Great "new" saw

Woohoo!

I just got home yesterday with my "new" Rockwell Contractors saw. Built in the late 70's its the precursor to the Delta Contractors saw.

I'm planning on putting the T2 fence that I bought for a steal on it. However the default fence is intriguing as it has a micro-adjust feature.

The saw came with a stand which is on wheels and has a cam based foot pedal to raise and lower the wheels.

No discernible play in the bearings. I didn't whip out the dial indicator, but the noise is low and I couldn't feel any wiggle. Now I just need to figure out which pulleys I need to get machined pulleys and a link belt.

A great upgrade from my smaller saw.

Reply to
Marc Britten
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Before you get too far along, run the saw for a bit to warm everything up. Then look for some play in the bearing.

Nice catch, my BIL has one like yours.

Reply to
Rick Samuel

Thanks for the advise. It's still in my truck bed right now. Hopefully my friend has time today to help me unload it. Me and the original owner had fun getting it loaded.

The wings are only steel but the bolt holes seem compatible so I'll probably get some cast iron eventually.

The nice thing is the main table has no rust and looks to be fairly close to dead flat.

Reply to
Marc Britten

I let the saw run for about 20 minutes then made a series of cuts. No wiggle in the arbor that I can physically detect. So I went about getting it fully setup.

I then put on the T2 fence and spent some time getting that lined up and tweaked in. From what my dial indicator tells me the blade is pretty close to perfectly aligned.

Made some more cuts (this is all just 2x4 stud grade wood) and got the fence dialed in.

The belt that was on the saw appears to be the original (says Rockwell right on it). I gave into temptation at Woodcraft today while picking up a dust collector hood for it and bought the Contractors Saw Performance Pack. WOW what a difference, its hard to say how much of a difference given the horrible shape of the belt it replaced but it's nice. I didn't have any nickels on me but loose change on the stamped steel wings doesn't wiggle around and try to escape.

Gotta love craigslist and an obsessive compulsive need to check it when hunting for a particular tool. I had to drive a fair distance to get to it, but it looks like it was all worth it.

Reply to
Marc Britten

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