Craftsman table saw find

[breeaad]

I have been looking for a good deal on a used table saw, and I think I got it today. Looking through Craigslist, I found a Craftsman 100 saw. It appears to be made in 1959. It has a cast iron top, table extension, 3/4 HP original craftsman motor, 3 spare blades, and original fence and miter gauge. It runs like a top, and I couldn't be happier for the $25 it cost me. I am not a woodworker, and don't know a ton about this saw. Does anyone have one of these?

 

[woody 73]

Let me be the first too say thou suckith big today...Well done for $25.00 dollars.

 

[breeaad]

Thanks for the feedback. I really thought I got a great deal, but since I don't know much about these things the reassurance is great. Now I have another project on my hands: Learns about table saws.

 

[woody 73]

Just to show you how big thou **** Today:

http://columbus.craigslist.org/tls/4986570133.html

 

[rsanter]

I have one just like that. My dad was the original owner.
Positive side, they are a very nice saw
Negative side, they are just not worth much money. Oh and the original fence *****. I replaced mine with a VEGA fence which was a big upgrade

Plus I have 4 of the original cast wings. One one one side and three on the other.

Bob

 

[breeaad]

The fence was a question I had. I read that they ****, and I am sure they do, but I am not sure why. The one I have locks on and is VERY sturdy and seems to be easily adjustable. I cannot budge this thing when it is set. Is it a parallel issue with the blade? What do I need to do to improve this? I'm a newb to table saws, but have some planned projects that will require it and want to be sure I am ready.

 

[Boilerhouse]

If your fence moves easily, locks tight, and doesn't move as it is being locked, I would say its perfectly fine while you learn on it. If you really want to tune your saw, make sure you have a good sharp blade. Before adjusting the fence, if it should be needed, double check and adjust that the blade is perfectly parallel to the meter slot. There should be You Tube videos on this, it is not hard, but it involves more than I would like to get into here. Then adjust you fence so it is parallel to the blade. Nice find BTW.

 

[breeaad]

Thanks for the advice. I will take a look at all of that this weekend. The blade on it now is really dull, so I plan on playing with some of the blades that came with it.


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[robreye25]

Nice find. I grabbed one about a year ago. Get yourself the machines pulleys and the link belt, Fresh bearings and it will last you a long time.
Here's a before and after. I think I put $100 into it and the thing is a monster. I found mine with a 1.0 HP motor. But the 3/4 will be plenty. Maybe tonight I can grab a picture of the final setup. The attached pic was just after I reassembled the cabinet.




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[Seppala]

Got one of these about 15 years ago for free from my father in law. It needed a fence, so like rsanter,I got a vega. Managed to talk my brother in law away from some high end German table saw($$$) to a craigslist Sears table saw for $75. He's very happy with it.

 

[Garage Junky]

You **** like a toothless $5 *****. I'm jealous. I've been looking for a vintage table saw for a while and the only ones that are even close to that price are a rusty heap, and anything even approaching that nice is 10x what you paid.

 

[zkling]

Congrats, they are nice machines, but as mentioned hold little value due to large supply. The stock fence isn't horrible, but since it locks at the front and rear, it needs to be checked for parallelism to the blade every time it is locked down. I built a bessimeyer/T square style copy for my 8" version. I looked for a 2nd extension wing for a long time, but ended up building a router table extension for the LHS. If you do a lot of ripping, make some hardboard inserts for the webbed extension to make it smooth.

 

[G_P]

Be careful messing with dull blades. More chance of binding or kickback.

But for $25, you got a sweet score!

 

[skippy24]

When I was looking for a table saw about 18 months ago those would come up locally for around $200-$250. I would say you now have a you ****.

 

[breeaad]

Nice find. I grabbed one about a year ago. Get yourself the machines pulleys and the link belt, Fresh bearings and it will last you a long time.
Here's a before and after. I think I put $100 into it and the thing is a monster. I found mine with a 1.0 HP motor. But the 3/4 will be plenty. Maybe tonight I can grab a picture of the final setup. The attached pic was just after I reassembled the cabinet.

I looked at the link belt because the belt it came with is hard and is causing some vibration. I will check into it further.

Congrats, they are nice machines, but as mentioned hold little value due to large supply. The stock fence isn't horrible, but since it locks at the front and rear, it needs to be checked for parallelism to the blade every time it is locked down. I built a bessimeyer/T square style copy for my 8" version. I looked for a 2nd extension wing for a long time, but ended up building a router table extension for the LHS. If you do a lot of ripping, make some hardboard inserts for the webbed extension to make it smooth.

I have a router with a cheap table that doesn't work well. It would be nice to set mine up like yours.

You **** like a toothless $5 *****. I'm jealous. I've been looking for a vintage table saw for a while and the only ones that are even close to that price are a rusty heap, and anything even approaching that nice is 10x what you paid.

Ha, I'll take that as a complement. Its funny I can chase 50 CL leads to actually come away with one deal, but when it comes through it feels like you stole something.

Be careful messing with dull blades. More chance of binding or kickback.

But for $25, you got a sweet score!

Yeah, I tried one cut with the current blade and then shut it off.

 

[rsanter]

The fence was a question I had. I read that they ****, and I am sure they do, but I am not sure why. The one I have locks on and is VERY sturdy and seems to be easily adjustable. I cannot budge this thing when it is set. Is it a parallel issue with the blade? What do I need to do to improve this? I'm a newb to table saws, but have some planned projects that will require it and want to be sure I am ready.

That old type of fence clamps or locks onto the table front and back. The problem is that if you make a fine adjustment the friction of the fence sitting on the table makes it such that the front part near you will move but the back part won't and then you will lock the fence in not parallel to the blade. At minimum this can be inaccurate and at max it can be a danger of kickback.
What I always had to do was adjust the fence, kind of grab and wiggle the back of the fence to help square it but then had to recheck the measurement.
Yes the fence will work. Yes you can adjust it so that it is parallel, accurate, and even safe enough. But it is very annoying if you are doing a bunch of work on the saw. Frankly is just was ******* me off.
Changing to a modern Tsquare type fence was easy and made a world of difference in the use of the saw. I would never go back to that old fence.
If you can weld and fabricate a little you can make a copy of a biesmeyer type fence for not that much money. I bought my vega fence for a bargain or I was going to just make one

I have a shaper, but if I didnt I would look at the newer unisaws and how they do their side extensions. Basically just a Formica covered table top type thing with a couple of legs. Then make an insert so you can drop your router into it to make like a shaper/router table. You will be able,to use your fence and even the miter gauge if you place the router close to the edge of the saw. Actually I would make two drop in locations for the router. One near the saw table and one out at the end

Bob

 

[justanengineer]

I'm not a woodwacker either by any stretch of the imagination, so Ive kept a slightly newer 10" model 113. Do yourself a favor if it only has the original toggle switch on the motor, install a safety switch thats easier to access. I also concur with whats been said about the original fence, it *****, one day I'll build a better one but until then I keep a square handy to adjust it.

JME, but the most Ive ever gotten reselling any of the various lil Cman tablesaws was a like-new 103 8" that had never been used nor even had a blade installed. With both table extensions, the factory stand, and a ton of accesories/parts in the original boxes I got $100 IIRC two years ago. Ive bought a mess of these and never for more than $25, often less than $10.

 

[zkling]

I have a router with a cheap table that doesn't work well. It would be nice to set mine up like yours.

It is a nice compact setup. I use a router table once in a blue moon and don't have the space for a dedicated table. Luckily for you that should be a full size 27" depth table so there are a number of factory built options. Plus it is nice to have the extra support length on the LHS for the miter gauge, sled and the like.

Keep an eye out for an aftermarket fence, again nice on that saw is the common standard size of 27$. Although it is pretty easy to make a single point T square style fence. The table on my saw is only 23" deep so I had to build a custom fence.

Then you can enclose the base, add a shop vac port for dust control.

 

[LordPsychon]

I think my great uncle had one like that but his wasn't in quite as nice a condition as yours. Do yourself a favor and get a Forrest or a Freud blade for it - they'll cost about 3x what you paid for the saw but OMG you'll be cutting wood like butter with them.