Old Yates Combo Table Saw-Resto Mod

[twinrider1]

I'm late to the party but I'm definitely enjoying your thread. I have one of these in my garage, patiently awaiting my attention. Someday.

 

[RatFinkleton]

I'm late to the party but I'm definitely enjoying your thread. I have one of these in my garage, patiently awaiting my attention. Someday.

Well welcome to the party twinrider . Thanks for the encouragement. Its cool to hear from all the guys who have these saws. I never realized there were as many of them out there as there are.

This post is more or less just a quick update as I have not really had allot of time to work on the saw. The little time that I did get I was rushing to get things figured out and didn't stop to snap any pics.

I was met with some good and bad news. The bad was that the JB Weld was most definitely a major fail. The rails did hold, and also held up to a fair bit of weight. However as soon as I put a little gusto into it they just broke off.

I guess it isn't that much of a surprise, but I really thought it would hold a little better than what it actually did.

The good news is the JB Weld left a perfect outline of the underside of table. Which led me to just see how much room an 8-32 bolt would have. That snowballed into the idea of drilling a hole through the mounting plate. I used that hold to transfer a center punch onto the underside of the table. I then decided to drill it out just to see how much depth I could get.


Low and behold I was able to get a pretty decent hole depth. I tapped the hole and threaded a piece of 8-32 threaded rod into the hole marked it and cut it off to form a stud. I bolted it in place and was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was still lining up right and even with just one stud it had decent holding capability.


I figure I will put about 6ish studs on each side and use a little red Loctite to keep everything from vibrating loose. I was only able to get the one trial hole in, but when I go back to do all the others I will snap some pics to share.

 

[RatFinkleton]

Woo hoo this thread has gotten 1,000 views!! Thanks to everyone checking out my work.

Progress has been kind of slow recently. I have been distracted by other things and haven't gotten much garage time. I have gotten a little work done. This post will be a little more explanation of my last post.

So, here is a picture of what I briefly explained before. The holes closest to you in the picture are the holes for mounting the 80/20 to. You can see where the JB weld squeezed out and left a very good out line of where the ribs run on the underside of the table. Though it failed for holding the mounts it did prove useful for helping me know where to center punch to drill the holes for my improvised studs.



mount by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




I used 8-32 threaded rod to make some short studs shown below. I located the mount in its correct spot held it in place and transfer punched two holes from the mount to the underside of the table. I then drilled and tapped those two holes. I used red thread locker on the studs to help keep them from vibrating loose. You can see the first and second studs in the pictures below as well.



half by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr
first two by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Once I had the first two studs in I put the mount back on using those two studs. I didn't want to drill/tap all the holes until I was sure everything would line up with the first two. Luckily everything lined up so I punched the centers for the rest of the holes and started going to work.

I had two hiccups. One hole got a little deeper than the rest. You can see in the pic below one stud is quite short compared to the others. The other hiccup was I broke my tap off in one of the holes . Oh well I guess I will have to pick another one up on my next trip to Fleet Farm. It did stop my progress though.


parts by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




I just wanted to take a couple paragraphs to reflect a little on the progress so far. Like I said the JB Weld was a huge fail for this particular application. I highly doubt anyone will be using this as a template for their own project, but if you are I suggest moving straight to hardware. I didn't shell out the money for the panel bonding adhesive, but even though they are small and I only have half of them in currently I have no doubt in my mind they will hold up just as well if not better than the adhesive would have.


I ordered the parts for the fence. All in they cost me approx. $150. I am exited to put it together to see how it works out. I think with the riving knife and new fence additions this little saw could really be just as safe and nice as a more modern saw. At least I hope

 

[RatFinkleton]

Got more work done tonight. I finally finished up both mounts. It was allot of drilling and tapping, but I am glad I went that route as it is way more ridged than I thought it would be.

Does anyone else use their crimps to cut small hardware?



wire cutters by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



It was an exciting day, I received all the parts for my fence rails. Since I had the mounts all wrapped up. I decided to mount the rails.

This picture shows the hardware that holds the rails to the mount.



8020 tabs by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Then I just slid the 80/20 on to the hold down tabs.


8020 on tabs by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Then there is a linear slide that rides on each rail. The slides were pretty tight on the rails, but they also came with some very thin adhesive shims that you can use to shim it exactly how you want it. It seems close enough for a fence the way it is, but it is nice to have the option to fine tune it with shims if need be. I also got a brake, you can see the handle in the pic below. I was a little nervous about how much holding power the brake would have. It has plenty enough holding power. I was actually surprised by how well it held.

I used the slides and just stuck the stock fence on just to get a feel for this setups viability as a fence.



both sides done by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr


It is going to take some fine tuning to get everything lined up well. As I was getting ready to fold up work for the night I had to grab the tape and measure how parallel the two rails were to each other. Over the span of 4ft they were a 1/16" out of parallel and I didn't do anything while I was assembling to line them up. I was pretty happy with that because I know I can tune them in from there.

Now I just got to get the rails perpendicular to the blade and parallel with each other and I can start working on the actual fence. That will be work for another day though. Its miller time now

 

[RatFinkleton]

I didn't feel much like posting last night after I came in from the garage, so I am going to post last nights progress this morning while I drink my coffee before I go back out there.

I had a few things on the agenda for last night. I wanted to flip the saw around on the mobile base. When I put it on there originally I didn't really think about how the swivel caster mounts stuck way out. I oriented the saw so the jointer/sander side of the saw was on the side with the swivels. I figured out pretty quickly thought that the casters would quickly become a PITA for using everything.


I of course didn't realize this until I had everything bolted back onto the saw. I live by myself and knew it was going to be a chore to get this heavy thing flipped. It took a little planning and allot of teetering and walking, but I was able to get it flipped around by myself without breaking my back.

The other thing I wanted to tackle was getting the motor back in. It took some finagling and patience, but I was able to get it hoisted back up inside the cabinet. I headed down to the farm and barn to pick up some new vbelts. I think it all turned out pretty well. I was hoping my new switch would be here by now but I am still waiting for delivery on that. So I couldn't fire it up.


motor by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Instead I decided to step back and appreciate some of the work I have done. I know because I am not repainting it and going full restore with it that it doesn't look like I have done that much, but it sure feels like it . Since the work I did earlier in the night didn't lend itself well to pics I decided to use the rest of my post pic allowance on this subject.

When I was doing research into riving knife upgrades for older saws. I found a wealth of examples of splitter types, but I didn't really want to go that route because they don't adjust to the height of the blade or the bevel. I am not usually the type to blow my own horn, but I feel pretty proud of this knife. I mean it is definitely not perfect, but I feel like it accomplishes most of what I set out to do.


It raises and lowers with the blade. On the plus side of that it only really extends above the blade at full height. Which means that I can cut dados with the blade without having to remove the knife.


riving down by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

riving up by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr


It angles with the blade meaning it doesn't have to be removed for bevels.



beveled side by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

beveled by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Like I said earlier it doesn't look like that much progress, but I sure feel like its come along way from where it started. The sad part is I feel like there is just as much work left to do



overall by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



As always thanks for viewing, if your enjoying this thread or have any questions drop a post and let me know what you think.

 

[RatFinkleton]

I am trying something new with this post. I am experimenting with posting larger pictures. So if you all are unable to see these please let me know.

With the old girl starting to get near completion and time to kill waiting for the switch to show up. I decided to clean up the sanding platform and jointer fence today.

I started with the sanding platform. It wasn't terrible, but it was in pretty rough shape.

[/url]sander pre by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]


I tore it all down. I cleaned up all of the moving parts as well as the platform itself. It was pretty straight forward. Here is how it all turned out. It was so much easier to adjust after it was all cleaned up. Everything moved like it was buttered.

[/url]sander post 1 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]sander post 2 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]


I installed the platform on the sander and decided to tune it in. Using a square I set the platform square to the sanding disk, then adjusted the readout to the correct corresponding position.

[/url]sander installed 1 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]sander installed 2 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]adjusting sander gauge by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]

After I was satisfied with the sander I started on the jointer fence.

[/url]jointer fence pre by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]


I followed pretty much the same procedure as I did with the sander. Nothing really fancy just cleaning it up and making everything move smoothly.

[/url]jointer fence post1 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]jointer fence post 2 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]
Then it was just getting it put on and adjusted so it was square.

[/url]Jointer Fence Adjusting by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]


Initially I was a little concerned about this jointer fence setup. Since it has to be removed in most cases to use the saw. I thought it would be cumbersome to use, and would be hard to keep adjusted correctly with being moved around all the time. As far as the removability it is so easy to take on and off. Only time will truly tell, but it seemed to hold its setting pretty well and is easily adjusted back to square with its adjustable positive stops.


The last thing I did today was give all the platforms and top a little paraffin wax to keep everything smooth and offer some rust protection.

[/url]overall by https://www.flickr.com/photos/169054609@N03/, on Flickr[/IMG]


While I was working today I was pondering the finish of this saw. This is the first rebuild I have done where I didn't put allot of effort into stripping and repainting everything. I personally kind of like the as-is look. It kind of reminds me of something from mad max. Where it is all about function and very little about form.


I like the look, but I am curious what other people think?

 

[RatFinkleton]

I just went through and tried to redo all of the pictures so they were large pictures. Everything appeared to be working fine, until I got through it and went back to double check everything. Now the last half of my posts are all just blank with an X in the corner. Is anyone else having problems viewing my pics?

 

[454ragtop]

Pics are all gone.

 

[RatFinkleton]

Thanks for letting me know ragtop. I feared that happend. I will try to go back through and re upload the small pics again. I will try to get this fixed over the next few days

 

[RatFinkleton]

I just edited my most recent post. I am hoping someone can let me know if they are able to view the photos from that post?

If so I will start the painstaking process of re-doing all of the previous posts.

Thanks for any help.

 

[454ragtop]

Yes, pics are showing in last post. Any reason you're not posting pics directly to the site? It's really easy, and you don't have to worry about a third party effing things up down the road, as has happened with Photobucket.

 

[RatFinkleton]

Yes, pics are showing in last post. Any reason you're not posting pics directly to the site? It's really easy, and you don't have to worry about a third party effing things up down the road, as has happened with Photobucket.

Thanks so much for the help ragtop. Apparently if I had read in the photo section before I would have found out that Imgur doesn't play well with GJ. Oh well, Flickr seems to be working well.

I was originally adding everything directly to the post. I hated the small thumbnails though. It may be just personal preference, but when I look through a thread I like to see big pics without having to click on them.

I also just learned about the ability to create an album on GJ. However, it is a little more cumbersome to create an album here than on a hosting site. I do think for future threads I will probably use the albums here, but at this point in this thread the volume of photos I would have to upload one at a time to an album here is rather daunting.

If anyone else is following this thread or poping in I will try to get the rest fixed in the coming days. Just please bear with me. I never thought the most harrowing part of doing a machine build would be the documenting and not the physical labor

 

[RatFinkleton]

I think I have all of the pic issues resolved. Sorry to anyone who tried to view the thread while they were not working. I got some more parts in the mail today. Stay tuned for more updates.

 

[RatFinkleton]

This week the outdoor temp and therefore my motivation was a little lower than it has been. I did get some work done though.

I got all of my parts for my new switch. The old switch was broken, and at somepoint the motor was just wired directly to the plug bypassing the switch. I wanted something a little "safer". So I opted for a paddle switch. While it is no sawstop, I do feel that in a sticky situation the ability to kill the saw without removing my hands from the work piece is a big safety upgrade. So, lets get this thing mounted shall we?

Here are all of the parts I ordered a paddle switch, a nice metal enclosure, and a new 9' plug.


IMG_1189 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Of course everything couldn't work out peachy keen for me, and the trouble came in when I tried to mock the switch in place in the box. I tried to thread the switch screws into the enclosure. The holes were too small. So I grabbed my drill and tap and made the correct sized holes.




IMG_1191 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




After correcting that minor inconvenience I was able to mock the switch together, and start playing with where I wanted to mount it.




IMG_1192 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



I knew I wanted the switch to be near where I would be standing. So I mocked a feeding a board through the blade and looked at areas that would work well. I initially wanted to mount the switch a little higher, but with the blade height adjustment wheel, jointer infeed table adjuster, and blade angle readout real-estate ran out fast. I opted for a nice flat spot that was about level with my knee while working.




IMG_1195 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1194 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




I had to drill a new passthrough for the wire to the motor, I found a grommet I had stashed away to help shield the wire a little from the edges of the hole.




IMG_1196 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr





I ran the plug out of the bottom of the enclosure, and wired everything up.





IMG_1208 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1209 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




At this point I was a little nervous and very exited that after a month and a half of work, I was going to be able to test run it. I plugged it in hit the switch...… and the breaker didn't pop. So of course I had to grab a piece of scrap and make some test cuts



IMG_1210 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

 

[RatFinkleton]

After all of the excitement of making the first cut with the saw I decided it was time to start the process of tuning everything in. I started with the pulleys, it became pretty apparent that I had forgot a step when I had installed the pulleys. I never lined up the pulleys.


So, I grabbed a framing square to use as my straight edge. I set it up square on the motor pulley and it was probably 1 1/2" off. I guess the old eyecrometer was a little off that day . After a little adjusting with the rubber mallet things were back in line again.




IMG_1215 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



From there it was time to get the jointer tuned up. Because this is a combo unit getting things set was a little interesting. For those of you unfamiliar with this saw. The jointer head moves up and down with the saw blade. When the saw blade is up the jointer head is down and vise versa.


This gave me my first issue. Trying to set the stops so the head stops at the same height every time. There are two lock nuts on the height adjustment lead screw that are adjustable and act as stops. I have never set up a jointer quite like this one, and there aren't many resources on this particular set up. I did my best to figure it out.




IMG_1212 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




Then I proceeded to adjust the knives in a fairly normal fashion. I use the straight edge method. I put a piece of tape by each knife to mark the movement of the straight edge. I then rotate the head by hand let the knives pick up and move the straightedge, mark how much movement happened on the tape, then repeat. I do this on the front and back side of every blade.




IMG_1213 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr
IMG_1211 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr




I make adjustments, repeat the test until I have all of the knives creating as close to the same movement as possible. Please note in the photos above I measure everything in 1/32" however I only write the numerator on the tape because I am lazy.


Then it was time to run a jointer test. Unfortunately, I was so excited to by the results and having a running saw after all of the work I have put into this thing I forgot to take pics of my test cuts Sorry guys.

Now I have to finish up my fence and I think I will have a proper functioning saw. I know it doesn't look like much, but I am pretty happy with the way this thing is coming along. It felt so good to make those first cuts with the saw and jointer. I was also pleasantly surprised with the quality.


As always thanks to anyone who is supporting this thread with views and comments.




IMG_1216 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

 

[RatFinkleton]

The last two weeks have kept me out of the garage. Between being sick, traveling, and -40 degree temperatures I didn't have much time/desire to be outside. Today I was finally able to get back out there though.

I used my time to work on the new fence. It was pretty cool to actually use the saw after the last couple months of just working on it. I bought a redi panel of birch plywood to make it. I ripped it down into 4 strips that were 4" wide.

I couldn't use the stock fence since the new rails were in the way, but since the fence was taken part I was able to just use the fence without the mounts on it. I had to use clamps to secure it to the table. It took a quite a lot of finagling to get it parallel to the blade at the correct width, but I eventually got it perfect. These were the first rip cuts I performed on the saw since refurbing it.

I also found out that the work bench I built a couple years ago is the perfect height for an outfeed table. This was not planned as I built the bench a couple years ago using handtools.




IMG_1299 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1300 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



I then used the miter gauge to make some blocks for the end caps that would also attach to the slides. I also used it to cut the bottom and sides to length.

I had a bit of a plan going into this, but was also doing allot of mocking up and making changes as I was building. Here are some shots of the mock up of the bottom, sides, and end caps.


IMG_1301 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1302 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1303 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



Once I was comfortable with how everything was going to layout I went ahead and drilled and countersunk the holes for the slides to mount to.


IMG_1303 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1305 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



I set up a stop block on the miter gauge to cut all of the gussets for inside the fence. Since they were already ripped to the same width I could make sure they were all the same height. Then I knew they would all be the same size and that the cap for the top would fit correctly.

I decided to use my kreg pocket hole jig to secure everything together. I was going to cut the gussets for the end caps to be 45 degree triangles, but after thinking it over I decided to leave them rectangular. This made them easier to clamp in place while securing them. Since everything will be hidden by the end clamp I figured why bother.


IMG_1307 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1309 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr

IMG_1310 by Rat Finkelton, on Flickr



I only had one slide connected to the fence, and when I slid it around I was surprised at how solid it felt. It also seemed to hold parallel very well. After messing with it I think I may just opt for a single rail.

 

[Duketherestorer]

I'm a newbie here, hope this gets thru to you. FINALLY, somebody has taken the time to post some great pics. I'm restoring a Yates M1701 also! I'm glad to see there's another cheesehead out there with the same problems.

Mine came with no jointer head or bearings at all. I spent most of the last 6 months redesigning (on Draftsight) a 4" Craftsman jointer head and bearing assy to fit. Waiting to get it CNC'd by my buddy and put it in. Had to do a lot of imagining what the original bearing/assy/cutterhead looked like. When I saw you pics I was amazed at how close we came with our dwgs for the CNC. I'm dbl stoked to get them put in now. You efforts with all the pics was an awesome help to me.

The other problem I have is with the swinging joint safety cover. The pivot point on the edge of the cast iron bed has been broken off. Think I'll put a cutoff wheel in my other table saw and rip off the jagged stub and try to fasten on a new pivot. Any chance you could send more detailed pics of that area and of the bushing and spring that actuate it?

BTW, I have access to CNC and I also have a small South Bend lathe that I restored so if I can help anyone with making any parts etc, I'd be happy to talk to you all.

 

[Csolesbee23]

I would be interested in that guard if still available.

 

[3Pedals_6Speeds]

Sorry to resuscitate an old thread, but I have one of these, in my family 50+ years. Saw works, (fence is trash) looking to get the jointer and sander back on line. Any advice as to the belts needed to do so?