We made quite a bit of progress on the table saw today. If you are new to this project, just click on the link below to read Part 1.
R went and picked up the electric motor from the repair shop while I met the tree trimmer for an estimate on removing storm damaged limbs and dead limbs.
We were shocked when the repair shop called and said the motor was fixed and the charge was 60 bucks. I've read horror stories on the Internet about people who were restoring these old saws and that a new motor, if you could find them, cost a lot more than the the saw. This refurbish could end up costing around 100 bucks. Sounds perfect!!!
When R returned home, we ate lunch, and then got to work tearing apart the home made wooden saw base. First item on the list was removing the two wheels. The wheels and axle will work great on our rolling trash cans. If you don't buy the heavy duty trash cans, the trash guys will reduce a lower quality trash can to something that resembles a sieve. And if you have wheels on your trash can you will now have a full time job putting wheels back on your trash can.
After we removed the wheels, we needed to cut off the stub of 2X4 on each corner. The reciprocating saw made quick work of that. We now had a nice flat area to attach out 4 new locking castors. We used 4 lag screws on each wheel. After that, we flipped the base onto it's new castors and starting pulling out long nails that were sticking out of the wood base and also holding the badly damaged top to the base.
It took a while to pull the nails out but once the top was gone we could get to work on the bottom shelf. R was unsure if his dad built the bottom without that piece of wood or if that piece got broken somewhere and sometime in the past. No fear....we have a scrap pile and we're not afraid to use it.
The chosen board looked like it was the side of a built in pine cabinet that we removed several years ago. Measured, marked, cut, installed, done.
Now comes the top. The top is flush with the back because the saw motor sticks out in that area but the sides and front can overhang the base. I measured and figured 4 2X8 and 1 2X4 would give us just about the correct width that we were looking for but the overhang in the front is uncharted waters so we made the boards 40 inches long and once the top is glued and joined with biscuits we will decide how much of an overhang is needed.
But first we needed to go to the barn and look and see what 2X8's were available. We found two boards rights away. I have no idea where they came from but they are old and might be fir because they were slightly orange/tan and smelled like a Christmas tree.
We biscuit joined the boards in two pieces because our bar clamps were not long enough. One piece had 3 pieces and the other had 2 pieces and tomorrow we will join the two pieces to make one top. For now they will dry over night.
I haven't figured out yet if I am going to sand the top and just seal it or if I will sand, stain, and then seal. I have several small cans of stain so that is good if we want to keep this project under 100 bucks.
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