other saws. I have a lot of rust & flaking in both. Seems like they ship unprotected.

The inside of the Biesemeyer front rail & fence rail were in in good condition. I did spray paint inside the rails.

4) when you say pull it apart, i assume that includes the trunions? Is there any play in the 4-bolt mounting when reinstalling? Any tricks to that alignment?

There is some play in the 4 mounting bolts. I try to square the trunions with the cabinet, the best I can.

5) assuming you don't paint the worm/gears for raise / tilt? just tape them off?

All machined surfaces are masked off.

6) what is your painting technique (including type/brand) if you don't mind me asking?

I used Sherwin Williams Industrial enamel. The color was found on the OWWM website. I sprayed the paint with an HVLP sprayer.

7) My saw is only a 99 and doesn't seem to have any flex in the bearings. Would you recommend replacing anyway?

If the bearings are tight & do not make noise, I would not change them.

[Karl Brogger]

Very cool! Could you post some pics of previous saws that you have done?

[Bob Genovesi]

Chris,

You do nice work and I like the attention to detail. Do you sell them once they're finished or are you collecting them?

[Chris Rosenberger]

Very cool! Could you post some pics of previous saws that you have done?

The first one a 1967 saw. I first used this saw over 33 years ago at a former employers. I bought it 4 years ago & it was in very bad shape.
This is now my dado saw.

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

The second saw is a 1991 saw. I also use this saw in my shop. It was also in bad condition when I got it.

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

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

The third is a 1966 saw. It was in fair condition. I sold this saw.

Before
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/Powermatic66MIa.jpg

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

I also restored a 1969 Powermatic 60 jointer. I had planned to use it in my shop. But ended up selling it.

Before
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/jointer001.jpg

After
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0397.jpg

[Chris Padilla]

Me thinks you enjoy bringing old iron back to life versus working wood!!

Your shop appears enormous...how big?

Wonderful restoration jobs!

I don't think I'd be alone in asking for a thread of a blow-by-blow of some future restoration project of yours! It would be fun to watch the progress and process.

:)

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks Chris.
I really enjoy woodworking better, but a restore is a nice change of pace. I enjoy a restore more if it is a machine I am going to be using in my shop.
I will try to do progress thread on a future restore. I never think about taking pictures until the project is done. That goes for my remodel jobs also. I have very few progress pictures.

The total shop building is over 2650 square feet. In that I have the shop, a finish room, an office & lumber storage.

[Dwain Lambrigger]

Chris,

That is fantastic work. Do you use any type of lubricant when sanding the top? I have heard WD-40 is the liquid of choice. Also, what did you use to build your custom engine cover? Is it all sheet? Is that a wood door?

Again, unbelieveable work. I think you should have your own section where we can view all of your great work...

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks Dwain.
I do not use any lubricant when I do the tops. I just use my Festool RO 150 sander & the sandpaper I use on wood.
The motor covers that have the angled bottom are made from wood. After all, I am mostly a woodworker.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0288.jpg


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[Charles Maddox]

Tom, I just acquired this same saw, picking it up tomorrow, would love to have photo and measurements for the motor cover. Great information for my restore. Thanks
Charlie

[Carroll Courtney]

Dang,even strip the inside of the cabinet.Fancy motor cover there also,its better than the day it was new.Nice job----Carroll