New table saw

[CarolinaRoots]

Picked up a new to me table saw over the weekend from a family who’s woodworker couldn’t use it anymore. It’s a 1992 Northstate MBS-250 3hp. The only thing I have done is reconditioned the cast iron top and cleaned all the internals. The original owner had every accessory that came with the saw when he bought it new including the manual! Lol I don’t think I still have that for my Sawstop. I didn’t really need another table saw but it was a steal and I think I’ll just keep a dado stack in it. Probably change out the fence for a biesemeyer and then bump the two saws back to back for out feed support. I didn’t think it was a bad buy for $300.00.

 

[ssmith]

Great find (and nice saw), especially for $300.

 

[tvrgeek]

Test it. I doubt a fence change would actuallybe an improvement. That one looks pretty stout.
Left for DADO, then the lack of a riving knife is not a problem. A real "steal!"

 

[Oka]

Nice Grab ! congrats !

 

[HITCH-]

Nice find indeed

 

[CarolinaRoots]

Test it. I doubt a fence change would actuallybe an improvement. That one looks pretty stout.
Left for DADO, then the lack of a riving knife is not a problem. A real "steal!"

Scott,
you are correct the current fence is good and works correctly. The issue for my application is that it clamps the front and back rails to lock. The two issues I have are
1) the fence tends to move slightly when locking.
2) I want a small table between the two table saws to bridge the gap. With this saw fence needing the back rail to clamp down on I cant do that.

Short term I think it will be fine while I keep an eye out for a used fence to come up for sale, or might just buy the 3x3 L angle and 2x3 tube and make my own....not sure. I like the idea of the Super Cool Fence 80/20 for attaching accessories.

The riving knife is a concern, I might see if shark guard has something that might work for the off chance I want to use it for something other than a dado stack. I'm not super familiar with the little plastic splitters ive seen on the internet that push down into small holes on a throatplate...i wanna say mircojig makes them?

Brett

 

[waitup]

How did you clean up the top? Been doing a little digging on how to do that on my saw. It's not bad, but has a few dark streaks that annoy me.

 

[CarolinaRoots]

How did you clean up the top? Been doing a little digging on how to do that on my saw. It's not bad, but has a few dark streaks that annoy me.

Matt,

I watched several videos online, I think it really depends on how bad the top is. I tried a scotch bright pad first but it didnt really do much.

For my case i did the following

1. Sprayed the surface with WD40 and ran a razor blade over the surface to get any surface stuff loose then wiped it off with paper towel.
2. Sanded with 180grit on my orbital sander
3. Sanded with 220grit on my orbital sander
4. Sanded with 400 grit in straight lines by hand
5. Used a metal polish on a foam applicator pad in my drill
6. Applied paste wax and buffed off to protect it

its not perfect, it still has scratches in some areas, but it looks great for a 30 year old saw that was rather neglected. I think the previous owner was using it as his assembly table as it has stain and glue all over it. The whole process took about 3 hours. I'm sure if you took your time and changed sanding disk often, jumped grits correctly up to 1000 grit and then polished with a wool bonnet you could get something close to what it looked like off the mill.

hope that helps
Brett

 

[waitup]

Thanks for the info. I thought about sanding but was a little scared of screwing it up. I guess that is harder to do than I think it is. My saw is a 3hp Jet from the late 90's, but I definitely wouldn't say it was neglected.

 

[CarolinaRoots]

Thanks for the info. I thought about sanding but was a little scared of screwing it up. I guess that is harder to do than I think it is. My saw is a 3hp Jet from the late 90's, but I definitely wouldn't say it was neglected.

No problem, I didn't use a lot of downward pressure and didn't stay in one spot long, like buffing a car really. I don't think with a normal orbital palm sander your gonna be removing much of the cast iron to cause any issues. Good Luck!

 

[ssmith]

Rust eraser works well on any metal surface. I've used them on jointer and table saw beds.

 

[Craptastic]

Another vote for Rust Eraser. I just used it this weekend on a 1970's Jet jointer that looked like it had been neglected for more than a couple of years. I do agree with using WD40 and a razor blade as the first step though. Get the gunk off that's not rust first. Then Rust eraser and a scotchbrite pad, wipe down with old rags real well, then some surface protectant like paste wax.

 

[HITCH-]

Never heard of the rust erasers before... Pretty cool.
I am leary of putting any chemicals on tools that could foul up the finish on a project later.

 

[mdbuntyn]

Not sure why Garret Wade isn't using the actual product name. Klingspor Sandflex blocks:

Sandfless Cleaning & Polishing Blocks

Klingspor's Woodworking Shop is full line distributor of woodworking tools and supplies from respected companies like Klingspor Abrasives.

www.woodworkingshop.com

 

[Howie]

Scott,
you are correct the current fence is good and works correctly. The issue for my application is that it clamps the front and back rails to lock. The two issues I have are
1) the fence tends to move slightly when locking.
2) I want a small table between the two table saws to bridge the gap. With this saw fence needing the back rail to clamp down on I cant do that.

Short term I think it will be fine while I keep an eye out for a used fence to come up for sale, or might just buy the 3x3 L angle and 2x3 tube and make my own....not sure. I like the idea of the Super Cool Fence 80/20 for attaching accessories.

The riving knife is a concern, I might see if shark guard has something that might work for the off chance I want to use it for something other than a dado stack. I'm not super familiar with the little plastic splitters ive seen on the internet that push down into small holes on a throatplate...i wanna say mircojig makes them?

Brett

Be patient, took me a year to come across an unmounted ORIGINAL Biesemeyer fence for $200..

 

[tvrgeek]

Scott,
you are correct the current fence is good and works correctly. The issue for my application is that it clamps the front and back rails to lock. The two issues I have are
1) the fence tends to move slightly when locking.
2) I want a small table between the two table saws to bridge the gap. With this saw fence needing the back rail to clamp down on I cant do that.

Short term I think it will be fine while I keep an eye out for a used fence to come up for sale, or might just buy the 3x3 L angle and 2x3 tube and make my own....not sure. I like the idea of the Super Cool Fence 80/20 for attaching accessories.

The riving knife is a concern, I might see if shark guard has something that might work for the off chance I want to use it for something other than a dado stack. I'm not super familiar with the little plastic splitters ive seen on the internet that push down into small holes on a throatplate...i wanna say mircojig makes them?

Brett

I did not have much luck with the micro jig splitters. I did better my making several inserts with a fixed splitter, one for deep cuts and another for cuts less than an inch. That way the splitte was always pretty close to the blade. My scares ( Ridgid) were a thin piece that went under the rear mounted splitter and another that went before reaching it. Too close for me, so I bought my Harvey. I have an "orange" set of micro-jigs you are welcom to if you are not too far away. Don't know where you are located. Make it to a lunch?

 

[woodworkingshop.com]

Hi all,

Yes the Rust Eraser is the Sandflex blocks from Klingspor. They work fantastic on tablesaw tops. Set of Three Sandflex Abraser Blocks

By the way, for $300 this was a great find. Congrats.

Coleman

 

[Dave Nichols]

We just picked one up this past weekend, very similar only manufactured in 1999. Would love to borrow the owners manual to make a copy.

 

[CarolinaRoots]

We just picked one up this past weekend, very similar only manufactured in 1999. Would love to borrow the owners manual to make a copy.

Here it is in a digital version you can print

https://www.gregmach.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Tilting-Arbor-Saw-MBS-250.pdf

 

[Howie]

Picked up a new to me table saw over the weekend from a family who’s woodworker couldn’t use it anymore. It’s a 1992 Northstate MBS-250 3hp. The only thing I have done is reconditioned the cast iron top and cleaned all the internals. The original owner had every accessory that came with the saw when he bought it new including the manual! Lol I don’t think I still have that for my Sawstop. I didn’t really need another table saw but it was a steal and I think I’ll just keep a dado stack in it. Probably change out the fence for a biesemeyer and then bump the two saws back to back for out feed support. I didn’t think it was a bad buy for $300.00.

link for used Biesemeyer

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