Need some help with an older PM66( Sorta Gloat)

[Charlie Woods]

Afternoon folks:
I was given a older(1974)PM66 that I will use to replace the old contractor TS that I have in my scene shop now. ( not my shop at home, but at the school I work at.) I plan on doing a substantial strip down of the saw to check the trunion, shaft, bearings etc... I would like to know what works best at cleaning off 30 yrs worth of accumulated pitch/sap from many of the interior components on the saw. Some areas have as much as 1" of accumulation. Also is there anything I need to be carefull about when stripping down the saw, related to the PM66. I have done this with several contractor saws and wanted to see if there was something specific on the PM66.
I am not new to SMC,( just a lurker) but do benefit and enjoy reading the posts of the many talented members here. I am at an intermediate fine woodworking skill level. I work as the Technical Director for a large H.S. theatre department, as well as manage the 900 seat and 250 seat multi space Performing Arts Complex at the school. This often leaves little time for my own shop work at home. I hope to become more of a regular poster on this sight as time permits. Let me thank you in advance for your help.

Charlie Woods

[Charlie Woods]

Oh before I forget and get a ticket from the picture police her is what the saw looks like now.( hope it works) It is in the process of being stripped down.Oh and the gloat is that when I recieved it they said the motor was going out becase it kepy binding down when used. I looked at the connector( 15a 110 edison) and removed the motor cover and found that it was wired for 110v. The Baldor 2hp motor is now wired for 208v and purrs like a cat and cuts like lion.


Thanks

Charlie Woods

[Chris Padilla]

Sweet pick-up, Charlie! I think any of the citrus-based products will work real well to clean up any gunk you are liable to find on the inner workings. Kerosene should work well, too, but I hate the smell and flammability!

Have fun with the rehab...those are always fun for me if I can find the time.

[Scott Coffelt]

A whole bunch of things. It is metal so a good wire brush, some pitch remover, and other cleaners. Cleaning I don't is as much an issue as what to use when reassembling for lube.

And what a gloat.

[Rob Russell]

Oh and the gloat is that when I recieved it they said the motor was going out becase it kepy binding down when used. I looked at the connector( 15a 110 edison) and removed the motor cover and found that it was wired for 110v. The Baldor 2hp motor is now wired for 208v and purrs like a cat and cuts like lion.

No Fair! That's a triple gloat!!

1. You got a free PM66.
2. It's older, so it's a nice one, and the motor works fine.
3. You have 3-phase power to boot.

Arggggg!

Nice gloat and congrats on the saw.

[Ted Shrader]

Charlie -

First, glad you spoke up so we could e-meet you. Welcome. As you already know this is a great place to hang out.

On the really thick gummed up area, how about a stiff putty knife? Pry most of the stuff off then go for the cleaners. Chris mentioned citrus based ones. I also recommend Simple Green. They will soften up the pitch so you can finish with a wire brush and some more scraper work.

Will you tear it all the way down to parade rest? Have ald on PM50 jointer (on permanent loan from a friend) that we did exactly that to. Every nut, bolt, jib, cast cast iron piece came apart and was cleaned. Once that was done, it was repainted inside and out then re-assembled.

Welcome,
Ted

[Norman Hitt]

Afternoon folks:
I was given a older(1974)PM66 that I will use to replace the old contractor TS that I have in my scene shop now. ......... Also is there anything I need to be carefull about when stripping down the saw, related to the PM66. I have done this with several contractor saws and wanted to see if there was something specific on the PM66.
Charlie Woods

Charlie, this is not specific to the PM-66, but to all Cabinet saws..I believe, so in case you are not aware............"If you remove the table top" to make the cleaning easier, there will be washers, (which are really shim spacers) at each of the bolt locations that hold the top to the cabinet. It is Absolutely Imperative, that you tie these together (with a strand of safetywire or like material) and tie them to the hole in the Saw's Cabinet where they came off so they don't get mixed up before reassembly, BECAUSE, these are what sets the saw top up coplaner with the saw's arbor and it will be a real trial and error Fiasco to get the top re-shimmed properly if these get mixed up,and if it is not set up correctly, it will affect all the other setup and alignments on the saw, and will be most noticeable when setting up for a square Bevel cut, because it will be impossible.

Other than that, the normal procedures of disassembling one section at a time and keeping all those parts together, and/or taking a polaroid shot or two to help remember where and how things fit together should be all you need with your experience.

Good luck with your project, and that was a Great Piece of Luck you had getting that.

PS: One of the Cabinet Shops here has an old 12" PM that had been in a shop fire, and was given to them (because the top was warped and motor burned up) when they bought some other equipment from a salvage dealer.

They cleaned it, put in all new bearings, a rebuilt motor, and had the top resurfaced, and repainted the saw and it looks like new. The owner says it is the Best of the 5 saws they have in their shop, including one other PM, a couple of Unisaws and one other heavy industrial saw (can't remember the brand).

[Charlie Woods]

I want to thank everyone for there replies and info. I will try and keep everyone posted on the progress when I can.
I also want to let everyone know ahead of time that with teaching 6 classes a day, all the design work, and managing the Performing Arts center I am stretched pretty thin,( I get to work at 6:30 am and leave anywhere between 11pm-1am especiall during production time). so if I post a question etc... it may be a couple of days before I get back to respond. Please accept my apologies, it is in no way an attempt at being rude.( I am officialy a workaholic).
Also If I reply at the wee hours of the morning no promises that it will make sense or be cohearent.

Mr. Padilla: I hadn't thought of Kerosene. I have used it to clean encrusted cosmoline off of antique guns, never crossed my mind in this situation. Will start with some of the less hazardous stuff first, and use the Kerosene as a last effort.

Mr. Coffelt: That is the one part about this job I don't relish, using the wire brush. Would be nice t be able to blink my eyes( Like I dream of Jeannie) and have it all done, but reality has a way of rearing its ever present head. When you reminded me about the lubrication it got me to thinking. I have a friend who works in the aerospace industry, and I am going to contact him to see what he might have /recommend for this work. I want to try not to create the same issues with the saw now at a later date.

Mr. Russell: Well it is not so much of a gloat for me as it is for my students. I have been teaching at this school for 8 years and have been constantly looking to upgrade the minniml equipment I started with to facilitate a more professional
and creative learning environment. Part of the tear down will envolve one of my Senior Technicians who has expressed interest in working on the Saw. So I will be assisting him in the teardown process so he can have the opportunity to learn a little more indepth tool maintenance work. I was surprised about the motor. When I was told about that I went to the Baldor web site to see about the cost of a new one....Gasp!!!!!!!!! As a gentleman I even went back to the donator of the saw and told him of the simple fix. He said "it is a done deal and it is officialy off my inventory". As far as the 3phase power again I am lucky. I moved into this space 2 years ago, and it was the old metals shop so I had both single and 3phase power available. Before that the scene shop was mobile. I went to where ever I could find space to have my students build the set. The students and I have worked very hard in creating a professional scene shop that very few High schools in this state will probably have. This will hopefully prepare my students a little better.

Mr. Shrader: Thanks for the warm welcome and yes the teardown will be complete. As I said above I will use this opportunity as a teaching tool for my senior student and any others who are intrested. Will spend time talking about how to maintain tools so this kind of work is not repeated often. The only thing will be the repainting on the outside. It is not in bad shape paint wise now so I will leave it as is. I will wirebrush the inside cabinet wall(using a wheel brusk on a drill) and repaint it. The humidity here in Houston is a killer on tools if left to long, and the inside cabinet is pretty rusty.

Mr. Hitt : Thanks for the reminder. I have my senior student drawing out the plan of attack, and I told him that we will be taking pictures with my old polaroid to keep track( he reminded me that it would be easier to to use the digital camera. These kids think they are so smart, or is it that I am getting to old) of the parts. Thanks for the suggestion. I found out the hard way once about the shims, chalk it up to being in a hurry. I am expecting thejob to take most of the spring semester, but I am in no hurry, and the old saw I am using now should make till the end of the spring semester. I will agree, I have been lucky on several occasions. When they killed the woodshop class a couple of years ago( what a shame that students will not have more opportunities to work in this wonderful medium) the teacher came to me and let me know early and so I got first dibs on all of his clamps, jigs, a 14" rockwell radial arm saw, a 24" rockwell industrial planner,and all of his consumables. All again giving me the opportunity to prepare my students better.


Thanks again for everyones suggestions.

[Chris Padilla]

Charlie,

Once clean, a nice dry film lubricant that will NOT attract every micron of sawdust is Dow 557 Silicon Dry Film Lubricant. Get it, use it, love it.

However, having silicone in it, you don't want to use it anywhere where it'll get on your wood (cast iron top).