How To Clean Trunions On A Powermatic 66

Powermatic 66 Overhaul Handle Gear up Blade Alignment Result
	The Powermatic 66 is the central focus of the shop. It has a shop built outfeed and downdraft tabular array fastened to the rear of the unit. Dust collection and storage have been built into the area to the right side of the saw nether the extension tabular array. This table has been in service for 12 years without an overhaul. The bract elevation and blade angle aligning mechanisms had gottem very difficult to use. It was time for an overhaul and tune-upwards.
Phase 1 was to clean and lubricate the bottom section of the P66. Nosotros had read an excellent article on this phase of Tablesaw Melody-Up in a Fine Woodworking publication...
In particular, the best tip from the article was to employ a LPS F104° solvent degreaser
and the LPS Strength 842° Dry out Moly Lubricant.
First nosotros pulled abroad the outfeed and downdraft table/chiffonier assembly.
And so pulled the front and back runway to remove the fence assembly bar.
After separating the right cabinet assembly and extension table, we pulled the cast iron side table.
With both side table removed we were ready to take off the main table.
This exposed the heavy build upwards of onetime paint, resins, saw grit etc. that was causing our bug.
We began a methodical clean upwardly that involved multiple vacuum passes.
This procedure really paid some huge dividends.
We used the Festool C22 grit drove with the Oneida Grit Deputy cyclonic addon. We added Stinger miniature dust collection attachments that really got into small places with incredible suction.
We suddenly got to the point where nosotros realized that we had cleaned all the places that the overhaul instructions had said to clean...all that was left were places where they said to spray in a penetrating lubricant. We said what the hell and decided to cantankerous the Rubicon...nosotros opted to pull everything autonomously...we would totally pause down everything in the unit except the sealed bearing for the saw blade spindle. So we started by removing the motor. It is a powerful and heavy Baldor unit of measurement.
Adjacent came the trunion assembly.
At present we were pretty much downward to the cabinet shell.
It was a magnificent day...we pulled the internal assemblies outside and so nosotros could used compressed air and wire wheels for the final make clean up stage without getting dust in the air in the shop.
Here are the rear and front trunnion pieces. Wire cycle cleanup got them quite clean.
Hear are the trunnions with the LPS spray on them. We actually liked this quick dry lube.
We were able to detach and really clean the worm drive raising shaft and tilting shaft. The biggest mystery of the overhaul was that the 2 shafts each had a Woodruff key that seemed to serve no purpose at all. Bobby at Powermatic solved the issue by informing me that the end of the lock downwardly knob pushes one edge of the Woodruff key up and it locks down on the shaft.
The hardest pace in the entire process was breaking down the nut on the pivot shaft. This was a "self-locking" nut that was i 5/8 inches. We had to dig out my 3/4 inch drive SAE socket set and apply the BFH gentle persuader to pound the unit of measurement for a bit.
It finally came off and at present we had disassembled everything that could be pulled apart. Afterwards a major cleaning and thorough lube job we started putting it all back together.
Here is the trunnion unit of measurement dorsum in with all turning wheels reinstalled. Both the bract height system and the blade bending organization move smoother than they did the mean solar day I bought the unit. This is a major improvement.
This ends Phase One. The lower unit of measurement is overhauled. The last tweak before reinstalling the top was put Lock Tite on the large bolt that secures the pivot shaft assembly.
The first step of Phase Two was to refinish the cast iron table. We started with a wire wheel to remove bad spots or rust.
Then we moved throught varying grits upwards to 400 on variable orbit sanders. And so some manual piece of work with wet sanding upwards to 2000 grit to actually get the center section smooth.
Every nut and bolt was wire wheeled and coated with camelia oil.
Once the tabular array top was waxed nosotros placed the unit dorsum on the saw. Then nosotros began the tweak to make the surface level and foursquare to the saw arbor.
We employ the A-Line-It® guage in the mitre groove to go blade run measurement to make the table peak square. We used a MasterPlate® rather than a blade to make sure there was a minimum of deflection. After many a tap with the expressionless blow hammer we finally got a runout that was inside .001 inch.
Measuring runout at a 45° setting enabled u.s. to determine the front to dorsum leveling of the tabletop. Nosotros again reached a tolerance of .001 inch.
Blade bending at 90° was achieved and the calibration was calibrated. We decided to non "finish" the device at 90°.The aligning will actually carry the arbor to a greater degree. Rather than counting on the accurateness of the cease, we will calibrate it precisely when starting a new serial of cuts.
Verification or 45° runout to a bract.
Terminal verification of 90° runout to blade. The gauge used hither is the Betterly Una-Judge®.
Placing and leveling of the ii cast fe wings was equally difficult as any aligning. The act of the final bolt tightening ever changed the level of the wing. After many an effort nosotros finally got happy with the entire surface. Nosotros replaced the forepart and dorsum rails for the fence assembly.
The original 2000 install of the extension tabular array had been frustrating because the holes in the table had not matched upwardly well with the holes in the forepart and rear rail assemblies. We decided to make this right and so we drilled a proper set of holes and replaced all of the hardware. Afterward the fence was reinstalled we calibrated and adjusted the debate runout.
The overhaul is consummate. All is clean, lubed, calibrated and adjusted within fairly close margins. Nigh experts said that fault of .002 inches was acceptable and we met .001 in every case. The biggest problem now is adjusting to how easy it is to move the trunnion system. I have not had to set the locking features on the elevation or angle shafts for years considering they were and so hard to move. At present that the motion is and so facile, the torque of the motor start up will alter the adjustments. Then I am having to retrain myself to get information technology right and lock it down.
Handle Fix
Locking the table became more than and more than difficult because the locking handle on the wheels became stripped...to fix I took the shaft and ground off the threads,
...added a flat spot and reinserted the three/32 hex to grab the flat.

Blade Alignment Issue
While working on a project, I tilted the P66 blade to 45°...when I returned to blade to ninety° I prepared to put the zero clearance insert back over the Tenryu blade. Information technology would non fit downwardly over the bract...the blade appeared to have moved toward the arbor about a half of a kerf....this is a thin blade, .111inch. In this prototype the insert is over the blade and yous can see that it is touching the left side of the table insert cutout.
My first idea was that the insert had warped? but it is phenolic...quite doubtful...since I needed to use the crosscut sled anyway...I put it on the saw and tried to raise the blade...it was off in the same manner.
I put in the OEM P66 insert...it has a very wide gap...blade was clearly moved to left rather than in the center...
Later verifying that the bract was properly parallel to shaft...and wracking my brain for possible solutions...the merely thing that I could call up of was that while tilted to the left, the weight of the Baldor motor, trunnion assembly, etc. had somehow moved the arbor shaft. This view is from the rear of the P66...this shows the housing in the cast iron which has a hex head prepare screw that holds the arbor shaft in place...
The set screw was non loose, merely it was not "close down tight"...it was possible that this screw had vibrated loose enough to permit motion... moving the shaft out did not seem possible...in an attempt to decide how much to the right the blade would have to be I gathered upwards all of the shims from a Freud dado fix and placed them on the v/eight inch shaft...it was about correct...concluded up being nigh .0550 inch
My first thought was to secure set of bract stabilizers to see if the start would exist bearable. The thinnest I could find were three/32 or .098 inch...the pair are made past Amana...STF-four with 4 inch diameter x 5/eight inch bore.
I think that this will be too much spacing between the inside collar and the bract...it will make the blade exist likewise far to the right...but I will give it a try.
As a exam, I took a three/32 setup cake...
...and taped it to the shaft neckband...the test was an approximation at all-time and the fit showed that it might be close on the right edge of the slot in the cross cut sled.

Because I really needed the P66 upward and running and I actually wanted to work with the crosscut sled...I decided to attempt to motility the shaft from the motor housing surface area...I pulled the motor cover and found easy access to the end of the arbor shaft.
I brought out the correct tools...a long, heavy wooden chunk of yellowish pine...some gloves and a "gentle persuader"...a lump hammer.
Later on loosening the arbor shaft spiral, I put a subdued but firm whap on the shaft and felt a nice nudge. Two lighter ones and it seemed virtually right...
Dorsum in position...the Tenryu zilch clearance is the exam...
Even more important...the location in the kerf of the cantankerous cut sled is expressionless on...tightened the lock spiral on the arbor shaft.