I have created this small gallery of photos and notes to provide more information about my table saw restoration project. Hopefully, this will answer questions raised by watching the YouTube videos or by seeing the photo of the completed saw on my PROJECTS page.
I found the saw in an old barn that hadn’t been used in years. If you would like, you can check out my first Craftsman Table Saw Restoration post to get the back story.
Table of Contents:
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Overview
The project started with a very rusty and bug-infested table saw. The saw was a haven for spiders, wasps, and some kind of creepy larva.
I really liked the heavy cast iron top of this saw. It felt really solid.
I did a fair amount of research on it. The model number is 103.20002 and searching that number on google yields some good information.
Interestingly, I did learn that these saws are not rare and not terribly expensive, so I decided to use it as my first restoration project. I knew that I was going to make mistakes along the way and this saw turned out to be the perfect item to learn with.
The saw came with a ¾ horse power electric Craftsman motor. The motor was in good condition, ran well and the bearings were in great shape.
I don’t know if this is the original motor. My guess is it’s a replacement. I’ll run it through its paces and may upgrade if it doesn’t make the cut. (horrible pun)
Disassembly
The first step in the restoration was disassembly. The saw was easily taken apart and the overall project naturally divided into four smaller lines of effort, the table saw body assembly, the blade assembly, the cast iron top, and the table saw stand.
I’m really glad that I filmed this entire project, especially the blade assembly. Being able to reference back to the footage helped me immensely when it came time to reassemble the pieces.
Rust Removal
I used a variety of techniques to restore the parts of the saw, not because they were necessarily the best methods, but mostly because they were methods I was curious about and wanted to learn how to do.
I didn’t merely want to restore the saw for its use in woodworking. It was also about the experience of learning how to fix up an old tool.
Here are the methods I experimented with in this project:
- Good old fashioned elbow grease
- Electrolysis
- Evapo-Rust
- Rust Converter
Good Old Fashioned Elbow Grease
Before I used any of the fancy and fun procedures, I used good old fashioned elbow grease to prep the surfaces. I think this goes without explaining and lacks any real mystery. I did a lot of cleaning, grinding with a wire-wheel, sanding, and later on buffing.
Electrolysis
On the cast iron top I used electrolysis. It sounds by far the most complicated method to remove rust, but in practice it was quite simple. The only two things I didn’t have in the garage to do it was washing soda (sodium carbonate) and a battery charger. Both can be purchased on Amazon.
I ended up going with Arm & Hammer washing soda and a charger made by Schumacher.
Procedure
Electrolysis works by sending an electric current from a battery charger to a piece of metal which acts as an anode rod and to the part that needs rust removal through a solution of water and sodium carbonate.
Again, the process sounds complicated, but easy to use effectively. I’m personally still experimenting, learning about the process, and am looking forward to trying it on a few old rusty ax heads I found last summer.
Red Clamp: to Anode rod – Black Clamp: to Cast-iron top
This photo is after a day or so of running the battery charger at 2 amps. Some sources suggest using higher amp settings while others insist on using a lower setting such as two amps. The process seemed to work well on 2 amps.
In the future I’m going experiment with higher settings and see if one method is more effective than the other.
Here is the basic procedure:
- Prepare a solution of water and sodium carbonate. I used a ratio of around ½ cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda to one gallon of water.
- Suspend the item you want to be cleaned in a solution of water and sodium carbonate.
- Connect the black lead of the charger to this part either directly or wired connection.
- Place several sacrificial pieces of metal around and not touching the part. Note: never use anything that is chromed. It will release noxious gases. (In my case, I use some left over iron weights from an old window demo. They aided window operation through ropes and pulleys.)
- Wire these together and connect them to the red lead of the battery charger.
- Power up the charger and wait.
If you want to try it, do your due diligence and research. Learn first before you attempt it. My description is for basic understanding of the process not how to do it.
Evapo-Rust
I used a product new to me to remove the rust from all the small parts in the project. Nuts, bolts, and pretty much anything that had rust and was small enough went into the container.
Verdict
This stuff kicked ass! It worked as advertised, wasn’t at all toxic, and I get to use it again. I was very pleased with Evapo-Rust.
From their website: “Evapo-Rust® is a non-toxic rust remover dip for restoring rusty treasures. With Evapo-Rust® you can remove rust to bare metal without sanding or scrubbing. Evapo-Rust® Super Safe Rust Remover is the best rust remover in America and is safe, simple, and easy to use.”
Rust Converter
I knew the bottom of the cast iron top was going to be a major area for rust. It was untreated cast iron and it took a long time to remove with a wire wheel and electrolysis.
For this I chose a rust converter which I liberally painted on the under surface. It left an attractive black finish. I also used it on the table saw body.
The product I used is called GEMPLER’S Rust Converter. It is an all in one rust converter and primer and is available in an aerosol can as well as in one quart/one gallon containers.
The base coat is as smooth as your applicator. I brushed mine on and found that I needed to wet sand after before painting.
It purports to be able to chemically convert rust into an inert, black protective barrier. Based on my experience with the product it is working as advertised. Time will ultimately tell.
Painting
I painted the table insert, body, and stand with red Rustoleum paint in rattle cans. It wasn’t a fancy process and I made several mistakes.
Mistake 1:
I didn’t prep the primer surface after painting on the rust converter.
I used a coarse brush when I painted on GEMPLER’S rust converter. Part of my mind was thinking I was applying a hammered paint and that the brush marks wouldn’t be visible. The other part of my mind was excited to finish the project.
Mistake 2:
My second mistake was a gift.
My first coat of paint was an antique bronze color. After it dried I immediately disliked the color. Honestly, it looked too much like the original saw (too old) and I that’s when I noticed the brush strokes from the base coat.
After waiting for the paint to cure, I sanded the body once again and prepped for a different color.
I decided to paint the body the same color as the stand and table insert. The results speak for themselves.
Assembly
Putting it all back together happened in reverse order starting with the blade assembly.
Before using Evapo-Rust
After Evapo-Rust and a little elbow grease
After putting everything back together, I coated the entire assembly with a heavy duty metal protectant. It went on a dark orange but when dry the assembly was just a little darker. It may not be as shiny as new, but hopefully it won’t rust any time soon.
Next should have been to bolt the assembly to the table top followed by bolting the body to the top.
I reversed the order and realized too late that installing the blade assembly, after the body is already bolted to the top, is a bit more tedious.
Once assembled, I bolted the newly restored saw to the stand.
The Stand
I actually didn’t cover any of the stand’s restoration in the YouTube videos because at the time I thought it too boring and simple to show.
To be clear, I didn’t give the stand any special attention. My intent was to just give it a quick makeover so that the real star could shine in comparison. Except for burning the old wooden top, and removing the electric switch and plug, I didn’t take the stand apart.
Using a 4” grinder with a wire wheel I removed all of the paint and surface rust. Finally, I gave the metal several coats of two-in-one primer and paint Rustoleum red. The same color that I painted the body of the table saw.
When I originally took the saw apart there was quite a bit of old saw dust which had collected underneath the it. So, I mounted two six inch wide pine boards on top lengthwise. I then, mounted the table saw body to the rails.
Finally, I treated the pine with a couple of coats of linseed oil.
Finished
Here’s the finished project!
I learned quite a bit working through this process and I’m really happy with the results. Don’t forget to check out the videos of the restoration on YouTube.
Thanks for reading!
