This weekend I was able to finish the restoration of a 1963 Powermatic 30 belt/disk sander. I'd bought this machine out of a warehouse in St Louis just about a year ago, and while waiting for the time to fix it had accumulated a (newer) motor and some other missing parts. I finally had time and warm enough weather to start on it a couple weeks ago. Here's the original condition:
It had moderate surface rust, really really bad bearings, a motor that hummed instead of turned, a belt cover mostly cut through, and of course the oddball (for 1963) gray paint job. But overall the machine seemed sound, and I was glad to get it for $250.
Disassembly wasn't too hard, though I did have to (or "get to") use a friend's Greenerd #15 press, which has a 12 ton capacity and can handle items up to 36" wide (like a big bandsaw wheel). This was needed because the bearings were really stuck in the belt casting. I had the belt cover welded at the local lawn mower service shop. Here's the "before":
I got rid of the homemade dust port, of course.
The old motor was 3/4 hp, and I'd bought a newer (1982) Dayton 1hp to replace it thinking that the old one was badly messed up. Turns out it still ran when I got it out of the machine, but I decided to use the Dayton anyway, after putting in new bearings and repainting it:
Both were 56 frame motors so the pulley fit, but the mount was different and I had to drill bolt holes.
I used an angle grinder with the wire cup wheel to get rid of the sander's paint. The gray had been painted over the original pea green. However, this may have been a factory repaint, for two reasons. First, this was a 1963 machine and the machinery dealer tag address had no zip code, indicating a 1960's date. But both the dealer tag and the Powermatic belt guard decal were applied over the gray paint. Unless PM provided decals to dealers, this had to be an original paint job.
After the cleanup, I again used the Greenerd to press the bearings back in. Then on to the paint job. I used my HVLP gun (American Turbine Co), but something was't quite right with the first coat--got a lot of "spitting", which resulted in a rough surface on the sheetmetal cabinet. However, it looked a lot like a faux cast iron surface, so I just left it. After cleaning the gun thoroughly, the second coat went on smoother and evened out some of the roughness. I think it looks fine.
Friday night I started the main reassembly, with the motor and switch. Everything went fine, though the wiring was kind of tight in the Arrow-Hart switch. Testing revealed the switch didn't want to shut off, so I cleaned the contacts and it got a little better. It may need a new spring, though it works now. I started on the main casting this morning. Everything went together well. Paint touch up and gluing down the graphite cloth on the platen followed assembly. The sanding belt pulleys were still crowned fine (no W profile), and the belt tracks well. I can't see how the goobers cut through the belt cover.
Disk side:
Switch & cord side:
Belt side:
With belt upright:
I do have a second table, as shown in the last picture, but I need to build a trunnion bracket replacement to use it. I don't anticipate much angled sanding, so I'll go with a simple wood support at 90 degrees.
I still need to mate the two dust collection ports together and put a 4"-to-2-1/2" reducer on it. But using the shop vac for now, even the small dust ports work plenty well. Restoration cost was about $250, giving me $500 out of pocket with maybe 20 hours or so spent.
I have a good feeling that this sander hasn't seen even middle age yet.
Kirk
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