A really good first question would be: what did you pay for this machine? Well, I'm not quite sure. He was part of a lot, so I would estimate I paid between $275 and $350; it's a matter of what I can sell some of the other machines off for and what I think the keepers are worth. It's easier to say what I have in him on the rebuild. A few bucks worth of paint, $20 to get a casting welded and $25 for bearings.
II didn't do any pics on the tear-down, and I am not much on 'before' shots, so all I present here are just a few photos of parts, and some comment on how they fit together.ck here to add your text.?
II will start with the arbor assembly as it gave me the most trouble. First, I couldn't figure out how to get the old bearings off; Jeff Hoffman <wtsmllc@juno.com> was my saviour. He rebuilds Walker Turner machines, and I strongly advise anyone to go to him with their questions and needs. His prices are very fair.
The old bearings were quite trying. There wasn't really enough room to get my gear puller on them due to the similarity in diameter of the housing that goes around them with the bearings themselves. I did a lot of creative pounding and prying. The new bearings Jeff sold me, at half the asking-cost of my local shop, went on real smooth.
II polished the shaft, going from 320 to 2000 grit paper, and then put on a film of turpentine and graphite. You will note that the shaft looks a touch beat-to-hell at the pulley end. Can I please deny any knowledge of how this happened, please?Click
The pictured assembly is pretty straight-forward. A bearing goes on so that it rests against the blade-collar, on the left end of the arbor. The painted body goes on next, with the metal cylinder sliding down inside it; the threads on the end of the grease fitting, seen at the bottom of the pic, thread into the hole in the metal cylinder via the port of the painted piece. The second bearing goes on and slips down into the painted body; the small collar goes on and the pulley goes on last. My only question was how far up against the blade-collar I should set the bearing. I finally used the old marking, left by the set screw of the small collar, seen as a dimple on the shaft, and simply pressed the bearings down until the mark and the screw matched. Pretty easy.ick here to add your text.
Here it is. the bearings set inside the housing and the dimple lined up so that when the small collar is slipped on the set screw will drop into the hole it previously occupied.
You can see how the grease fitting goes in and its plate is fitted over the port. This fitting is no longer actually needed now that we don't have open ball bearings any longer. If you elected to keep the old open bearings you would simply fill the larger bolt with grease and then force it down inside by screwing down the smaller bolt that goes inside it. I would strongly suggest cleaning this out, though. Mine was really gunked up inside and I doubt that new grease would even have gotten to the open bearings.Click here to add your text.
Just a little shot here of my highly sophisticated bearing press. Add a hammer and bob's-yer-uncle.Click here to add your text.
Left: This is the piece that was shattered into 3 parts. The weld is a bit ugly, but is holding well.
What you see is the shaft and pinion gear that work the rack that raises the saw blade. It can be treated as one piece if you don't want to tear it down.
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On the right is the rack. The arbor assembly sits atop this and is held on by the big red nut, and the pinion assembly goes into the opening lower left; it can only go in one way and engages the rack nicely once bolted on.
IYou can't see it here but the small handwheel which should tighten the pinion gear shaft so that the rack stays locked in position wasn't working. I added a thin brass washer behind the cotter pin and this then allowed the parts to all engage and give me a good friction tightening.Click here to add your text.
To the left is the body of the saw with nothing attached but the tilt mechanism that the table bolts to.
Left: Sitting just behind the red handwheel, and resting on a small block of oak, is the pinion assembly that engages the tilt-gear.
While to the far right are all the same pieces, but with the pinion assembly bolted to the body. You can see from how skewed it looks that there is a fair amount of adjusting to do; the pinion gets adjusted to engage the tilting gear, and that gets adjusted so that the table will bolt to its top plate. Expect to spend a little time with this stuff; no one ajustment seems to stand on its own, but varies as other adjustments are made.
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The only thing to really note on the bottom of the table is the 3 bolts, which will feed through the plate on the table tilt mechanism to attach the table to the body. They are just to the left of the throat in this pic.
Above and right is the body with most of its attendant parts attached. The arbor assembly is now firmly mounted atop the raising/lowering rack by its big red nut. The two set screws protruding from the painted body just below the big red nut are more adjustments; they lock the arbor assembly fast onto the rack. You will do this once the table is on and you have aligned the blade square with a miter slot. The set screw with the red lock nut around it just below where the rack goes into the painted body holds a floating key that rides in a slot on the rack and keeps the rack aligned. Further to the right all the pieces of the table tilt mechanism are in place and it is time to put the table on. The wing nut, seen end-on as a red stripe here, is simply the stop screw that keeps the table from tilting back past 0 degrees.
Heeeeeeerrrrrrrrreeeeeessss Johhny! (Johnny Walker, of course - what? You thought I was going to name him Kathleen Turner?)
So, he is all together and ready to try life as a dedicated dado-guy. A couple of things I didn't really mention. The table is held on by the three bolts through the table tilt mechanism, but it pivots on pins set in ears on the body. These can be seen in the pic just below my 'bearing press'. These are fragile points. Not much casting exists above the pins, and my rear one is broken. The good news is: all the weight actually pushes down and if they break it will be to the upside. Just be careful with them. Drive them out before you unbolt the table. A third pin holds a sort of curved sliding bar with a center slot cut in for the bolt at the rear of the saw; this piece has a small handwheel which cinches down on the bar via the bolt and is simply a secondary locking mechanism to hold the table firmly at the angle you have chosen. A much longer pin holds the motor bracket to the rear of the saw body. The motor sets on this bracket and pivots freely so that the belt is tensioned by motor weight alone.
I have added no comments on the rack and pinion rip fence. It is fairly simple. There seem to be several versions of this saw. It is a Driver Line, a 900 series, I think, but it does not match up with other pics of such saws. The differences are minor, mainly handwheel style and placement. One difference is that some came with a micro adjustment of both the rip and miter fences; Johnny has neither.
I developed a real fondness for the stand this saw came on. It is adjustable for height, and has nice maple shelves with a touch of birdseye to them. Mine were painted grey and I simply cleaned them back to a 'well-used wood' look and oiled them.
Johnny's color scheme is my own creative genius at work. What can I say? I like color, but I don't fully understand it. My wife's comment on first seeing Johnny was: "dear, this could induce vomiting..." She went on to mutter that 'god never intended,' but I was ignoring her by then, knowing that she is an atheist. (Remember when we were ALL white and there was a bandaid called "flesh-colored"? What have I done?)
So, he's no unisaw, but I had a lot of fun with him and think he will probably be a good worker. Thanks for looking in.
(.(Johnny-o has mentioned that some machines have been so disadvantaged by their owners that they "meow" when a bowl of milk is placed before them: we are presently ruminating on a satisfactory reply to this sexist slur)
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CHere's a last look at Johnny. I looked and looked at motor starters and switches and could not make head nor tail of them. Finally I went to H.D. and just bought a box. I don't know what you call it, but it holds 2 fuses and functions as a switch. It may be clunky, but you don't turn the machine on by accident and it flips into the off position very nicely. I put 2 15 amp cartridge fuses in it. Johnny's first dado is sitting on the table to be admired.
Oh, since the motor already had a plug on it I mounted a plug under the table and then wired that over to the box and put about 15' of new 12/3 extension cord on it.lick here to add your text.
