SCM SI12. Rebuild questions

[Irvin Crouse]

I just bought a used SCM SI12 sliding table saw. It is in pretty good shape but needs some work. I am retired and get a lot of satisfaction rebuilding old machines. It is difficult to find much info on that machine. I have the manual which is not very good. The slider is in very good condition. The bear tracks are hardened steel and are very good. This was my biggest concern as they are not easy or even possible to replace without a significant amount of money. I could use some help as the saw is missing a few items.

1 It is missing the slider outrigger and the long miter extruded fence. I have machining and welding equipment and will fabricate a new one but I don’t know the dimensions of the outrigger. It probably doesn’t matter except for position of the miter fence placement holes particularly if I find a copy of the original miter scale. It likely will not be accurate if the position hole are not the correct distance the the saw blade. The pivot point seems to be important for the scale to work. The swing arm is there. Needs some work.

2. Ideas of where to get 4ft miter fence. MiniMax of Felder. I can fabricate fence stops etc.

2. Does the belt for the scoring blade track and function well. I have heard they can be a problem.

3. The reference number is 010929. Is that the manufacture date? 2001/Aug. 29?

4. Would it be worth doing a rebuild video on this saw. Is there any interest? I currently have it completely in pieces to fix some other issues and repaint/new bearing. Should be a fun project. I have rebuilt multiple other old woodworking tools as it is fun and you end up with a great machine!

Thanks for any help!

Irvin

[Erik Loza]

Sounds like a real project! Thoughts, in no particular order:

-80/20 extrusion is what I have seen shops use for crosscut fences in the past. Starrett, et al make universal rule tapes.

-Machining a functional flip stop will be more difficult than you think. This is because most flip stops are some combination of cast and machined parts and tend to be complex little sub-assemblies in and of themselves.

-Ditto for the frame table. True that it might seem like just square steel tubing (which it is…) but assuming you want it to function like an OEM part in that it could swivel for mitres or be easily removed, there are some pretty unique spring-loaded gib bars, eccentric bushings, etc. When I’ve seen vintage sliders in shops where they had to piece together a solution, it almost always resulted in a crosscut fence fixed at 90 degrees and the frame table not being readily removable or adjustable.

-Are you certain the scoring unit is belt-driven? It’s been a few years since I’ve seen an Si-12 but I seem to remember them having independently motorized scoring units.

As far as a solution, both Felder and SCM could probably sell you an OEM crosscut fence, flip-stops, outrigger, etc. Cost, with freight, would probably be at least $2K from either vendor and there typically is a many-month lead time. Maybe Grizzly offers these as spare parts? Just thinking out loud. Or keep an eye open for a donor machine. Good luck and I would love to see a video of how this ends up.

Erik

[Irvin Crouse]

Thanks for the info Eric. Yes it is a substantial project but I enjoy a challenge. Fabricating the outrigger table along with flip stops and other parts so they will be highly accurate will be interesting! Thanks for the suggestion of purchasing these parts. I will definitely go that route if I crash and burn.😩 Time will tell. The SI12 is a great saw. Very heavy and well made. The scoring saw is belt driven off the main motor pulley. It involves several small pulleys which needs to be replaced. I will try to photo rebuild in case someone else needs info. Have a good holiday.

[Kevin Jenness]

Flip stops are easily made with wood and a quality butt hinge. You can use t-track on the crosscut and a flange bolt to lock it down. The SI12 is a nice solid short stroke slider. The scoring blade on ours did tend to drift sideways with use and needed periodic adjustment but worked well. I would recommend a split scoring blade rather than a tapered one which depends on the panel being perfectly flat on the table to get the right cut width. Make a plywood template for the crosscut table to get the hole positions established.