Table saw tuning and repair on a budgetPretty much the most important machine in a woodworking shop is the table saw. But seeing that I'd just bought my house the year before setting up a workshop in my garage, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a good table saw.
I found an old Rockwell Beaver contractor style table saw at a yard sale, for $135 back in 1996. It had some dried paint stuck to the rusty table, a dull 7 1/4" blade mounted, and somewhat neglected looking, but with some potential. I bought the saw as a stop-gap measure to keep me from spending $2000 on a proper cabinet maker's table saw. Even with a good blade in it, I could tell there was a bit of blade wobble. I disassembled it and took the arbour out to see what I could do with it, but couldn't even get one of the bearings off it. Calling a local electrical repair business, I was surprised that I was still able to buy a new arbour for it, for a cost of $50. It came with one of the bearings already attached - I guess it wasn't meant to come off. Mounting the new arbour, I found the pulley had a bit of slack, but shimming it up with the aluminium from a pop can, I got it on perfectly centered. It cut nice and smooth after that. I have no pictures of the shaft replacement part of the process, but the other improvements I have made are documented on this page. I have however since then come up with another procedure for fixing a saw arbour. I also rewired the 1.5 hp motor for 240 volt operation, which gave it a little more 'oomph' because the voltage drops less when its under load. This saw was my only table saw from 1996 to 2007. Not because I didn't want to spend the money, but because this cheap old saw, tuned up right, was good enough for my needs. When I set up my new basement workshop in 2007 though, I had room for a bigger table saw, and bought a new Delta hybrid table saw.
When I moved the saw to my new workshop in 2017, I took the opportunity to make a video about it:
Later in 2007 I moved it to the basement of the house to set up a
shop in the basement there.
See also my articles about my Delta hybrid table saw To my Woodworking website, or go to the Woodworking tools & techniques index |