Peter Brown's ShopTime

Last week sometime I went to turn on my newly restored Delta Uni and found nothing but the strange and unsatisfying click of the switch. "Click." "What the hell?" "Click, click click." Where was my warm soothing hum and the sound of wind whipping through the gullets of my newly purchased saw blade? I love that sound. This unnerving click that had replaced it, was quite upsetting. I checked the power outlet by plugging in a palm sander. The hope was a bad electrical outlet. That I could manage. I could not manage having spent 10 months and $400 on a saw that, while pretty, would not turn on! To my utter dissatisfaction, the sander worked fine. Crap. I then did the grown up thing. I cursed. After I got that out of my system I wept. Clearly I wasn't in a good state of mind for further troubleshooting. I walked away. I was pissed but knew I wasn't going to fix it that night. The a few days later I decided to try again. Now that I was in a much calmer s...

I can't believe it's finally over...

The last piece of the Unisaw restore is underway. And out of my control. I finally saved up enough dough to get the motor repaired. I called around town and this was the first place that responded correctly "I have a repulsion induction motor that is slow to start" "Did you check the capacitor?" "Nevermind... Click" Finally I got this guy who claims to get a couple of these a month. "I call them unisaw motors" "That works for me. What do you think is the trouble" At which point he began describing the brushes and wiring in a way that made me realize he had knowledge of these motors and how to troubleshoot "I'm not sure if I can fix it, I'll do my best." "How long?" "A week or so..." Not exactly instilling confidence, but certain a stronger base than the other shops! Now I wait, and too my saw waits all cleaned and painted in it's new mobile base awaiting news of it's 1950's motor and how...

Well, just like a new suit can change a man, a new coat of paint can really change a tool. The cabinet has been painted, the top cleaned and the inter-workings of the saw re-installed. Here are some glamour shots. Oops! No motor! I'm not done yet. I still have to save enough green to get my motor repaired and take some time to clean up and paint the fence. But it feels good to put it together for a bit and remember where I've come from.

All parts cleaned and waiting for cabinet completion and reassembly. The fence and other "non-guts" will be done after re-assembly in an effort to maintain my sanity. Wire Wheel---- Wire Wheel---- Wire Wheel---- I'm declaring the top done for now. Once it's all resembled if the bug hits, I'll give it another goings over...

Toppless! Disassembly. Gutted. Rust, rust and more rust! Let the cleaning begin!

I got an angle on a vintage Delta Unisaw yesterday afternoon. Called the guy about 5 minutes after the CL posting. He said it was his dads and it stopped working for him late in '09. It had been outside under a tarp since then. Rushed out to his place to buy/ checked it out. No visible cracks and most parts accounted for. Honestly there wasn't much to do, because after my call the guy got 6 other calls in 30 minutes and one fella offered him double the asking price. I pretty much was like. "Yep it's a Uni. Here's your dough." I gave him his 50 bucks he was asking and then he and I plus his two kids and his wife hoisted it up into my pickup. It was a riot! Home safe Rope was just for show. This thing wasn't going anywhere! A wee bit rusty With sawdust from 1952, or there abouts, included! I've never worked with a tool this heavy, I was flabbergasted! Unisaw extraction team. FIL, BIL, Me! I plan on a full restore. I'm in no rush to get it done. ...