My introductory to woodworking was in the mid eighties in wood shop in junior high school. The shop teacher still is one of the coolest (to me) guys I've ever met. He taught me so many great tricks and ways to do things. I have had a small home wood working area a few times in the past twenty years. Being in the military always made them temporary, resulting in my selling off my tools a few times. I have a pretty nice size shop now - 33' x 24' pole building. I mostly play with cars and am a part time custom auto trimmer (upholsterer to most). It didn't take long and I have a 14" bandsaw, a Delta contractor's saw with a Biesemeyer fence, and some other woodworking basics to aid in my upholstery projects.
I have been working on getting my shop organized, put away and a good work space for the past few months. I bought a miter saw to make some shelves and such. It helped a lot. I had been forgetting how much I have enjoyed my shop projects in wood. A couple of weeks ago I realized it was time to make some cabinets, drawers and other things to get the shop where I want it.
That resulted in me buying a Unisaw. Something I have wanted for 25 years. I did not need the Unisaw. I could have made tables or extended the fence on the contractor's saw. I found a decent deal on a single phase 3HP unisaw in good condition with a 52" Biesemeyer fence and went for it. I drove 300 miles round trip and spent $700 on a '73 vintage machine in very useable condition. We took the table extensions and fence off of the saw to make loading and transporting easier. I started reading all I could find when I got it home and unloaded.
My saw is new enough that it fits in Delta's 50-273 mobile base. I found one locally with the side extension.
The saw powered up and ran ok. It vibrated more than I thought it should. The belts were aligned. They were also visibly not the same length and automotive belts from Napa. More reading led me to decide to install a Delta belt set. I was picking up a tool at the local service center and found they had the belt set for $32, in stock.
The belts had been cut off the same mandrel, in sequence:
I installed the belts and the saw runs with nearly zero noticeable vibration. The previous owner had replaced the arbor bearings. The paint has some surface rust, but no appreciable rust in the machine to speak of. Everything is there - handles, lock knobs, electrics, fence, miter gauge, etc. It also included some Sandvik blades, two dado sets and some other accessories. The fence did not have an extension table.
I couldn't bring myself to put the ugly, paint chipped fence on the saw. So, I started what I'll call a resto-mod on the saw. I stripped the paint from the fence angle and rectangular tube with aircraft paint stripper. I removed the busted up laminate and T-molding from the fence head. Delta sells a kit for about $80 that includes new fence sides and laminate. For that price, I think I'll sort out the laminate myself. I have the heat going in the shop and hope to spray the primer on the fence components. The plan is to get the fence painted and then assemble the saw and use it for a short period. Once I'm sure I'm happy with the way things are situated, I'll disassemble the saw and refinish it in black.
I welcome any input, comments or advice.
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Looks great
Originally Posted by Steven Wayne
