Brmorgan
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This isn't really directly "milling" related, but I thought the crowd here might find it interesting. Anyway, our local dumps and garbage transfer stations have what are called "Share Sheds" where you can drop off something you don't want but is still usable. While driving by one of the out-of-town transfer stations a couple weeks ago I spotted this sitting beside the shed:
It's an old tablesaw, made by the Champion Blower & Forge Co. out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's a model #10, presumably denoting a 10" blade. It weighs a ton, everything is cast iron, even the base & legs. Lacking tools at the time, Dad and I had to load this whole base w/ motor into the back of the truck, and if it were 5 lbs heavier I think we would've been screwed. I can't really find much info about this thing, but apparently it's of early 1930s vintage.
It has a nice, heavy duty arbor. It's a solid ~1-1/4" shaft that's machined down on the ends for the blade and pulley, sitting in a babbitt bearing about 5" long, nice and steady. The crank in the lower-left center is used to push the table up or down to control depth of cut. This thing is so old that it doesn't have a tilt arbor and trunnion, so instead the WHOLE TABLE tilts and lifts to control angles and depth. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me, and I don't intend on operating it away from flat.
Shot of the table mount hinge and the manufacturer's label. The mount has been welded at some point, but it lines right up properly and seems to work fine anyway.
Got the table mounted. The original table is there, but has been added to by the previous owner. None of the modifications are welded though, so it'll be easy to get back to original. I have the fence too, but I forgot to take a pic of it. It's of the type that wraps around the pipe of the table, and is fairly rusty. I can't get it to mount up at all yet.
I'm pretty sure that motor is vintage too, made by Leland Electric out of Guelph, Ontario. It's only 3/4 HP but is the size of a modern 5 HP+ and has the weight to back that up. It's also a brushed motor - you can barely see the orange brush contact area at the rear end of the it. Oh, it also has oiling caps and reservoirs for the bearings. I haven't tried wiring it up yet. It spins free though, and my electrician cousin said those old things are so over-engineered (hence the weight) that it would probably still work fine.
Here's what I was thinking of doing with it though:
I don't really have use for another old tablesaw, but I do have a 20" long 4" diameter roll cylinder that I've been itching to make a drum sander out of. I also have a 1/6 HP motor mounted to a 50:1 gear reducer that I could use as a power feed unit. The table is the perfect width for the roll, so I wouldn't have to weld to it at all to make the sanding unit section. I would bolt rails on the sides of the table (there are tapped holes already) and weld anything to those. I should be able to still use the existing motor mount at the base, but I'd have to use two belts and a jackshaft to drive the drum. That would allow me to have variable speed though. It might not be nice and pretty, but I think it should work pretty well. And I shouldn't have to permanently modify the original parts at all.
The other idea I had for this thing was to build a two- or three-saw ripsaw to speed up my chainsaw milling production. I have two beautiful 14" combination ripsaw blades with 1" centers that would work very well. I'm still going to kick around ideas for a combination machine that could either sand or rip with a few changes, much like a machine I've seen advertised in many woodworking magazines, but the name slips my mind right now. Suggestions welcome!
It's an old tablesaw, made by the Champion Blower & Forge Co. out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It's a model #10, presumably denoting a 10" blade. It weighs a ton, everything is cast iron, even the base & legs. Lacking tools at the time, Dad and I had to load this whole base w/ motor into the back of the truck, and if it were 5 lbs heavier I think we would've been screwed. I can't really find much info about this thing, but apparently it's of early 1930s vintage.
It has a nice, heavy duty arbor. It's a solid ~1-1/4" shaft that's machined down on the ends for the blade and pulley, sitting in a babbitt bearing about 5" long, nice and steady. The crank in the lower-left center is used to push the table up or down to control depth of cut. This thing is so old that it doesn't have a tilt arbor and trunnion, so instead the WHOLE TABLE tilts and lifts to control angles and depth. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen to me, and I don't intend on operating it away from flat.
Shot of the table mount hinge and the manufacturer's label. The mount has been welded at some point, but it lines right up properly and seems to work fine anyway.
Got the table mounted. The original table is there, but has been added to by the previous owner. None of the modifications are welded though, so it'll be easy to get back to original. I have the fence too, but I forgot to take a pic of it. It's of the type that wraps around the pipe of the table, and is fairly rusty. I can't get it to mount up at all yet.
I'm pretty sure that motor is vintage too, made by Leland Electric out of Guelph, Ontario. It's only 3/4 HP but is the size of a modern 5 HP+ and has the weight to back that up. It's also a brushed motor - you can barely see the orange brush contact area at the rear end of the it. Oh, it also has oiling caps and reservoirs for the bearings. I haven't tried wiring it up yet. It spins free though, and my electrician cousin said those old things are so over-engineered (hence the weight) that it would probably still work fine.
Here's what I was thinking of doing with it though:
I don't really have use for another old tablesaw, but I do have a 20" long 4" diameter roll cylinder that I've been itching to make a drum sander out of. I also have a 1/6 HP motor mounted to a 50:1 gear reducer that I could use as a power feed unit. The table is the perfect width for the roll, so I wouldn't have to weld to it at all to make the sanding unit section. I would bolt rails on the sides of the table (there are tapped holes already) and weld anything to those. I should be able to still use the existing motor mount at the base, but I'd have to use two belts and a jackshaft to drive the drum. That would allow me to have variable speed though. It might not be nice and pretty, but I think it should work pretty well. And I shouldn't have to permanently modify the original parts at all.
The other idea I had for this thing was to build a two- or three-saw ripsaw to speed up my chainsaw milling production. I have two beautiful 14" combination ripsaw blades with 1" centers that would work very well. I'm still going to kick around ideas for a combination machine that could either sand or rip with a few changes, much like a machine I've seen advertised in many woodworking magazines, but the name slips my mind right now. Suggestions welcome!
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