Vintage Craftsman Cabinet Table Saw 113.22452

[NC Homestead]

Well look what followed me home today. I picked this girl up off of Craigslist, it was a bit of a drive but I think it was worth it. I paid $200 for it and it had all the original accessories and some additions with the exception of the safety guard. The paint is in pretty good shape for its age, debating weather to paint it or not. There is good amount of surface rust on the table, but nothing looked too deep. The wings were pretty clean. All in all I think the table will clean up nicely. The arbor was nice and tight with no play. It had a bit of a vibration to it, but it needs new belt and I am sure it could use some bearings, a good cleaning and tightening of all the hardware. It will definitely get a real mobile base upgrade. True it is not a “real” cabinet saw as the internals are mounted to the table, but I am OK with that. It is beefy and a definite upgrade over the standard contractor saw. Looks like the motor was swapped out at some point, but considering they put a 1.5 HP motor in I am not complaining! Wish me luck on the restoration! First things it will need are new bearings for the arbor and motor and some new belt, Oh and she will need a GOOD blade. Any recommendations?

Will

 

[nickelTwin]

I got that same model saw a couple years ago. It's a really nice saw. All the castings are so much beefier than the craftsman contractor saw I had.

 

[jakemac]

It must be Craftsman Cabinet Saw Day today. I'm trying to figure out how to get this one out of a basement by myself before 3pm. And then down into my basement shop later.

(estate sale photo)

 

[ctb]

It must be Craftsman Cabinet Saw Day today. I'm trying to figure out how to get this one out of a basement by myself before 3pm. And then down into my basement shop later.

(estate sale photo)

Separate it into 3 components: motor, iron top with trunnions, base.

 

[nine4gmc]

Damn Jake, you too, both you guys ****!

 

[softailgarage]

Thats a nice saw, been wanting one since reading "1950's Craftsman Garage". If you use a links belt it'll eliminate the vibration and be careful polishing the face plate, in fact, dont. That engine turning will come right off. BTW...you ****.

 

[woody 73]

A very nice saw at a great price well done.

 

[Red Leader]

It must be Craftsman Cabinet Saw Day today. I'm trying to figure out how to get this one out of a basement by myself before 3pm. And then down into my basement shop later.

(estate sale photo)

If that is a 'Craftsman' saw that you picked up in that picture, that is not the King Seeley/Emerson cabinet saw, but the 12" Darra James Craftsman-badged saw.

It is, in fact, a pretty rare bird and has been floating on and off my quest list for a few years. I would love to have the perfect trifecta of vintage Craftsman cabinet saws (Atlas 9", King Seeley 10" and Darra James 12") but I think I still struggle with where I'd put the 12". Still...if I came across a Craftsman-badged one at an estate sale I think my heart would skip a beat and I would be forced to, out of collector duty, make sure it made it into my garage

On that one, you can remove the aluminum side extensions and the back one too. However, I have not seen in hand how to get one apart more than that. You will have a bear of a time with that cabinet. That cabinet is solid 3/16" steel, I believe. It is a ******** saw. The elevation screw mechanisms are fairly often stripped from huge motors hanging off the back of the huge motor mounts.

However, I wish you luck! When you get some pictures of it, would you mind posting them on my thread (http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103099)? I have been trying to document these saws and have come across about 6-8 of them. On the large Craftsman logo on the front, there should be a 3 digit code, sometimes with an 'S' prefix. I'd love to know that number. I assume that they were hand numbered and I've never seen one above 1000, meaning that they were C-man badged in fairly low numbers. They never appeared in the Craftsman catalog. They might have been a test run that Craftsman did and it was either short lived or just didn't work out. Did the saw come with any literature? I'd LOVE to see what that looked like.

In any case, please tell the story of this one when you get a chance!

 

[jakemac]

Red - Thank you so much for the info. I had no idea it was a rare model. I've been scouring the catalogs to no avail. Now I know why. Yes, it does indeed have a number on the Craftsman tag.
It's #S477.


Family life has gone insane while I was making the purchase. So it may be a while before I can get back to it now that it's in my shop. I removed the motor (a 3/4hp 1725rpm Doerr 1ph dual voltage), aluminum side wings and fence guide (the fence has a cogged rail for adjustments) and then humped it up 9 steep steps (with my 42yo sister) to get it out of a basement bulkhead. It weighs a ton ! It was only about 8 miles from my house north of Boston. I paid $150 for it (including the fence and miter gage).

In the meantime, here are a few quick pics for you. The screws were a little stiff from dis-use, but now move fine. I love the art deco pyramid on the base. In the last picture it looks like I'm missing a locking knob over the blade height adjuster. Do you have a picture of it, and should there be a wrench on the height wheel ? Do you know when these were made ?

There was no paperwork with the saw, do you know if there are any sources for repos ?

 

[NC Homestead]

Red,
Any Idea where to source the bearings for these guys? And how do I go about getting the table loose from the base?

Will

 

[jakemac]

Red - Here's an ******* shot of the S477.

A few more crappy pictures can be found here -
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4859978#post4859978

 

[Red Leader]

Dang, thanks for the pictures! S477! Awesome! If I find one, I won't be able to turn it down! Great find.

While these saws were very rare for a Craftsman-badged item, they are fairly common under their normal name, a Darra James 95. Also, were somewhat common under the Wards badging as well. Therefore, there is a lot of infomation on these saws and plenty of experts on them over at OWWM. Because it is a rare Craftsman item but not a rare item in general, there are a lot of spares and parts available.

Have a gander at this:

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=183
http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1938

 

[jakemac]

Thanks Red. As for the VM links .................... I downloaded them last night.

The digital manual has a few pages that can be hard to read. I found a guy on ebay that cleans them up and prints bound repro's. They ain't cheap, but they're well done. I ordered one this morning.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/310388408017

Homestead - I need to apologize to you. Apparently I inadvertently highjacked your thread. I'm sorry. I'm going to try to start a new thread for my saw and copy these posts over there so that your thread can get back on track.

EDIT - the new thread for the Darra James/Craftsman is here :
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=291328


Alright guys/gals, it's time to go back to discussing NC Homstead's Craftsman Cabinet Table Saw model number 113.22452.

 

[Red Leader]

Red,
Any Idea where to source the bearings for these guys? And how do I go about getting the table loose from the base?

Will

See this post -

http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=108660&p=734048&hilit=craftsman+cabinet+saw+bearings#p734048


When I pulled the table off mine, I think the top was held on by 4 bolts. The handwheels have to be removed. Also remove the motor and mount. Check your wiring so you're not pulling anything. I can't remember if there is a handwheel mount on the underside of the cabinet that bolts to the cabinet, but worth checking. The table is a heavy beast - don't do it yourself. Get at least one other person, I did it myself and am very, very lucky I did not injure my back. Instead I scratched up the inside of the cabinet. So either for your sake, or the machine's, get some help

 

[NC Homestead]

Thanks for the info Red, well my first order of business was to clean up the nick's and gouges and stuff on the throat plate. I was having a little trouble with the CNC at work so the opening came out a little larger than I wanted but I will probably end up with a zero clearance insert at some point. Now I just need to clean up the top surface and get some new sscrews for it. The set screws were pretty buggered up so I picked up some new ones of those. Once I get the plate all cleaned up I will post some photos.

 

[Red Leader]

Nice. Looking forward to it!

 

[NC Homestead]

OK some before and afters of the insert. Like I said the CNC went a little crazy on me so I ended up with a wider opening than I wanted, but such is life. Happy with how it turned ot, I used a rough scotch brite pad attached to my random orbit sander. It got all the gunk out of the crevices without removing the machining marks and some of the little scratches here and there that give it character.

Will

 

[nickelTwin]

That turned out nice.
I never use the original steel throat Plate. I made up wood ones and set them up for zero clearance plates.

 

[NC Homestead]

Nickel,
I think I will end up going a similar route, just wanted the original look to it at the moment. I did not show the back of it but this one is cast aluminum about 3/8" thick. I still need to enlarge the countersinks just a hair, as the flat head screws just stick up over the top.

 

[NC Homestead]

Well I have not got around to too much on the table saw. I have been working on getting a compressor up and running,. A nice Craigslist find a Campbell Hausfeld 20 gallon belt driven compressor for $80, just needed some cleaning and a new compressor gasket set! And getting the garage organized to handle all the tools! but I did get the Exact-I-Cut alignment/kerf guide cleaned up. I also tested out a little spot on the table top for cleaning up the rust. I think I am going to give the scotch-brite/stripping pads on my orbital sander a go and see how it turns out. But here is a before picture of what I am starting with.

Will

 

[bisley45]

Very coo; find both you guys did very well on your purchases. I restored one of the king seeley models. and they are nice saws for sure. here is a pic of mine after I was done with it.

 

[NC Homestead]

Bisley45 Love the start stop switch in that saw, I have not yet figured out what I want to do with mine... I am not fond of the light switch tucked way up under there....

 

[NC Homestead]

OK so here is round one of the table restore. I made some progress but still have a ways to go.

 

[bubinga]

looks good.

 

[bubinga]

Very coo; find both you guys did very well on your purchases. I restored one of the king seeley models. and they are nice saws for sure. here is a pic of mine after I was done with it.

Looks Real Nice, I almost got one of those 10+ years ago, but got out bid. (e bay, local listing)
but thats OK, i got a circa 47 Unisaw last year.

better start using the SOB, My CEA blood count was up to 6.0 ans 2.9 3 months ago.
Might not be good,

 

[NC Homestead]

OK so here are the pics from round 2 with the table I think it is looking pretty good. In addition I was able to spend some time with a co-workers bead blaster and got some work done on the miter gauge. It is all prepped up for primer and paint.

Will

 

[bubinga]

that table look nice,

 

[softailgarage]

That glass beaded Mitre looks sharp! It would probably look good painted as well, might protect the metal too.

 

[Squashfest81]

This is really coming along. Nice save on the insert.

 

[NC Homestead]

OK so I have not given up on this project, just a few other projects jumper in line, like fixing an air compressor, pressure washer, and a nice big Baldor grinder which I will need to help finish out this guy. Also trying to make room in the garage for the disassembly.

But I did get a day of sunny weather this weekend, so I was able to spray some primer on the miter gauge.