Table saw. 10" vs 12"

[Bill G]

Got my PM66 for a unbelievable low price ( $150), guy said the motor was shot- just hummed, well they do that if you wire a 110 plug on a 220v motor. Course I didn't mention that to him at the time. another person was selling all the overarm parts from his unit ( which I didn't have) for $50 and then tossed in the 3ph motor as well. ( i have 3 ph in my shop)

Sadly I will easily admit I have been the idiot on the opposite end of a situation such as that.

Almost 30 years ago I was teaching Agriculture/FFA south of me. I also had a dedicated welding program and wanted to add a bit of machining. I was talking with an Ag instructor from the local community college and he said he had an old lathe in his shop he wanted out. The school would give it to us. I went down to pick it up and the instructor good ole Arlyn M. said....."now Bill remember this was hard-wired 480 so you will need to change it" I knew it was 3 phase but I told him I doubted it was wired 480 as it was a small floor lathe. It was a Clausing 12x36 and I doubted anyone would run it 480. It took it back to the shop and put a plug on it and started to run it on 240. The damn thing was gutless. I played a bit with it but just figured it was junk. When I was leaving that school the superintendent told me to take it with me. As I was loading it to bring home I opened the wiring box..............it was wired 480V. No wonder it was gutless.

Yes I was an idiot

 

[stretch5881]

Sadly I will easily admit I have been the idiot on the opposite end of a situation such as that.

Almost 30 years ago I was teaching Agriculture/FFA south of me. I also had a dedicated welding program and wanted to add a bit of machining. I was talking with an Ag instructor from the local community college and he said he had an old lathe in his shop he wanted out. The school would give it to us. I went down to pick it up and the instructor good ole Arlyn M. said....."now Bill remember this was hard-wired 480 so you will need to change it" I knew it was 3 phase but I told him I doubted it was wired 480 as it was a small floor lathe. It was a Clausing 12x36 and I doubted anyone would run it 480. It took it back to the shop and put a plug on it and started to run it on 240. The damn thing was gutless. I played a bit with it but just figured it was junk. When I was leaving that school the superintendent told me to take it with me. As I was loading it to bring home I opened the wiring box..............it was wired 480V. No wonder it was gutless.

Yes I was an idiot

If you still have it, then being an idiot was a good thing.

 

[Bill G]

If you still have it, then being an idiot was a good thing.

Oh........... I still have it
I know folks have great success with and do top notch work on import machines. I am in no way whatsoever disparaging them. They have great results. I just like old iron. I still think about what my neighbor built on his old jack-shaft lathe and a Craftsman bench lathe. His mill was a good ole Bridgeport probably from the late 1940's or 1950's.

 

[stretch5881]

Oh........... I still have it
I know folks have great success with and do top notch work on import machines. I am in no way whatsoever disparaging them. They have great results. I just like old iron. I still think about what my neighbor built on his old jack-shaft lathe and a Craftsman bench lathe. His mill was a good ole Bridgeport probably from the late 1940's or 1950's.

A good machine is a good machine, no matter the age.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

I like my 4100 on the fall away portable stand, for what I need a table saw for and the room I have it’s perfect not that I wouldn’t like a big old delta floor mount like we had in shop class but no space for that yet.

My Bosch 4000 has ripped a whole lot of lumber. Great saw other then the goofy speed control. Not sure the 4100 has that speed control board. Just a $50 failure point is all it is.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

Oh........... I still have it
I know folks have great success with and do top notch work on import machines. I am in no way whatsoever disparaging them. They have great results. I just like old iron. I still think about what my neighbor built on his old jack-shaft lathe and a Craftsman bench lathe. His mill was a good ole Bridgeport probably from the late 1940's or 1950's.

When it comes to a good lathe old iron is real hard to beat. I can't find any info on mine but I believe it was built in the 1960s by Nodo in Spain. Still rock solid and slowly being restored. 13" swing without the gap removed and for as old as it is it even has a power cross slide.

 

[Bill G]

My comment regarding imports might have been a bit misconstrued . We all know that there have been great products imported to the USA................Stihl...... I just see the *s-wordty China stuff and shake my head. I grew up in the era of WW1 and WW2 vets. I will never forget ole Phil H. He was a WW2 vet. He said "in my day if it had a a Jap name we put 50mm holes in it."

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

My comment regarding imports might have been a bit misconstrued . We all know that there have been great products imported to the USA................Stihl...... I just see the *s-wordty China stuff and shake my head. I grew up in the era of WW1 and WW2 vets. I will never forget ole Phil H. He was a WW2 vet. He said "in my day if it had a a Jap name we put 50mm holes in it."

Some of the equipment and even every day items from that era are still around and usable today if they were taken care of. I highly doubt any of this Chinese garbage they are selling us now will be usable in 10 years. It's all about making every penny possibly now days instead of building a quality product. I wouldn't trade my old crusty, heavy 50+ year old lathe for 10 of these Chinese turds their importing today. That's not to say all imported machinery is bad now. But the few good ones I feel like are the exception not the rule.

 

[Al Smith]

I've got a 12"cast iron top 1968 Craftsman I bought relatively cheap .I have no idea who made it except it certainly was not Sears and Roebuck .They only sold things not make them .I think it's 4 HP direct drive 240 volt motor . With the wings out on the table it will span 8 feet .With a Vega fence system it will do anything I need it to do plus I have it set up with a table mounted 3 HP Frued plunge router on one end ..Only problemis it takes my entire garage to use it .I've got both sizes of moulding cutters and every molding head insert cutters Craftsman ever sold .The 7 inch I use on the table saw, the 5 inch on a radial arm saw .Between those molding heads plus the router I can duplicate just about any decorative trim you could imagine .

 

[Al Smith]

That tablesaw using Frued carbide cabenite blades will cut bone dry oak as fast as most table saws will cut pine and as smooth as if it were ran through a planer .I'm very protective about those blades for obvious reasons .

 

[stretch5881]

I have those blades too and they are smoooooth.

 

[S&S_Work_Saws]

My Bosch I've been using hasn't been to bad when it's in my shop. I built a kind of workstation type setup that my saws will slide down into or I can easily remove one or both saws to take to a job site. It's been super handy. Any recommendations on a good auto feed power planer? I had a 12" or 13" DeWalt and sold it a few years ago. I've been messing with some slabs again and making some mantles.
These are the last 2 mantles I did. The grey one is in my own house. The cedar slab I refinished for that homeowner. I just got done rebuilding that entire house after a fire gutted it. So a planer would be very nice and save me a ton of time sanding.

 

[Bill G]

Get a old Powermatic planer.

 

[blades]

Old planers -cast iron,are great but you have to be aware of parts replacement , Feed rollers do wear and can be a source of frustration.. both metal and covered ones

 

[Bill G]

For years this was the standard of 18" machines but the feed gears were not up to snuff.

 

[Bill G]

Now this is what you have to buy.............

 

[Al Smith]

Those old Rockwells were rather common .I did rewire one for buddy of mine .His developed cupping the end of the pass which he finally figured out . They certainly are not an Oliver but for what they are fairly robust .

 

[Al Smith]

I finally remembered what I did on that planer probably 35-40 years ago .It had a capacitor start motor but the cyntrifical start switch failed .I used a double contact start momentary push button switch and a momentary relay to get it going .Worked like a charm ..Just another application of a standard three wire circuit .