# Restoration - Powermatic 66 Table Saw



## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Ok, here's the restoration story of my PM66. As I said in another post this is something I did a few years ago but just realized I never posted it here at Router Forums. So y'all sit back for an interesting ride and feel free to comment. You can even offer suggestions as to how you would have done things differently although I'm fairly certain I won't be going back and redoing much if anything because the saw is working perfectly and is used daily. Also, this will be almost verbatim what I posted on a couple of other forums in December 2014. There is a lot to read but the little story below sort of sets it all up, so if you read nothing else read this below - 

David

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This will be a long post, be forewarned. You may or may not follow along, you may get bored, you may look at the photos only and never read a word of what I write, you may look at this and wonder why I even tried to restore this saw (and jointer but I won't be covering the jointer here), but I can pretty much guarantee you'll like the results of my efforts. So dive in, gander at what you want, offer comments, or just come back once in a while to see what I've done - I took over 300 photos but I won't inundate you with all those. I will post about 70, though. 

This post is more about me documenting what I've done to restore these tools and wanting to share the process than seeking guidance or help. You'll see things you may have done differently or not at all but I do hope you enjoy the trip - David

Here's the background and a prerequisite for understanding how all this took place - 

Several times I have mentioned in posts that I owned a woodworking business in the mid 80's to early 90's. I partnered with an old friend in the late 80's and we were a good fit together for the work we did. It was a good business and at one time we had about 8 people working for us. In 1990 we bought a Powermatic Model 66 table saw and a Delta DJ-15 jointer. When I decided a few years later to get into the Technology field my partner and I worked out a deal for my exit, for the business I had brought in, and since I owned all the other tools anyway I wanted access to the shop for my own projects. 

Well, a year went by and he did decide to close the business but I had no home shop or place to store the saw and jointer. But another friend in the same business needed both and asked if he could use them. He had done some work in our shop before and even rented some space from us at one point. He used our/my tools and took good care of them. So I decided to let this other friend take both tools to his shop and for the next few years I checked in on my tools often. Then it got to the point where I checked on them every few years. Finally, after many years of not seeing them and still not having a home shop, I sort of wrote them off.

Then, a few years ago, a friend at church told me he heard that the guy who had borrowed my saw and jointer had abandoned them in an old building, that the motors were burnt up, and they were likely just boat anchors now. I viewed it as my fault for not checking on them and my fault for even loaning tools like that out - stupid move, really.

I found out where they tools were located and couldn't believe where they were and what I found. A woodworker friend, Adam, went with me figuring we'd find the tools covered in sawdust and just neglected. We were not prepared for what we found.

Looks like a vibrant neighborhood from the front, right? I was concerned about even having my MINI parked there!








I looked in through the broken glass and iron bars and saw this –








Driving around back we saw this locked door –








I couldn't get my phone in very far but I took this shot. If you look closely you'll see a contractors table saw in the dark area to the left. My saw and jointer aren't really visible but they are behind the contractors saw. The sunlight shining in is not from a skylight. The roof is simply missing in several areas, including where my saw and jointer were parked.








We left and came back in Adam's truck and I had a guy who had worked there meet us because he had the combination to the lock to get us in the back door. Adam and I loaded the saw and jointer into the back of his truck by ourselves - these are HEAVY tools! And I was still in my dress clothes, didn't even take my tie off. We stopped for a bite to eat and I snapped this shot - one guy walked by and asked if we were headed to the dump. :nono: Uh, nope!








More soon... David


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## woodknots (Mar 7, 2012)

David - I saw a picture of your PM66 in the other thread and after seeing this pic, I can't wait for the rest of the story (and the reason you didn't go original color)


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

We got the tools home and into my garage where I could really see how bad they were. The saw was directly under where the roof had been leaking, apparently for quite some time. This is some seriously deep rust! I know a lot of people would have just given up at this point but I do like a challenge. One thing I found that I knew I would have to deal with at some point is that the center was about 0.090" below the perimeter of the table corner to corner and about 0.075" across the middle. I couldn't tell if it was rust build up on the perimeter or if the saw top actually dipped that much near the blade. All I could do is clean it up and see what I had to deal with.









I started by dry sanding with 80 grit. A LOT of dry sanding with 80 grit.








I switched to finer and finer grits, even using a 1/3 sheet air operated orbital sander with wet/dry paper and WD40 with 3 in 1 oil. After a couple of weeks doing this just about every night and as much as I could squeeze in on weekends, I got it cleaned up enough to move on to the inside. When I got it to this point I measured again and found the dip in the center from corner to corner was down to below 0.050" and across the middle was down below 0.030" so some of that had to be rust build up. That's still not close enough but it's going the right way.








When I took the top off this is what I found –








After getting the trunnion to move I felt there was hope after all, that I could get this fine tool back into working shape. Until I tried to get the pulley off the arbor, that is. I used penetrants, mild heat, dead blow hammer, heavy mallet on blocks of wood - basically anything I could think of to get that pulley off. No luck, no success, no movement at all... for over a month. Almost every evening, just about every weekend, I would try to get this pulley off.








Alternately I turned my attention to getting the height adjustment shaft out of the trunnion. I finally got it to rotate but it was bent and would not come out. It would move back and forth a little bit but I couldn't drive it out. I think when it was loaned out they must have dropped the saw or in some fashion bumped it pretty hard, maybe it leaned hard in their truck - I don't know. There was a mark on the handwheel and the knob was slightly bent.

Because I was having to pry/hit/pound so hard to get it to move I figured I'd better give it some support, so I bandsawed this little Maple block to make me feel better about hitting on it so hard.








I began trying to straighten the bent portion of the shaft and finally resorted to filing it down so I could remove it from the trunnion. But the first thing I did after that was order a new shaft and worm gear - $14, not too bad!

Next, I took everything out of cabinet –









And then every fastener and piece removable came out –








Now over on my workbench I got back on the pulley. Same technique of penetrants, puller, etc. and after another week or so it came off - whew! I didn't want to have to order that assembly 'cause I think it was a bit more pricey than the shaft I ordered.








The good thing at this point is that all the pounding had not damaged or broken any piece. Only the bent shaft needed replacing.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

The cabinet is now stripped of all parts and cleaned as good as I could get it but there's WAY too much rust to paint over. At this point I figured my only choice was sandblasting. Until I got everything off I thought there might some remote possibility that I could wire brush it and primer heavy but that would never really work.








Here's the fence in all its glory –








Not really usable as is, I'm thinking.








And I can't even *begin *to see through this cursor. The brown specks are paint although it's hard to see that in the photo. But I figured I could replace the plastic without much effort.








Here's the bottom side of the rail tube. I assume water stood for long periods between this and the angle iron rail. Pretty badly pitted. This is after quite a bit of cleaning, sanding, etc. It was almost as rusty as the top although cast iron has its own look with rust that's a little different from a steel tube.








I asked Adam, my friend who helped me retrieve the saw and jointer, if he knew a good sandblaster. Turns out he had used a shop 5 minutes from my house. The guy was really nice and as I described the saw and its parts he just said he'd do it for $100, that he didn't need to know how many pieces. 

So I began prepping everything for sandblasting. I can assure you that this takes a long time if you do it right. Each piece had to be thoroughly cleaned with Naphtha to ensure the duct tape would stay in place through the blasting. Prepping each piece with duct tape trimmed precisely where I did not want any blasting - machined surfaces, through holes for shafts, gears, etc. After all, if they blasted an area that I had not intended then it would have been my fault for not protecting it good enough.

I used cardboard secured with duct tape for the top and extension wings. Also, I wanted to preserve as much of the labels and Powermatic markings as possible, so I taped those off, as well.

After two nights working several hours each night and most of Saturday, I had the pieces ready.








Prepped and ready for blasting –








We took the saw in on Monday morning and they said it would take 3-4 business days to get to the saw for blasting. That worked out well for my timing to clean up in the garage and get ready for the saw to return. Only thing is they called Monday afternoon the same day about 4 and said it's ready and they close at 5. Oh, and it was about to rain so they suggested I come get it now before it starts to rust again. LOL! Quick service isn't always what you want :no:. 

Adam and his truck were in town and available at that time so this all worked out for both of us. He lives 45 miles away and very little of this would fit in my MINI...

Parts back from blasting -








Another view. I didn't send the plate that the magnetic starter mounts on because I wanted to use that to match the Powermatic Gold paint. The panel under the starter had never seen daylight and was not faded, rusted, or marked up.








I'll post some more tomorrow, guys and gals - David


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Wow David, that looks like it was a massive job. Just curious, did you try the motors first? If they had been fried I might have given up right there.


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

Thanks David, frugal and tenacious come to mind. Many people today would have thrown it away and bought new.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

OH hell with it!!! I'll just give this thread one BIG like!! 

My Craftsman hybrid is slowly nearing the end of its usefulness. I don't see the value in investing in restoring it. So, bringing back to life an old standard is an option. Seeing what you started with and what you ended up with is absolutely inspiring. I will be following this thread with a great deal of interest. Thanks David, for taking the time and effort to document your adventure. 

Bill


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## BTimmer (Feb 7, 2015)

Nice restoration thread!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

David ----- get rid of that damn Mini and get a real vehicle..........F150, Sierra, Silverado, Ram!!!!! Or get one in addition to. Yup - crew cab - you sure wouldn't regret it after having it awhile.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

Very interesting. I didn't see any mention of using electrolysis on the cleaning process or did I miss that?


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Cherryville Chuck said:


> Wow David, that looks like it was a massive job. Just curious, did you try the motors first? If they had been fried I might have given up right there.


If I remember correctly, Charles, the PM66 motor was off and sitting by the saw. That's about the only reason Adam and I could hoist this beast into his pickup bed by ourselves. I think if the motor had still been mounted it would have crossed the line for us being able to lift it that high. The shaft spun freely but I was taking them home anyway.



Daikusan said:


> Thanks David, frugal and tenacious come to mind. Many people today would have thrown it away and bought new.


We considered that at one point, Steve, but there was sentimental value attached to the saw and a history that I just couldn't throw away.



TwoSkies57 said:


> OH hell with it!!! I'll just give this thread one BIG like!!
> 
> My Craftsman hybrid is slowly nearing the end of its usefulness. I don't see the value in investing in restoring it. So, bringing back to life an old standard is an option. Seeing what you started with and what you ended up with is absolutely inspiring. I will be following this thread with a great deal of interest. Thanks David, for taking the time and effort to document your adventure.
> 
> Bill


Thanks, Bill! To me it's fun to share these experiences. It helps me to document what I did in case I need to go back and revisit but some little piece of the story is bound to help someone else down the road when they go to do a restoration.



BTimmer said:


> Nice restoration thread!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks, BT!



honesttjohn said:


> David ----- get rid of that damn Mini and get a real vehicle..........F150, Sierra, Silverado, Ram!!!!! Or get one in addition to. Yup - crew cab - you sure wouldn't regret it after having it awhile.


LOL! John, the MINI got upgraded to a brand new Countryman sometime during this restoration and has been since replaced by a Tacoma. This has been a good thing when it comes to hauling lumber, which I seem to be doing every two weeks or so, but I really miss the MINI - great cars!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

JFPNCM said:


> Very interesting. I didn't see any mention of using electrolysis on the cleaning process or did I miss that?


No, Jon, I didn't do any electrolysis on this. I did it on the jointer and subsequently on the PM 54A jointer we bought. In retrospect it would have saved a good bit of time if I had gone the electrolysis route - not sure why I didn't do it on the table saw...


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Got some primer on this in a hurry before rain and rust coming back –








Then I started looking for a match to the Powermatic Gold. Before anyone bothers to tell me, I have searched and searched and found all sorts of paint formulas and recipes and I've been to automotive paint stores looking for something that would be an exact match. I was not willing to settle for 'close' and I certainly wasn't going to paint it Powermatic Mustard Yellow or whatever it's called. My jointer is that color and it's fine for that but this saw is a 1990 and came in PM Gold so that's what I wanted.

Several automotive paint stores locally said they could get a perfect match but the cost was around $150 for the catalyzed finishes and clear coats they recommended. I'm too frugal (cheap) to spend that much on paint for a table saw. So I kept searching... for two years the saw sat in the shop, primed and ready. I painted all the internal pieces black right away and they were ready. Each time my daughter asked me to build her a small table or something I just said, 'When I get the table saw together' and it sort of became a standing joke around here.

But still it sat on its side, like this, for two years. (Update 3/11/17 - As I look at this photo I can't believe how much the shop has changed. We've added the Laguna bandsaw, SuperMax drum sander, CNC machine, lumber is now stored vertically, we have a French cleat around the shop, and lots of other changes - wow!)








At least I had done all the body work right after I primed it, so that was out of the way.








More Bondo work –








I used the side of the cabinet as a resting spot for small pieces and the inside for parts and sandpaper storage. It had become a fixture in the shop, sad to say.

Then, after two years, I announced to my wife that I had decided on black and would start painting right away (late October 2014). She just laughed and said she would have painted it black two years earlier if it had been up to her. 

But I decided I wanted the inside of the cabinet white for higher reflectance when I needed to see inside there. I no longer have those young eyes that can see in low light so white made sense.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

LOL! John, the MINI got upgraded to a brand new Countryman sometime during this restoration and has been since replaced by a Tacoma. This has been a good thing when it comes to hauling lumber, which I seem to be doing every two weeks or so, but I really miss the MINI - great cars!

*****************************

OK -- I'll give you the Tacoma. I think they're assembled by you someplace aren't they? It's a start. But once you drove a real truck for a while you'd never go back. Gonna get rid of my F150 this year I think -- Ram or Jimmy this time I think, since I don't get the Z plan anymore.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

honesttjohn said:


> LOL! John, the MINI got upgraded to a brand new Countryman sometime during this restoration and has been since replaced by a Tacoma. This has been a good thing when it comes to hauling lumber, which I seem to be doing every two weeks or so, but I really miss the MINI - great cars!
> 
> *****************************
> 
> OK -- I'll give you the Tacoma. I think they're assembled by you someplace aren't they? It's a start. But once you drove a real truck for a while you'd never go back. Gonna get rid of my F150 this year I think -- Ram or Jimmy this time I think, since I don't get the Z plan anymore.


Yeah, it isn't a real truck. And it's not even a good Toyota!! It doesn't give you the outside temp (you have to buy a cheaper Toyota or a more expensive Toyota to get that little luxury), it doesn't auto lock the doors, doesn't auto turn on the headlights, it doesn't even have a place for the gas cap when you open the little access door. I mentioned all this to the sales guy and he shrugged, said he can't add all those things (and I know he can't). And for a 6 cylinder it gets poor gas mileage - about 18 on the road, 17 in town. 

My MINI Cooper did all that and tons more and cost a grand less but I can only haul small sticks in it. I should've gone next door to Ford...


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

This is a great thread. Thanks David for going to the trouble of showing us.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

old55 said:


> This is a great thread. Thanks David for going to the trouble of showing us.


Thanks, Ross! I'm having fun going back through all of this and getting to live through it again, vicariously through photos and the story this time but still enjoying going back through it.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ok, picking up where I left off - choosing colors for the cabinet - 

For comparison, here's the new color on the left, 1990 Gold on the right - 








Continuing on with painting everything in sight! Everything in white was brushed on very heavy and followed up with Rust-Oleum in rattle cans - High Performance White.

Underside of table –








Underside of extension wings –









Moved it back to my spray booth for the cabinet (outside in the back yard, at night no less). I used Rust-Oleum High Performance Gloss Black Enamel in rattle cans from Lowe's. These have a decent spray tip and it went on well, smooth.








Brought it inside after two good heavy coats. No bugs, no drips, no runs, no errors. I also caulked with black Silicone every gap in the base to the cabinet, every void in welding, every place where two pieces meet and didn't close up precisely. I have thoughts of later creating as close to negative pressure inside the cabinet as possible for dust control, although that may be a pie in the sky dream and is definitely not on the front burner. But sealing these up now was certainly easier than later with everything installed.








Here's a sample of the cleanup process. This worm gear was encrusted with what seemed to be the equivalent of concrete. This packed sawdust/grease/rust combo would not soak off with any number of solvents I tried, would not wire wheel or wire brush by hand off, and I couldn't budge any of it with compressed air. What I ended up doing, for 3 hours one night, was to use a small brass rod sharpened on the end like a chisel and chip away at what seemed like each molecule of the crud. My hands were sore!








After 3 hours it looked like this –








Many parts required the same attention to get cleaned and ready for assembly. No single part came clean with a good soaking in solvents or wire brushing. Every part required a lot of time and there were nights, like this worm gear, where I cleaned one part only.

Here is my layout table with parts, some ready and some soon to be.








I believe all of these are ready. And I got lucky on the angle scale. There was a blemish on it and when I tried to get it off it just started getting bigger, which wasn't cool. But then I looked a little closer and realized it still had the protective plastic on it from 1990. I peeled it off and there was a brand new angle scale under there! 








Remember that height shaft that was bent and I had to support it with a wood wedge block because I was having to beat it out of the trunnion? And remember I said one of the first things I did was to order a new one? Well, I didn't remember the 'part ordering' because it happened two years ago. As I was laying out all the items for assembly I came across a bag I had not seen with some parts. Lo and behold there was a new shaft and worm gear... the same worm gear I had spent 3 hours cleaning a couple of days earlier!! Bummer! Of course, those are new bearings on the arbor.








I'll finish this tomorrow, folks. Thanks for following along and commenting even though this project is finished. You get extra points for reading everything but the points are not worth anything... sorry. LOL!
David


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Good job. Man you got a lot of patience.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

In powermatic years, a 1990 model is a relatively young saw..

While doing the restore, did you find that parts were readily available? Affordable or at least reasonably affordable?

Painting the interior white is a great idea, may seem like a little thing, by adding the reflective quality of a light color should be of great help


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

TwoSkies57 said:


> In powermatic years, a 1990 model is a relatively young saw..
> 
> While doing the restore, did you find that parts were readily available? Affordable or at least reasonably affordable?
> 
> Painting the interior white is a great idea, may seem like a little thing, by adding the reflective quality of a light color should be of great help


I agree, Bill - fairly young for a Powermatic but old enough to be the 'right' color. And because we bought it new it had/has some sentimental value, at least enough to put forth the effort on a restoration.

Seems like the only parts I needed were the shaft and worm gear and that was very easy to get from PM. Bearings, belts, fasteners, etc. I picked up locally. Paint is the only sticking point - it's like PM wants to hold hostage the gold color by charging so much for rattle cans. I wasn't willing to play that game with them; black looks cool, I think!


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Holy crapolla Batman... 17-23 bucks for a 12oz can...

I think that black looks GREAT!!!

btw.. did a google on the paint and under images there is yur saw...


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## Lucky Irish (Mar 7, 2015)

Excellent job. 
You have far more patience than I do.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

TwoSkies57 said:


> Holy crapolla Batman... 17-23 bucks for a 12oz can...
> 
> I think that black looks GREAT!!!
> 
> btw.. did a google on the paint and under images there is yur saw...


Thanks, Bill - I like the black a lot now that I've lived with it for a couple of years.

Mine showed up on a Google search? Cool, I'll have to tell my wife I made it on the Internet!!! Yay me! LOL!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Here are the parts laid out for assembly, including 3 different sets from different years of PM manuals on the 66. Even though I have a reprint from 1990 none of these shows the three belt pulley. But that's ok, I figured out where the third belt went... :wink:








I didn't show this earlier but the only clean portion on my old rust bucket of a saw was the magnetic starter. When I pulled the cover off I was quite surprised to find not only how clean and dust free it was, but also the original wiring diagram tucked neatly in the lower right corner.








Since I couldn't get a match for the PM Gold I wanted to preserve some little facet of the original color, so I masked off an area under the starter in case I ever want to go back and look at it for matching later (doubtful).








The trunnion, remember, took many weeks to even get it to move when I first started this project a couple of years ago. Well, when I put the trunnion back in I expected it to move rather freely - it didn't. Because I wanted it as freely moving as possible I started shimming the mounting brackets/bearings until it moved as I expected. I have some 0.003" brass shim stock and I used three pieces on the right and two on the left, if I remember correctly. You have to be very careful each time you loosen the bolts and raise the flange or it will move left/right and then you have to start all over. As you can imagine, this took a while but I think it's worth the effort.








This is how it moved when I first mounted it - 





And after shimming, and a couple hours of tweaking, it moved like this -


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

One thing I failed to mention is all the fasteners required to put this back together. There were only a few specialty fasteners I reused but I went with a list of all the nuts, bolts, washers, set screws, etc. to an old fastener company and they had all but a few items. It's a neat place if you've never been to a true fastener supply company. We used to have a few around here but now there's only one, but I handed them the list and for the next 20-25 minutes or so the young man individually bagged and wrote on each what the bag contained. Total invoice for this - about $14. Fabulous! 








As you can imagine, there was a LOT of this - cleaning threads after the sandblasting, rust, and painting. Most of it I did prior to assembly but I forgot about some, like this one, and had to do it in place around what was already installed.








My friends will pick on me for the detail I go to on a project but they love it when I help them with _their _projects. Here's an example on the start/stop switches. I couldn't leave this looking dingy so I pulled them out of the starter box and cleaned best I could but in the end I needed to repaint the lettering bright white.

Before/during –








After –








I know it will run better with the lettering properly tended to... :wink:

Earlier I showed the video of the trunnion, where it was too tight and then after shimming I was able to get it freely moving. Here are some photos of the trunnion installed.








The worm gears are centered and backlash set as best I could so that there isn't much play when changing direction. Only the tilt gear is active in this photo but the raise/lower gear was set to the same specs when I installed it. You can also see the back Silicone caulk I used on any gaps in the cabinet seams.








Everything mounted!








Another view, tilted –








One more –








When I got the saw back a few years ago one of the first things I did was to take the motor down to a shop in town and let them make the necessary repairs. I understood that the motor was 'burnt up' but in fact, the windings were still good. They changed the bearings, cleaned the motor, replaced the capacitor and fan - $160.


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

You got more patience and emotional attachment than I got. You could have just shot the guy that did it and saved a whole lot of time. lol

Shows there wasn't much respect for things back then, too.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

honesttjohn said:


> You got more patience and emotional attachment than I got. You could have just shot the guy that did it and saved a whole lot of time. lol
> 
> Shows there wasn't much respect for things back then, too.


LOL! Yep, that would've done it! But I chose the high road; he knows what he did and has to live with that but I thoroughly enjoyed the rebuild and have a great saw now. And I doubt he has any idea what it looks like now but that's ok, I know what it is now so we're all good. :smile:


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

You not only have much more patience than I, you're also kinder. I might not have shot the guy who did it, but I would most assuredly know that he knows exactly what it looks like now, how long it took me and how much it cost to do it.


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## coxhaus (Jul 18, 2011)

Nice job on the PM66 table saw. I like the old iron power tools also. I have saved 2 Unisaws, an Atlas drill press, jointer and an old Italian bandsaw. The work on the old iron is as much fun as wood working for me. 

You should get years of service from that PM66 saw.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

difalkner said:


> LOL! Yep, that would've done it! But I chose the high road; he knows what he did and has to live with that but I thoroughly enjoyed the rebuild and have a great saw now. And I doubt he has any idea what it looks like now but that's ok, I know what it is now so we're all good. :smile:


Cool!


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## Jack Wilson (Mar 14, 2010)

Incredible! I love to see old iron respected and restored, kudos!


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

On to the fence. It was pretty bad if you remember from the photos. Cleaned up like the rest of the saw, put on new UHMW that Adam gave me, and now it works better than I remember it ever working. Very smooth and accurate.
























Earlier I said that I would just order a new cursor but I couldn't find this particular design. I found a few that were close and many that said 'discontinued' but were very pricey. So I used some lacquer thinner to remove the paint from the cursor, after testing a hidden area to make sure that it wasn't going to eat into the plastic. Then I used some Meguiar's to polish it until it just sparkled. No need to replace it, just a little elbow grease and patience and it's about as good as new! :dance3:








I went back with 1/2" MDF on the fence but have yet to find the plastic laminate I want. I'm kind of holding off until I decide on what I want for my extension table and I'll use the same for the fence. So for now it'll stay as MDF. And since I'm into guitars and gearing up to build acoustics, I made a push stick out of Walnut I milled to 1/2" and then shaped like a Grand Auditorium guitar with a Florentine cutaway. It may not work any better than a simple push stick but it has to sound better! 








I've been out at the sawmill most of the day helping mill my next batch of Walnut and even cut a decent crotch for use later. My sawmill guy is building a new kiln and all of what we cut today, which was just a couple of small logs plus the crotch, will go into the new kiln sometime next week after air drying for a bit. I had planned to finish posting this restoration but it's late so I'll do my best to finish it tomorrow. I know most of you just can't wait... LOL! 

David


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

difalkner said:


> And since I'm into guitars and gearing up to build acoustics, I made a push stick out of Walnut I milled to 1/2" and then shaped like a Grand Auditorium guitar with a Florentine cutaway. It may not work any better than a simple push stick but it has to sound better!
> 
> I had planned to finish posting this restoration but it's late so I'll do my best to finish it tomorrow. I know most of you just can't wait... LOL!
> 
> David


Sounds good to me:grin:


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Obviously by showing you the fence you can see the top is mounted but here's a shot of just the top and for the first time you can see the cabinet. As noted earlier I masked off all the labels that weren't removable but one PM item not salvageable was the stripe. I saved a portion of the original and gave it to a friend who owns a promotional products company and he made me a roll of the stripe. Hard to see the colors but it's a match with a little hint of metallic in the dark green center section. It's been in my desk for two years so it was fun to finally get it out and put it on. However, it took 4 attempts to get it on straight... 4 very time consuming attempts! I think Sandy and I together spent 2 or 3 hours just on that stripe because I had no tolerance for it being more than 1/32" off level and wanted zero wrinkles. Also, when I painted the table and extension wings on the underside and on the casting inset on the mating edges, I figured it would just easily scrape off, so I didn't mask it. I was wrong. It took only minutes to put the paint on but over an hour to get all the paint scraped off on all these edges - ugh! :sad: I put it on thick enough that I figured it would influence the wings being mounted squarely so to me it was important to get it off.








Having some good 8/4 Purpleheart and Maple along with a well setup jointer equals a nice, hard, solid straight edge for clamping the extension wings on and helping keep them level.








I won't bother posting the close up photos but in all my detail oriented rebuild I never noticed that the wings are not symmetrical. There are two holes in the front edge but only one hole in the back, yet they'll mount on either side of the table. No matter how much I adjusted, persuaded, shimmed, etc. I couldn't get the top like I wanted. So after hours tweaking I walked away. I came back early the next morning before work and noticed the holes, so I went back and looked at my historical reference (early photos) and noticed that the wings were swapped. So even though it made no difference for mounting the rails I swapped the extension wings back to where the two holes were in front. Lo and behold the top was now in what I would call acceptable tolerance!








Here you can see what a difference it made to paint the edge black. The wings are still not swapped in this photo, though.








Notice the holes in the extension wings? Now they are swapped! I also won't bother with photos of the brass shims for the extension wings but I went through the leveling process with the Purpleheart and Maple another 3 or 4 times until I was satisfied with the flatness of the top. I wanted to have it Blanchard ground but there isn't one in the area. I designed my own that I could build in my shop but it was a Catch 22 scenario - I needed a table saw to build it but mine was in pieces. I may one day pursue that little design but it has moved way back on the list for me. I spent several hours with a smooth file and fine wet/dry paper going over the joints after everything was mounted. The joints are smooth and the top very level relative to where it was.








A few days ago when I started this thread I mentioned that the top was almost 0.090" out corner to corner with a dip in the middle of the top (at the blade). I know some of that was rust, but that's a long way from flat! Well, I improved it a bit. Here's the setup I used with a 48" HF level (which may be more than 0.005" out on its own).








And here's a close up of that feeler gauge (a Craftsman set I bought in 1968, matter of fact) showing 0.005". It bumped when it went under but that's not too shabby. I have a 24" Starrett straight edge that I placed perpendicular to the T-Slots and across the blade opening and got a better reading on that, albeit on a smaller sampling of the top - 0.002" bumped the straight edge and 0.0015" just touched when it went under. I'm gonna' call that close enough! 








So, just as a reminder on where I started this process –








And where it was when the restoration was completed –








Another view - I think it's a nice looking saw and I'm pleased with the color scheme I chose. I know it shows dust but I keep it fairly clean and I'm ok with it.


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## Rogerdodge (Apr 24, 2014)

Marvellous. Thanks for posting.


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## kklowell (Dec 26, 2014)

That is a beautiful saw! Fantastic restoration job if you ask me.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Here's basically the same shot today and the saw is used daily. I didn't bother cleaning any dust off of it for the photo but you can see quite a change in the shop - added the extension to the saw, added the CNC, moved a few things around, etc., and you can see that I have added a motor cover and that the fence is still 1/2" MDF but it still works just fine so it'll probably stay that way for a while. As soon as I post this last piece of the restoration I'm heading to the shop to put the B-52 tails together (some are sitting on the extension) and finish the Walnut Lazy Susan.

I have to say I am pleased with the saw and the restoration process; it was really a lot of fun and I'm glad it did it. Hope y'all enjoyed the ride and maybe there's something in here that will help someone down the road on a restoration.

Thanks for following along and for the comments!
David


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## honesttjohn (Feb 17, 2015)

I learned that I'm not going to ever attempt something even remotely associated with something like that. Rainman would have his garage insulated before I even got it apart. 

Good Show, David. Now I know why you built your CNC instead of just buying one.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

now THAT is a shop in USE!!! Love it


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks very much David.


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## MT Stringer (Aug 15, 2012)

Great story. The finished product looks outstanding.
Thanks for sharing.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

I'd be proud to have saw like that with a story like yours in my shop. Well done David. Tools can have much more to them than just utility.


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## Ray Newman (Mar 9, 2009)

WELL DONE!

Reminds of an older Uni-saw save that I read about more than a few years ago. The owner was also a 1950's car enthusiast and he had the cabinet powder coated "candy apple red" with flames around the clean out door. The color and the flames matched his '56 or '57 Chevy that he restored. 

Again nice work.


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## Chris Hachet (Dec 25, 2016)

honesttjohn said:


> LOL! John, the MINI got upgraded to a brand new Countryman sometime during this restoration and has been since replaced by a Tacoma. This has been a good thing when it comes to hauling lumber, which I seem to be doing every two weeks or so, but I really miss the MINI - great cars!
> 
> *****************************
> 
> OK -- I'll give you the Tacoma. I think they're assembled by you someplace aren't they? It's a start. But once you drove a real truck for a while you'd never go back. Gonna get rid of my F150 this year I think -- Ram or Jimmy this time I think, since I don't get the Z plan anymore.



As a woodworker and the owner of a MINI looking to upgrade to a Tacoma, I like finding this in this old thread....:smile:


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## Pots43 (Nov 4, 2012)

As I followed the restore it reminded me of my life long job of assembling food packaging equipment.
Thanks Tom


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Reviving my old PM66 restoration thread only because I just realized there were still some photos not showing, so those are now fixed.

David


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

difalkner said:


> Reviving my old PM66 restoration thread only because I just realized there were still some photos not showing, so those are now fixed.
> 
> David


no clue how I missed t...

that is one seriously *PHENOMENAL* restore you did David... 

.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks, Stick! I debated as to updating the last few photos and saying something about it because I knew it would revive my old thread and that wasn't my goal. But I just read through every comment again and it was kind of fun for me, to sort of go back through the restoration. It was a LOT of work, probably a couple hundred hours, but to me it was well worth it. 

Thanks for checking this out!
David


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

difalkner said:


> Thanks, Stick! I debated as to updating the last few photos and saying something about it because I knew it would revive my old thread and that wasn't my goal. But I just read through every comment again and it was kind of fun for me, to sort of go back through the restoration. It was a LOT of work, probably a couple hundred hours, but to me it was well worth it.
> 
> Thanks for checking this out!
> David


no problem...you earned it...
soak in the glory...


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## Nickp (Dec 4, 2012)

...and I did read the whole thing...again...and am impressed now as I was then...

Inspiring...! ! !


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

difalkner said:


> ...Paint is the only sticking point - it's like PM wants to hold hostage the gold color by charging so much for rattle cans. I wasn't willing to play that game with them; black looks cool, I think!


When I looked at the two paint colors, I had to laugh. Many years ago I did an upgrade of brochures for a foundation, and the designer had suggested gold, pretty much the the baby poop yellow of later day PowerMatic paint jobs. I hated it, so added some red and knocked it down to almost the same bronze color you showed for the older machines. The 66 was the saw I thought most about getting, but it would have crushed the shop plywood floor, so I wound up with the Laguna 10 inch hybrid. Great saw, can upgrade it to 220 if I want (unlikely). Great project, great saw.


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## ger21 (Feb 10, 2019)

> Adam and I loaded the saw and jointer into the back of his truck by ourselves - these are HEAVY tools!


I just moved my Unisaw to the new house tonight, and it's a lot heavier now than it was 20 years ago, when I last moved it.

Nice job on the restoration.


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## Motorahead (Jun 24, 2020)

Cool story... Sorry to revive the thread again. Not sure if this calls for a new topic, but I've read this thread a few times while rebuilding my own PM66. I've run into a potential challenge and asked the same question elsewhere without luck. Might as well bring it up in here with someone who went through the same process. 

I'll keep the summary short in this thread. I’ve disassembled the entire saw including the main pivot assembly, cleaned it all up, applied moly dry lube, and installed new arbor bearings. When I reinstalled the trunnion assembly, it was binding when tilting either direction. So I ended up shimming the front/rear trunnions until the center was completely free. 

I then moved on to check the center trunnion and noticed there is movement front to back. In other words, it slides back and forth between the front and rear trunnion. Is that normal? It seems to move about 1/32" to 1/64". I wonder, even when the motor is back on; with the additional weight, the blade might move around when the saw starts, or when I begin to cut.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Welcome to the forum! Add your first name to your signature line so we'll know what to call you and it will show in each post. Add your location to your profile, as well.

Can you zoom out just a little on your photo? I'm having trouble figuring out just where you are in the saw. Mine didn't have a center trunnion, only fore and aft.

David

PS - no problem reviving the thread


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## Motorahead (Jun 24, 2020)

Thanks for the heads up. I've also modified the post. 

Maybe my description is bad. By center trunnion, I mean main assembly.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I think the front and rear trunnion mounts need to be adjusted to take up that slack. I realize that means you may have to do some shimming again but I don't recall mine having any play there. You can probably just move one and take that slack out.

David


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## Motorahead (Jun 24, 2020)

Thanks for the insight. I've played with it a few times. The shims may have something to do with it. I went as far as setting up clamps (from the front to rear trunnions) to close the slack. That's as best as I can get it. I have some brass shims on order that I can layer to get it perfect. I'll try those out as soon as I get them. 

I think most importantly, it sounds like there shouldn't be any movement. I'll have to keep trying until that's the outcome.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I just got through rereading the whole thing again. I see where I gave likes originally ,but don't ever remember reading it. great post anyway and enjoyed every bit of it. Also great job restoring the old saw..
Herb


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Herb Stoops said:


> I just got through rereading the whole thing again. I see where I gave likes originally ,but don't ever remember reading it. great post anyway and enjoyed every bit of it. Also great job restoring the old saw..
> Herb


Thanks, Herb! It was an effort but well worth it. I use this saw every day and it works so good, really like it.

David


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## Motorahead (Jun 24, 2020)

Wanted to post a quick update on my saw. The shims I used were too thick. So I ended up layering brass shims that are .003 in thickness. Thanks for the idea in your earlier posts. It worked out really well as I was able to remove all but a a couple thousands of play in the trunnion. It's a balancing act, too much slop vs too little (binding). I believe having zero play is impossible since it will be too tight to move freely. In a sense, its not much different than setting backlash.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

You'll be glad you went the extra mile on getting the play out - good job!

David


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I'm not ever going to attempt such a project, and yet, this has been fascinating. Understanding how the saw works mechanically really makes it clear why some saws are far better than others. We're talking thousandths here.


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## Motorahead (Jun 24, 2020)

It's really not too difficult. If you're able to turn a ratchet, these saws are pretty simple in design once you break them down. It's just time consuming, and the parts are awkward/heavy to move around. Like anything else, having the right tools for the job makes things easier.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

True, but the parts being heavy are what makes us feel so good about these tools - they're stout!

David


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