Restoring a neglected BT3000

[John]

Hello all:

I am a member here, but I generally lurk, having posted only once or twice, and long ago at that. I'm generally a Shopsmith junkie, but the SS tablesaw is the weakest part of the Shopsmith system, and I have always liked the BT-3000's unique tablesaw features.

So, yesterday evening on a whim I bought a used BT3000 I had found on Craigslist for only $60. The owner had died last year and his wife and son just wanted it out of the garage. Cursory inspection found that it seemed to work well and be in good shape, but was just dirty and oxided. The saw body came with the rails, the table stand, the fence, the SMT with the short miter fence, the auxiliary table, the clear blade guard, the dust bag, a couple table inserts, a couple blades (one by Forrest), several Ryobi and Allen wrenches, the miter clamp, and the router/jigsaw plate and fence kit. The son even threw in an unused Campbell-Hausfield sandblaster head-and-hose kit, and a few tools, rulers, and miscellaneous items that just happened to be sitting on the saw table or in the dust bin underneath when I got there, just because he liked me. I think I did well!

My first task will be to clean it up, wax it, inspect it thoroughly, and then adjust it. After that I may do some of the modifications I've seen at this site, especially the dust control ones. Besides the dust bag the original owner had merely a shallow plywood box overflowing with sawdust and woodscraps set on the bottom shelf of the Ryobi stand, so there was dust and dirt everywhere. Luckily there was an old shopvac in the garage, which allowed me to clean up the machine as I disassembled it and stowed it all in my compact car. BTW, how many other contractor's saws and their stands would have fit?

Anyway, besides bragging about my deal, I'd really like some advice. In general, how should I proceed at this juncture, and especially, how should I brighten the oxided aluminum table, SMT, and fence surfaces? Sandpaper, steel wool, or some chemical cleaner?

Thanks for your help.


Regards,
John

[siliconbauhaus]

My tops weren't oxidised but they were dull. I used automotive grade wet dry with a 1/4 sheet sander and went at it. Obviously being careful about water and the sander. When it was done I used mothers aluminium wheel polish and it worked great.

You could also try the synthetic scotch pads with a sheet sander or elbow grease.

Best of luck of the clean up, you got a pretty good sounding deal for $60.

[Uncle Cracker]

Ditto the above advice, and I also suggest that you PM "LCHIEN" on this site, and ask him to e-mail you a copy of the excellent BT FAQ that he has compiled. There is a wealth of information in there about the maintenance and adjustment of your BT saw.

[crokett]

After you get the tops clean and want to lubricate/wax everything, don't use any waxes or lubricants that contain silicone. These can and will transfer to projects and wherever silicone gets on them finish won't stick.

[LCHIEN]

IMO the first things to do are to clean and lubricate the elevation screw and everytnig it runs on and make the shims are in position and lubricate them then run it gently up or down and lubricate the newly exposed parts/ways. - I'd use johnson's paste wax for all of the above. Be very careful because the shims will seize and pull out on an unlubricated saw. ABout 30% of BT3000 owners have this problem.

After you get the elevation stuff fixed, then work on the top. The BT3000 has an anodized aluminum top and the tops of the ribs are then machined flat, so the tops of the ribs are raw aluminum. My suggestion here is to gently fine sand the tops if you think they need it and have excess aluminum oxides. Some aluminum oxides are white and crusty and others are black and just rub off. You'll want to sand off the white crusty stuff. The black will rub off on the wood you cut leaving black streaks. The recommendation after sanding off the white crud (if any, usually only when exposed to water) is to clean gently and then coat the top with johnson's paste wax (any pure paste wax, Butchers is OK but no auto waxes), let dry and then wipe off. It'll be a small pain to clean the wax from between the ribs so don't slather it on, I usually just dip a rag into the wax and run down the tops of the ribs.

Lots of info in my FAQ (see the sig line below).

Good luck with your saw, you can have great fun with it.

[John]

More on the neglected BT3000

Hello all:

I thank everybody for the advice already given. Today I took the machine out of the car and put it together and took a few pictures. As it was dusty, as soon as I put it together on the garage apron I blew out all the dust I could by removing the sides of the saw and inserting the compressor hose into every nook and cranny I could see, especially the motor and mechanisms. The right-side panel didn't want to fit around the cord plug-in box, but I'll look into that later, It now looks much better, but could still use some soap and water when I have time to get further into the machine. There is some light rust on the sheet metal panels and on parts of the stand, so these probably ought to be painted one of these days. I suppose I can get the paint from Ryobi. Does anyone know a better source, and, if so, the name and manufacturer?

The stand is very reluctant to move -- one has to tilt the unwheeled side pretty high for the wheels to roll. It occurred to me that the stand may have been improperly assembled fromthe get-go, as the side without the wheels has the shorter legs, and the wheeled side has the longer. I noticed that the stand also seems to tilt to the unwheeled side when the saw is standing, and that the longer legs want to drag on the concrete unless I raise the unwheeled side pretty high. It seems to me that this is wrong, that the wheels ought to be on the side with the shorter legs,and that the stand would roll better this way. I need to look at a diagram of the stand. What do you think?

I notice that there is an article on this site about making handles for the saw from black pipe. The saw design, however, suggests that the manufacturer expected that owners would use the rails at least for picking up one side of it. So my question is, is it safe to use the rails for transporting the saw, and if so, what then is the need for the black-pipe handles? I wouldn't want to bend the rails, you see.

Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks,

John

[LCHIEN]

all you questions execpt where to get matching paint are addressed in the FAQ. Where to get paint has never been asked before to my knowledge. You should really request a copy - I'll need your e-mail address to send it to.

Yes, the wheels work that way (having to lift one end pretty high) and yes, its a cheap, lousy system. There are better ways, again, in the FAQ.

[crokett]

As Loring said, the wheels work that way. It is not an especially good system. Some members here opt for a mobile base (I did) others have taken several washers and stuck them between the wheel plate and the saw leg on the top two screws on each wheel assembly. This tilts the wheel down so you don't have to lift so high.

Don't lift the saw by the rails. It is too easy to bend them out of shape. Make the handles. That is another reason I have the mobile base. It has a foot lever so I never have to lift the saw to move it.

I have a base similar to this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95288

You provide the wood for the rails. The advantage is you can make it any size you need.

[dbhost]

On the subject of removing the aluminum oxide, I disagree with the posters about using sandpaper, or other aggresive abrasives if for no other reason than you do NOT want to unintentionally introduce uneven spots in your table top.

I have used Mother's Mag & Aluminum Polish for years with excellent results. Yes it will cost you in a LOT of elbow grease especially if there is heavy oxidation. BUT... I have taken a set of 15x10 aluminum mag wheels, if you know anything of the Automotive aftermarket, they were American Racing Indy 15x10x with a 5 on 5.25" bolt pattern, from a wrecking yard, they were almost COMPLETELY white with oxide. I spent about 2 hours on each using Mothers and the end result looked brand new.

I do not know if Mothers has any silicone in it, but I SERIOUSLY doubt it, it's been around since the 1950s and I don't think they were using much silicone then...

[dbhost]

I have a base similar to this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95288

You provide the wood for the rails. The advantage is you can make it any size you need.

Another advantage of that mobile base from Harbor Freight is that you get to use the table saw to rip the odd size lumber. It calls for 1.25" x 1.25" square stock.

I used Yellow Pine 2x4s for mine.

No mine is not on the table saw, but instead I have one on my band saw, one on my sander, and one on my planer stands....

[scmhogg]

Don't lift the saw by the rails. It is too easy to bend them out of shape. Make the handles. That is another reason I have the mobile base. It has a foot lever so I never have to lift the saw to move it.

I agree about using the rails like a wheelbarrow. But, look at the first ad for the BT3000.

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=9618

Steve