Powermatic 66 refurbish

[jim tritz]

I posted last week on A 1997 Powermatic 66 that I picked up on Craigslist. I have decided it would be fun to chronicle the refurbishing journey a long the way. I am going to take before and after pictures of each step and also log man hours and material costs along the way. I am interested in seeing how many hours and dollars this ends up costing in the long run.
This will be my first refurbish of anything of this magnitude and it will hopefully be a fun and rewarding experience.
I know I will run into many problems, issues and questions along the way. I will be leaning heavily on this forum for advice and know how and based what I have read on here over the last several months I know you all will be a big help. Looking forward to the journey. Here are the first picks from the progress on the Table top.

[Alden Miller]

Your table top looks good. I was expecting it would clean up nicely.

What did you end up using to clean it?

-Alden

[jim tritz]

Alden,
I used and ROS starting with 80,120 and then 180. Lastly, I wet sanded with 600 and WD40. Finished with 2 coats of Johnson Paste wax. For the mitre slots, I used a thin wire brush on a cordless drill.

[Alden Miller]

It came out looking purty!

I have used a ROS with Abralon 500, 1000, and 4000. But I did not have as much oxidization to start with even after it was in the fire. I was able to get the fire department to put a tarp over it before turning the hoses on since the building it was in was only slightly involved.

-Alden

[Rich Riddle]

Congratulations on the saw. I think it's one of the best table saws made and love he old Powermatic line. The top came out looking quite nice and offers an alternative to those you run toward the rust removal products. Yours looks much nicer. Hope the rest of your renovation looks as nice. That saw will last your lifetime.

[jeff vanek]

Looks good so far !

[Jamie Lynch]

Very nice so far!

[jim tritz]

Thanks Guys for the comments. Spent most of today taking it all apart and gutting it down to the cabinet. I found a guy local here to sand blast the cabinet, side rails, fence and the fence guide rail to get ready for repaint. I spent about 4 hours yesterday on the fence rail guide with wire brush and sander and didn't even complete one side. This guy will sand blast everything for $50 bucks. Well worth it I think! I am going to do all the guts by hand. They need alot of clean up, but structurally everything is in good shape. Here are a couple of pics on the gutted cabinet and the guts. Hopefully tomorrow I will have the most of the guts completed and I will post more pics. Thanks again for the input.

[John R Hoppe]

On the trunnion elevator worm gear shaft, be sure the woodruff key that in the lock mechanism is free and easy to move. I put some
anti seize lube in mine when I did the rebuild. Works much better now.

[Doug Ladendorf]

Nice score. I look forward to watching your progress. Good call on the sandblasting. Wish I had done that with my cabinet.

[jim tritz]

Thanks for the comments guys and thanks John for the tip.
I made some progress today on a few of the internal pieces. It is shaping up pretty good so far. I just hope I get all this back together correctly!
Here some before and after pics from todays efforts:

[Don Roberson II]

I rebuilt a PM66 also, loved it. To lubricate the gears & trunnion I used Dupont Teflon Non-Stick Dry-Film Lubricant spray. It works great & sawdust doesn't stick to it

Rustoleum's Hammered paints work great also I used the aerosol cans & sprayed light layers (pic below)

P1050527 (768x1024).jpg

[Doug Ladendorf]

Nicely done Jim. Tips I found helpful in reassembly are to take lots of pictures before taking apart, and bag & label parts. If you have any questions just ask. I can see a few differences between your trunnions and my 1968 PM66.

Don, that paint looks great! I used rattle can too but not the hammered. It gave me a devil of a time but eventually came out fine.

[jim tritz]

Doug, I have been bagging and tagging, taking notes and pictures as well. Getting it back together should go ok, I am just a little worried about getting it all square and lined up correctly. I will look here for advice if I run into any glitches.

Don, your cabinet looks fantastic! I will be thrilled if mine turns out that good. Did you primer it first (Rustolieum Hammered says paint and primer in one). If so, How many coats of primer and also how many coats of finish? Drying time between coats? I am using the Rustolieum Hammered on the non-machined parts of the guts. I also have some concerns about how well the Rustolieum Rattle cans paint will hold up on the rails, fence and fence guide. Did you paint all that the same way and does it hold up pretty well.

Thanks for the help and input

[jim tritz]

Don, one other thing. I am using Boeshield T9 lubricant as I put the parts back together, but I don't have any previous experience with this product. Any thoughts of input. Where did you buy the Dupont Teflon lubricant you used and how often do you have to re-apply? Does it work on the table tops as well or do you do something different for those (paste wax or alternative?) Any one else have thoughts or successful recommendations?

Thanks Don