Just received a free Craftsman table saw, what to check for before using?

[nadcraker]

Hi guys,

I am in the middle of my first cabinet build, and my grandfather just gave me his Craftsman 10" table saw, model 113.298240.  The saw is rusty and one of the legs is bent up.  All in all, the saw has seen better days and has been sitting awhile.

It does turn on and the blade seems to spin straight, but I want to know what I should "go through" on the saw before it could be considered useable.  What should I check for in regards to belts/pulleys, what parts need to be cleaned up and what parts can stay rusty.

This is my first table saw, and I'm stoked to be able to use it.

Thanks, and I will post pics of my build soon.

[PL1]

If you check pg 35 of the manual here, there are some lubrication points and some other preventative maintenance tips.


Scott

[Le Chuck]

The blade should be able to cut through your fingers cleanly.  If it binds at all when it hits bone you may want to have it serviced. 

After you check under the hood just ensure that you have the kick back guards in place before you do any test cutting.  If the saw is old and out of use you can run a higher chance of catching a piece of wood to the chest or worse, and put a new blade on it.  Old saw is one thing, old blade is something entirely different. 

[nadcraker]

If you check pg 35 of the manual here, there are some lubrication points and some other preventative maintenance tips.


Scott

Thanks for this. Those do seem like good points to start. I'm going to replace the stand and clean the rust from the table top first, then move on to the adjustment levers.

[jediz]

I would also check the blade alignment to the miter gauge and the rip fence.

[TopJimmyCooks]

The saw is worth $75 in perfect condition.  A new replacement is probably $250 or so.  keep that in mind before you go too crazy buying parts.  Those Emerson parts are expensive. 

[drventure]

The blade should be able to cut through your fingers cleanly.  If it binds at all when it hits bone you may want to have it serviced. 

This. Table saws just scare me. Personally, I like Sliding miter saws, or radial arm saws.

But they don't do well for sheet goods.

One thing I've seen that seems to make them much safer is to build up a "saw sled". Basically, it's a big, heavy sled with runners that fit in the table saw rail slots. It's got a zero-clearance slot cut through it. You clamp the piece to be sawn to the sled and then slide the sled over the saw face. you can stand to the side, the extra mass and the slide rails will resist it being flung at you if the saw catches, and your fingers never have to get anywhere close to the blade.

This

[yaksplat]

I shall not repost a pic of my finger post interaction with a brand new blade.  However, it did grow back.

[drventure]

I shall not repost a pic of my finger post interaction with a brand new blade.  However, it did grow back.

I remember that post. My dad had a similar interaction with his tablesaw once. The farther I can stand from a tablesaw, the better.

[nadcraker]

Thanks for all of the scary warnings.  I realize that it's not worth putting much money into, but since it was my grandfather's saw, I feel obligated to make it work. I guess I will try and clean it up, see if it can work well enough for what I need, but not sink much cash into it if it doesn't go well.

I like the idea of that saw sled, since I am a bit leery of these saws, as well.

[PL1]

Just make sure you observe all safety protocols before you attempt circumcision.

Nice tip, Moyel.   


Scott

[TopJimmyCooks]

The prevailing attitude on this forum is that if you go within 10' of a spinning tablesaw blade  your head and arms will fly off and land in a blood spattered heap at the feet of your loved ones and significant others. 

If you want some real advice try a good woodworking forum like http://www.woodworking.org/InfoExchange/

It's all old guys who are super helpful and friendly.  BTW I use an old ass craftsman TS with NO guard and NO splitter and NO zero clearance insert every weekend and yet I still somehow live. 

[drventure]

....if you go within 10' of a spinning tablesaw blade  your head and arms will fly off and land in a blood spattered heap at the feet of your loved ones and significant others. 

 

Yeah, that!

[nadcraker]

The prevailing attitude on this forum is that if you go within 10' of a spinning tablesaw blade  your head and arms will fly off and land in a blood spattered heap at the feet of your loved ones and significant others. 

If you want some real advice try a good woodworking forum like http://www.woodworking.org/InfoExchange/

It's all old guys who are super helpful and friendly.  BTW I use an old ass craftsman TS with NO guard and NO splitter and NO zero clearance insert every weekend and yet I still somehow live.

This gave me a lol.  I was wondering if table saws really were considered that dangerous, or if it was this forum (more computer geek types than woodworkers, myself included). Don't get me wrong, I know they definitely can be dangerous, I've grown up around tools and handymen types, so I'm not totally ignorant of tools and their potential hazards.

[drventure]

True enough, although I suspect there's more than a few reasons the SawStop guy first applied his invention to a table saw.

In the end, I believe tablesaws just warrant a little bit more respect in the shop than a lot of other tools. They can all do some serious damage, but tablesaws just seem a bit more capable in that respect. Still they can be quite useful, and if you got one for free (and it's been in the family), there's certainly no reason not to tune it up and get some more use out of it.

[yaksplat]

The prevailing attitude on this forum is that if you go within 10' of a spinning tablesaw blade  your head and arms will fly off and land in a blood spattered heap at the feet of your loved ones and significant others. 

Not completely true.  I offer a cautionary tale.  The key is to the respect the machine and not lose focus during operation.  I did the latter and lost the tip of my left pointer finger.  I'd rather someone think twice than go through what i did.

That being said, i couldn't do anything without my table saw.  It is an irreplacable tool in the shop.

[TopJimmyCooks]

@yaksplat- no disrespect intended.  I have also touched a couple of fingertips to the ts blade and have some messed up fingerprints to remind me of it.  I am serious about safety-I shouldn't be sarcastic about it.  I'm just concerned that a first timer coming here will be pushed too far away by the excess of hand wringing that happens in these threads.  Not you, per se, but the tone of posters in general. 

I was a woodworker before coming to this hobby, and I admit to an unreasonable fear of binary and hexadecimal numbers, so maybe I'm just working from the opposite end of the spectrum. 

[Le Chuck]

@yaksplat- no disrespect intended.  I have also touched a couple of fingertips to the ts blade and have some messed up fingerprints to remind me of it.  I am serious about safety-I shouldn't be sarcastic about it.  I'm just concerned that a first timer coming here will be pushed too far away by the excess of hand wringing that happens in these threads.  Not you, per se, but the tone of posters in general. 

I was a woodworker before coming to this hobby, and I admit to an unreasonable fear of binary and hexadecimal numbers, so maybe I'm just working from the opposite end of the spectrum.

These saws will kill you if you let them!  Keep them on a tight lease and don't show fear!  Also don't look them in the eye and if the saw starts running pray you're faster than your friends. 

[yaksplat]

I was a woodworker before coming to this hobby, and I admit to an unreasonable fear of binary and hexadecimal numbers, so maybe I'm just working from the opposite end of the spectrum.

I come from woodworking, engineering and computer science.  The intersection that is this hobby was inevitable.

[nadcraker]

While my initial plan was to take this saw apart as far down as I could, clean the rust off of everything and then repaint it, after doing more research it doesn't seem like painting over the cast iron table top is a good idea.  That makes sense, since a coat of paint won't be as slick as a polished or clean cast iron top, plus these saws did not come painted originally.

What are painted are the metal sides that attach to the cast iron top (there's a word for those, but it's early), and I started taking the rust and old paint off of those last night with a wire wheel attached to my drill.  After looking at the underside of the table, I'm not sure I want to take this apart down to it's bare pieces, since I don't know if I can get it back together again!  So as an easy first step, I sprayed the gears (again, not the correct word) liberally with WD-40, and I was reminded why that is a wonder spray, as everything immediately begun to move like new again.  The WD-40 also cleaned off a lot of the caked on sawdust, so maybe I won't have to take the whole thing apart.

I also removed the motor and will be getting a new belt.  The motor seemed to run fine for the brief time I ran it, but I am waiting to tackle that as a whole separate part of this project, since I am really past my area of expertise when it comes to electric motors.  Any suggestions as to how to clean out the motor without taking anything apart?

EDIT: Here are some pictures of the saw. Let me know if they are too big. I have a 30", so my perspective on what is "too big" for the web is shot to heck:

[nadcraker]

So last night I removed more paint off of the left expansion piece, stripped more parts off of the saw, and sanded down a lot of the rust from the cast iron top.  After reading on some woodworking forums, I'm going to back off from the aggressive sandpaper to something more gentle. I don't want to damage the cast iron, though it doesn't seem like I have yet, thank goodness.

Progress pics for those who care:

[TopJimmyCooks]

Sandpaper or steel wool and the wd40 will get that rust off the cast iron easily. I sometimes use naval jelly.  Then, just keep it dry and rub in some 3 in 1 oil every 6 months or so to keep it decent.  don't use silicone lube or wax if you're going to stain/poly your projects, they mess up the finish.   

[nadcraker]

I don't have pictures, but last night I took some 50 grit sandpaper to one side of the cast iron with my sander, and it did take off a lot of rust!  I was careful to keep it moving, and I don't think I sanded down far enough to damage the table, but I think going forward I will use something less aggressive. 

Or should I not be so worried? Cast iron does seem pretty damn tough.

[yaksplat]

I like to use 500 grit and motor oil after taking the rust off with one of those green pad scrubbers.

FYI.  Never leave a bucket with bleach and water any where near your tools.  The chlorine in the bleach will cause all tools to develop surface rust.  All of my cast iron needed cleaning after that.  I have a lot of iron.....

 

[smalltownguy]

Keep scrubbing with steel wool until its shiny. I have the same saw, and I gave it a really good treatment before using it. It's stayed rust free for me for 10 years in my damp basement. I just used it last week to rip down a 2x4 to get some 2x2's for a monitor mount for a Ms Pac.

You got lucky with the longer fence and extension wings. I tried finding those extensions for my table when I got it, but they were too expensive to ship

[nadcraker]

Here are some progress pics after 50 grit sandpaper and mineral spirits, steel wool, and some WD-40 (kind of just throwing a little bit of everything at this thing to see what works best!)

The 50 grit worked QUICK, but again I was afraid of doing damage to the cast iron top.

[smalltownguy]

It's cast iron, for cripes sakes....sand paper is, well, SAND. Oterwise known as GLASS. When was the last time you saw glass put a scratch in iron?

Hit that ---smurf--- with 50 grit HARD.

Then work up to 300 grit, then 1000 - work that baby to a SHINE 

[Mental]

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I would be very cautious around an old saw like that. They are super cheap to buy to begin with, and that one looks about 20 years old. If it seems to be running decently, then yeah ok, it might be fine to rip a sheet of plywood once or twice a year (with a good blade and extreme caution). If you need to use it more than that, you really aught to look at a new one. Perhaps a Rigid brand contractors saw or similar? Something new is going to have many more safety features than that old Craftsman, and it going to run to spec. Plus, it will actually cut accurately.

[smalltownguy]

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I would be very cautious around an old saw like that. They are super cheap to buy to begin with, and that one looks about 20 years old. If it seems to be running decently, then yeah ok, it might be fine to rip a sheet of plywood once or twice a year (with a good blade and extreme caution). If you need to use it more than that, you really aught to look at a new one. Perhaps a Rigid brand contractors saw or similar? Something new is going to have many more safety features than that old Craftsman, and it going to run to spec. Plus, it will actually cut accurately.

My 40 year old Craftsman cabinet saw is built like a brick shithouse, and tuned properly. It cuts razor sharp edges and has very tight tolerance.

I've used the new ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- they call 'contractor grade' saws. All of it is crap.

If you treat an old saw properly, it will work better than anything on the market today.

[Mental]

My 40 year old Craftsman cabinet saw is built like a brick shithouse, and tuned properly. It cuts razor sharp edges and has very tight tolerance.

I've used the new ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- they call 'contractor grade' saws. All of it is crap.

If you treat an old saw properly, it will work better than anything on the market today.

Fair enough, they don't build them like they used to.

[nadcraker]

Here are some pictures of my progress on this table saw, in case anyone was interested.  I made a little rolling cabinet for it to stand on since the original stand was all bent up.

[yaksplat]

Nice job on the clean up.

Looks great!

 

[nadcraker]

Nice job on the clean up.

Looks great!

 

Thank you, yaksplat.  I appreciate that.  The throat plate on these are usually red, and I bought the paint to do that, but I kind of like the more neutral scheme of just the primer, and at a glance it also matches the cabinet (which I painted blue and white just because I had left over paint from the house).

[smalltownguy]

Wow, REALLY nice job cleaning up the saw!

Mine is the King Seeley version of the saw, from the 60s:

[nadcraker]

smalltownguy, that saw looks pretty clean for being 50 years old!  I'll bet it still performs well?

[LiquidFire]

We have a 60-year old in the family and it performs with as much accuracy as ever, and that was before all of the insane safety equipment was required.

I never assembled the safety guards on my 10-year old cast-iron top Craftsman - those things look dangerous.

A dull blade is your enemy, more likely to make something dangerous happen than a sharp one. I like Diablos on all of my cutting tools.

And respect the type of blade you are using for the cut you are making.

Always use carbide-tipped blades of course. (My own tip: I spray the blade with silicone spray before cutting - helps to reduce binding.)

If your blade's tips don't hurt you when you touch them, it isn't sharp enough to cut anymore. Many are surprised that you should buy a new blade for a new project for best results - sometimes two.

[nadcraker]

I know this is thread necromancy, but I wanted to share my progress with this table saw. 

I installed a Delta fence, and the saw is really nice to use. 

Any recommendations on blades for plywood and MDF?

[HaRuMaN]

Diablo blades.   

[TopJimmyCooks]

I recommend you take that big screw out of the hold down plate before you try cutting anything with the diablo. 

[nadcraker]

I recommend you take that big screw out of the hold down plate before you try cutting anything with the diablo. 

LOL. Yeah that's been replaced with a screw with a tapered head.