Craftsman 10" 3HP Tabe Saw

You may want to take a flashlight and look into the set screw hole and make sure there isn’t another set screw inside, sometimes there are. A set of machined pulleys can be bought at Inline Industries I highly recommend that you replace the old V-belt with the link belt that they sell. I doubt that the switch will work without the key. If someday your looking to buy a good fence, Lowes has the Delta T2 for about $150

I have never use this saw but here is a web site that may help you:

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/getModel!retrieve.pd?modelNumber=113.298762

Woodchuck1957 -

Thanks for the info – especially the link for the pulleys!!

I will take a look at the set screw again, but it came out easily. I’m beginning to thing the pulley is jamed on the woodruff key.

As for the switch, any thoughts on a substitute key till I can get one ordered in? I’m just wanting to make sure the saw works. I don’t plan on using it till I get a replacement key. It looks like nothing more than one of those safety shields you put in a light socket. Our local Sears Parts store moved and I’m not sure where it went to, so if I can find it I’m going to see if they might have one at their location.

For reference, here’s a site that details bearing replacement on a saw that’s probably similar to yours:
Bearing replacement

I am currently working on an 8” Craftsman that had a stubborn pulley, also. A bearing puller got it off, but the pulley was damaged enough that I will replace it. It bent the side of the belt trough enough that it would pinch the belt if I put it back in service.

On my 10” saw I replaced the original fence with a Ridgid AC1036 fence. These are made specifically for your model (and similar) Craftsman table saws and is a perfect fit. Highly recommended! You can see pictures under my projects. If you can live with the old fence (truth be told, my original fence wasn’t all that bad), you can find them for sale on Ebay all the time.

The switch most likely will not work withotu that key. It was made specifically to allow locking out the power switch.

Good luck!

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

lew -

go figure…the Sears Parts Direct I’ve been using is down for maintenance. I wonder how many of these there are?

Just tried the link and it worked? If you are using IE, try holding down the control key when clicking the link. You may have an old temp file cached.

If the guy you got the saw from doesn’t have the key, maybe a local sears store would have them on hand. I bought a paddle type switch from Woodtek to replace the tiny toggle switch I had on my Delta saw. I’m pretty happy with it.

Okay – update….

The yellow ‘key’ is typically carried as an ‘in-stock’ item at the larger Sears Craftsman departments. Our local Sears has one of the largest Craftsman departments I’ve ever seen. I also found out where the Sears parts store has moved to in my area. So, the key should not be hard to replace – just pricey for a piece of plastic.

The good news is that the motor works!!!! I went out side to take a look at the switch housing and it dawned on me that the motor plugs into the switch. So, I plugged the motor into a surge protector and then turned it on. It sounded great!!!

As for the rip fence… If the guy who gave it to me doesn’t have the fence I will probably get one off eBay until I can afford a better one (I’m currently out of work).

EEngineer – thanks for that link! This will help. To be honest, now that I think about it, I do not remember seeing the two retainer rings, or washer that go on the outside part of the shaft (facing the pulley), but the one on the housing side is there but was not in the grove.

So, things are looking really good for this saw!

All the Sears that I have been to seem to sell replacement “keys”. I think that they come in a 2 pack. I have a Craftsman Contractor that I got from Greg3G, and before he sold it to me, he installed a new pulley/ Link belt set and I have had minimal vibration.

-- Adrian ..... The 11th Commandment...."Thou Shalt Not Buy A Wobble Dado"

lew – here is the one I had bookmarked: http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/outOfService.action

As for IE – I switched over to FireFox about three weeks ago.

Woodchuck1957 – I do like the idea of the bigger switch so that’s on the list of upgrades. I like the idea of being able to turn it off with my knee. I’ve also thought about one of those foot off/on switches.

You all have no idea how excited I am at getting this saw!

About 6 months ago I got a B&D Firestorm 10” 15-Amp table saw w/stand because it was all I could afford and I was tired of borrowing my dads table saw (I’m in the middle of restoring a house). The current saw isn’t a bad one, in fact it has worked great, but the top slots are not standard so the track kits do not fit and the insert assembly is a rectangular size so it’s next to impossible to make a 0 clearance insert.

This table saw is going to greatly increase my woodworking possibilities, especially since I need to build cabinets!

This one will take you directly to your saw:

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/getModel!retrieve.pd?modelNumber=113.298762

lew -

Much appreciated! It turns out my parents are shopping in the same strip mall that the Sears Parts store is located in. He is going to pop in and see if they have it. If not, I’ll just go to Sears on Tuesday.

Thanks again for the help.

Yellow Key up-date.

Dad just called me. He was able to pick up a pack of the keys and yes, there are two in a pack.

WOOWHOO!!!!!

Hi LGrey,

I hope you get the saw working ok, but please don’t forget that the whole thing will need a proper set-up, before you use it, to get the safest and best use out of the saw.

Blade MUST be parallel with the mitre-guide channel and the rip fence MUST be parallel with the guide-channel.

It’s easy to adjust the saw to attain this, but difficult to explain in words on a forum. I believe it’s covered in Kelly Mehler’s book on the circular saw though.

If I am teaching you to suck eggs, my apologies! Enjoy that saw!

Regards

John

-- Working fast helps you to arrive at your mistakes in spectacular fashion. (Me 2009!)

Heya John -

Any bit of info I can learn is welcomed. What is this book you are talking about?

I have thought about completely taking the saw apart and reassembling it per the manual. I figure this would be a good way to make sure all the parts are really there, it would allow me to get to know the saw better, and it would allow me to clean it better.

I did notice that the manual has a detailed section on blade set-up and general set-up. I’m going to pay a lot of attention to this section.

I am really getting pumped about this whole thing!

No need to buy a book:
Here's a series on you tube#

There are many sources if you Google for it. I never had the manual for my saw but the sources I found on the web made it clear enough.

I think you’ll find the new saw is a BIG step up from the Firestorm you have been using. I have an older model of the same Emerson-built saw and I simply love it. It is really all the saw I’ll ever need. Properly adjusted, cleaned and, in your case, assembled correctly, these saws perform very well.

How about some pictures? I love watching old arn being restored!

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

EXCELLENT!!!!

Tell you what EEngineer…I’ll get you some pics tomorrow. It’s cold and late right now and I’m warn and snug in the house.

Hi,

I am also working on a Craftsman 113 saw; 113.299040 to be exact. I doubt it’s much different from yours. My fence was bent, so that has been my primary struggle, deciding what to do about that. You could get an exact replacement fence off of ebay. Specific search terms would net you one of those. I found thru searching that this fence was never highly rated. Mine didn’t even give rip capacity to the left of the blade, so I wasn’t too sorry for the loss. I can’t order the fence from searspartsdirect.com either.

Eliminating this option I moved on to the fences made by Craftsman and Ridgid that were supposedly simple bolt-on replacements. Sears no longer sells an aftermarket fence (they used to sell the Align-a-rip). Ridgid no longer sells the AC1036 (I would presume the direct replacement for the align-a-rip).

Since these were not options I then considered 3rd party aftermarket fences. The cheapest aftermarket fence is the Delta T^2 fence. It is $150 at Lowe’s and gets good reviews. The problem with this unit though is that it presumes a thicker table top than I (and presumably you) have. This makes mounting somewhat difficult and also means drilling holes in your table top.

Moving on, other aftermarket fences (google searches helped here) were more plentiful. Most were available on amazon, or at least had the way pointed to them on amazon. Here’s a few I at least pondered getting (large budgetary range here, in order of least expensive to most expensive):
Mule Accusquare, Shop Fox Aluma-Classic, Shop Fox Classic, Vega Pro 40, HTC, Biesemeyer 30”, Delta Unifence 30”, Incra, Jointech

Each of these had strengths and weaknesses and at least one review on the Internet. Most are based on the Biesemeyer paradigm: a t-square design with a wide plate on the front that pushes against a tube/rail assembly to bring the whole thing square (back of the fence has no mechanical attachment; it “floats”). Best bang for the buck I found to be in the Mule Accusquare (40” version: $179 from mulecab.com) or the Vega Pro 40 ($280 from amazon). I didn’t think there was a $100 worth of extra quality in the Vega, and I liked the idea of ease of accessories in the t-slots on the Accusquare, so I went with it. It’s pretty nice and definitely is not “putting lipstick on a pig” like maybe the Biesemeyer or Incra would have been. My wife still thinks it was silly to put a $179 fence on a an $85 saw, but I got it for Christmas, so she didn’t mind too much.

Sorry for the long windedness, I just noticed some other persons providing insight on the fence issue and figured I could relay my quest, since you might be in the same boat.

Jon

Jon -

You have given me a lot to consider. Thank you.

I too am in the process of rebuilding / upgrading a Craftsman saw also. I was able to get some machined pulleys in town and have added a T2 fence ( easy to install just had to drill some holes in the side of the table and wings). I built a rolling base and will support the wings off that. There’s lots of info on the net about upgrading these saws. I got mine along with a Delta drum sander and a Shopsmith Mark 5 lathe for 150.00 so I thought it was a good buy will post pics after all mods are done.

Okay – for those interested here are some pics.

It is rough and all I’ve done so far is dust off the top and replace the yellow key. I was going to start working on it last Monday, but it has been too dang cold out there!

I have gotten a potable heater so there’s a chance I’ll start cleaning it up before the week is out.

I wish I could have gotten the heat stove installed before the snow started, but time just ran out.

Let me know if you see something that needs to brought to my attention of if you have any tips/tricks for fixing this saw up.

BTW – here is a link to my house blog so you can see my shop.

Woodshop

Larry

Call me picky, but thats just a cryin shame to see a saw get to be in that kind of condition, especially the chop job in the side of the cabinet. But oh well, it was free and will be a huge improvement over the saw that your useing now if you take your time and do it right. The first thing that comes to my mind is yank the top off of it and have someone blast the rust off the cast iron parts with walnut chips or something that won’t pit and or warp the cast, then clean, mask, and paint. The side of the cabinet I would maybe cover up with a piece of sheet metal riveted on, then maybe bolt a piece of ply to the whole side of the cabinet for a place to hang the blade wrench, push stick, zero clearance inserts, etc.

Heya Woodchuck1957 -

I agree with you…it is a shame. You should see the band saw I got a few months ago (it’s in my blog) it needs some TLC as well.

I was thinking of doing everything you suggested with the exception of the blasting the rust off – I never thought if that. My Father-n-law has a small sand blaster, perhaps I could borrow it. Do you use the walnut chips in a special blaster?

I do plan to re-paint the thing (as well as the band saw) and spruce it up.

As to the chop job….I have often wondered why a hatch wasn’t built into the sides of these things to begin with. Wouldn’t this make it easier to fix/upgrade such things as the pulleys? Anyway, I’m thinking of putting a cover over it that will be removable in case I need to work on the pulley.

I like what you said about the storage. I have a few plans for such things around here. Here are a few examples. The last one is a different layout for the entire saw.

I think the chips can be used in a ordinary blaster, you could probably use black slag too, but you’d have to be careful not to get too aggressive. As far as a door on the side of the saw, I don’t think it’s necessary, if you tilt the abor it’s easy to get to the pulley side.

Visit OWWM.com… you’ll see machines that were a lot worse than this restored to pristine condition.

On the plus side, you have the metal wheels for adjustment instead of the cheap plastic stuff Sears used later, real cast-iron extensions, the table is in better shape than mine was when I got it and the legs you received with it are probably a lot sturdier than the cheap Chinese tool stand I bought at HF (mine came without stand). You can see how mine turned out under my Projects.

I think you got a real prize here, the price was right and, with a little TLC, this will be a decent saw. I love watching old arn get restored.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Nice job on the saw EE, and it’s even an old lefty. I am suprised that you don’t have a link belt on it. As far as the lights barely diming, you had mentioned running a 220V line. You could get the same results if you ran a 20 amp 110V dedicated circuit.

Woodchuck1957 – I’ll talk to my father-n-law about his blaster and see about getting the shells. As for the pully, will it tilt enough to allow a gear puller if necessary? The pulley will not budge a all.

EEngineer – I think your saw looks great! I hope I can do as good a job with this one. I really like the extension table on the right. Also, I guess I need to re-read you post about it, I thought you were the one who used an acid to clean the top. If not, how did you get it to look so good?

I did here back from the guy who gave it too me in regard to the rip fence and miter. He said he though he know where he placed it (said something about a box that might have gone to his son’s house) and would check and get back with me. So, I might get the original fence for now and will upgrade it later.

Regarding your last question about the pully and will it tilt enough. It seems to me that in order to do a first class restoration job, the saw needs to be completely dissaembled – i.e. turn it upside down, remove the trunnion, etc. When this is done removing the pully will be easy.

I had to do this to get my saw properly aligned and it’s not that big a deal. I have a PDF file on how/what I did if you’re interested – let me know. (Some day I’ll get around to posting it on LJ’s)

The following link also has some great information on a TS rebuild.
http://www.tablesawalignment.com

-- Joe

You probably could get a puller in there, but I would turn the saw upside down, remove the cabinet and do as Joe said since your doing a rebuild. One thing I forgot to mention to EE was that covering the back of the saw with a piece of plywood for better dust collection is obsolete, and so are the flat plastic dust hoods that go undernieth the saw. This is my solution. http://woodchuck1957.googlepages.com/home

woodchuck – personally, I think link belts are overrated and overpriced. The prime thing they fight is the belt taking a “set” while the saw sits – i.e. it forms around the pulleys and doesn’t really flatten out when the saw is started again leading to vibration. Any decent quality belt won’t do this. Mine passes the nickel test.

LGrey – yeah, I used phosphoric acid (Rust-B-Gone or something similar, there are lotsa rust removal products whose primary ingredient is phosphoric acid). It is a chemical process that works similarly to the electrolysis process you see on the web to actually convert rust back into iron by removing the oxygen atom bonded to the iron. A lot of people don’t like it because it leaves a grey coating on the iron. I used plastic scratchy pads (Scotch-brite? or similar) on an orbital sander afterwards and that removed most of the grey. The grey coating actually inhibits rust, so I left it on the sides of the table. Look closely at the front edge of the table in my project pictures and you will see it.

I used the phosphoric acid because my table had some pitting. I couldn’t see letting the rust in the bottom of these pits (which normal surface scraping and sanding would leave) continuing to eat at the table. Electrolysis is another option and I might try it on my next piece of old arn.

Steps I used (source: OWWM):
1. scrape with a single-edged razor blade to remove loose scale and rust
2. treat with phosphoric acid (keep it off any paint you want to save – it discolors paint!)
3. rinse thoroughly with water to neutralize acid, dry thoroughly
4. scour by hand or an orbital sander with green scratchy pads (gently with the orbital sander, it will leave swirl marks if you get too aggressive!), WD-40 is optional in this step. I did mine dry. If you use WD-40, clean it afterwards with mineral spirits – you don’t want oil on your wood.
5. Heavy coat of Johnson’s floor wax to inhibit rust. I used regular auto paste wax but made sure it doesn’t have any silicon(e?) in it!

This process left all the original machining marks, removed very little metal (I DON’T like the idea of sanding cast-iron tables, although a lot of OWWMers have done this) and it only took about 1 full weekend to get the table into the shape you see in my pictures.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Joe – Please send me the PDF file.

I’ve been doing more thinking on the situation and think I will dismantle the whole thing. That’s what I was considering to begin with but I’ve never done something like this and am a little afraid of screwing it up.

Thanks for the link BTW.

Woodchuck1957 – SWEET! I had seen this done before but the conection was for a large shop vac. The set up was just like yours but the guy had a foot on/off switch that turned the vac on the same time the saw was turned on.

I like your design better though. I will probably pic your brain about it the closer I get to doing this. There are some aspects I’m just not clear on.

Hmmmm, perhaps I should have mentioned fumes? This process does generate heavy fumes. I did mine outside during the summer. Ventilate! Also, given the nastiness of the fumes, I didn’t want to breathe any of the grey dust that later finishing generated. I wore a simple sanding mask.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Excellent EEngineer!!

I’m not convinced about the new belts either, but then again I’ve never tried them. How do you know if you have a good belt? The guy gave me a brand new belt with this saw as well.

How do you get the rust of the moving parts under the top? Do you use the same stuff you did on the top? My brother soaks moving parts that have rusted in diesel and then cleans them up.

Well now – that does present a sticky wicket…. It won’t be warm around here for outside work until late Feb or early March.

Naw, the bottom of the table and the cast-iron cradle were not bad enough to worry about. It would have entailed completely disassembling the saw and I didn’t feel they were bad enough to justify that. Since the finish on thses is not so critical, I would just use a wire wheel and prime, then paint. Although you did say your father has access to a sand-blaster? That would make short work of these, they are heavy cast-iron and I wouldn’t worry about sand-blasting them. Just stay away from the bearing races and the sliding points for the trunnions!

The others here are right; you may have to disassemble the saw completely to get to your arbor assembly problem and derustify the cradle.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Guess I’ll start taking it a part.

Yup…my father-n-law has the blaster.

LGrey
I sent you a personal message with my email address requesting yours so I can send you the PDF

-- Joe

Hmmm…let me try again. I sent an e-mail to you quite a while ago.

I just re-sent and placed ‘2nd try’ in the body.

Well I like the v-belt not only for the reason of no setting in the belt, but if I ever sell the saw or any other piece of equipment that I have the belt on I can take it off, put the stock belt back on and sell it, then use the link belt on the next saw or what ever I decide to use it on since they are adjustable. I have a few extra links, but if I need more I can buy them locally by the foot. I have the belts on three tablesaws, next is going to be the bandsaw.

There is one place that I like Link-belts. I have an old grinder mandrel with a pulley in the middle of two grinding wheels that the belt needed replacing on. To replace it with a conventional V-belt would have entailed removing the wheels, pressing out the bearings to remove the shaft and then reassembling around the new belt. With a link-belt, all I had to do was cut the old V-belt off and thread the link-belt through and link it up. It reduced vibration in this case, but that may only have been due to the fact that the old belt was in such sad shape.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Hello Everyone -

Just thought I would give you a quick update on the table saw.

I got the pulley off using a gear puller. Came off easily. The bearing, however, was a real %$%#$@ to get off.

I was able to crack the arbor to the point that I could work on the arbor easily through the bottom.

Also, the guy I got the saw from did re-assemble the the bearing assembly wrong. The retaining ring and the woodruff key were missing!

So, the spare parts are on order. The retaining ring arrived yesterday.

I did go ahead and purchase a new bearing. Even though the one I removed looked great, and still functions, I didn’t want to chance damage.

I hope to have the parts on by this week end.

Hi LG, glad to hear your makeing some progress on the saw. jaykerz may be parting out a saw that he fried a motor on, if you need more parts give him a holler and see what model his is, maybe he will have what you need.

Thanks for the heads up!

Iv’e been using that same saw for years and it’s never let me down…if you need any pictures for refrence let me know and I’ll send you whatever you need

-- Stan from St. Paul Mn

Thanks foodog!

I know I’ll be contacting you.

First off let me thank you all for your responses to LGrey. I just bought the same saw from an old framing shop that was going out of business for $50. I cleaned it up and it seemed to be running okay, then the pulley started slipping off the motor. It appears that the set screw was stripped, and would not stay in place. I let my assistant use the saw, after I fixed that problem, and he was cutting some wood too quickly, and toasted the motor. I’ve been trying to find someone locally to either rebuild, or sell me a new motor, but have had no luck. There’s a Grainger, not too far from me, but they said they don’t recommend using their motors on Craftsman saws, because of compatibility issues. Can anyone offer suggestions on searching for a shop to repair, or sell a new motor, (I’m in Thousand Oaks, CA) and what should I expect to pay for either of those options?

Go figure….I just sold one about 2 weeks ago. Ebay is often a good source for parts…I just did a search and found several. Unfortunately, it’ll likely double the cost of the saw but you got it dirt cheap and it’s still well worth it.

I still have the leg stand with dust catcher, and a few other parts if you need anything else.

Hey i got a saw just like that free also! Maybe there is a reason? jk My brother-in-law let’s me use it because he dosen’t have room to set it up. I used a product called “Rust Free” to remove the rust on the top and wings. It took a little scrubbing with a scratch pad to get it cleaned up. I like the saw better than my BT3000.

Just reading through this post because my Craftsman saw just started throwing the pulleys off after a number of yeas of use. Any clues on the cause of throwing pulleys? Also, any thoughts on the value of switching to 220v or just using a dedicated 110v line?

That’s going to be a great saw when its restore! :)

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker