One Down Finally

I'm tellin' ya, I have more little projects than Carter has little liver pills.


Because I quit the drinking I'm not sitting in a bar throwing money and time away anymore so I justify it that way.
Something to keep me busy.


After 3 days of fucking around, I finally got one of them done to the point that I can find a spot for it and set it aside for now.

The little vintage Atlas table saw.

When I went and picked it up from my buddy, he told me that he had looked around on the internet trying to find out what year it was made and he said the closest he could figure was about 1943.

I did the same and came up with the same results.
The thing that pretty much pinpoints that year are the style of hand wheels for the adjustments.
All the other years had actual wheels, except that one.

I posted about the wiring disaster someone had cobbled together the other day but here is a refresher picture. This after I unwrapped half a roll of nasty old black electrical tape.

A few bucks later for materials and flunking Electrical 101 twice, I finally got the thing wired up and working.

I had it wired and working yesterday but it came on as soon as you plugged it in even though I had run new wires to the switch.
This caused me to second guess my electrical skills and I wound up tearing the wiring back out of it.

First mistake.
I dicked around with it and then got the wires all mixed up.
Second mistake.
I finally put it back to where it would run again when I plugged it in. Then I unplugged it and took the switch out to test it.
Bingo.

That little toggle switch to the right.

The contacts inside stayed closed even though you could hear and feel it clicking when you flipped it up and down.

I don't know why I find this hard to believe because I am such a pack rat but I actually found a brand new, exact duplicate, toggle switch in my electrical parts drawers. After I wired it and and did some continuity tests I put it all back together and plugged it in again.
This time it didn't come on by its self but did when I flipped the switch.

That worked for me.
I think it may have a bad bearing on the shaft for the blade, it has a bad spot in it at one certain point and wants to bind a bit but that is something for another day down the road.
It works. I even got all the features cleaned up, lubed and in working condition, including the table tilt.The very first thing I did was to free up the miter gauge guide that was rusted into the channel. It slides nice and smooth now.

That motor is as heavy as the cast iron saw assembly and it wants to tilt backwards because of it.

Some day I will get a newer motor and get a stand to bolt the thing to but as of right now, it works and it would cut wood if I needed to.
It's actually a pretty cool little saw and we all know that they used to build stuff to last.

That's why I like old machinery in the first place.

If it's heavy then it's worth having.
There isn't one single piece of plastic on the whole thing except the wire nuts I bought for the motor and the plug for the outlet has some, even it has a metal shield around the outside for grounding.
I'll finish getting it cleaned up some and replace that bearing if it turns out to be bad. After that and a newer motor, the thing should be good to go for another 75 years.