# What have I gotten myself into?!?!? A tale of 2 Unisaws



## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

Responded to an ad yesterday.

Old table saw

Had this picture:



 

No price given, I thought maybe I'd at least contact him and ask what he was asking. $50. Well, shoot, $50 for a Unisaw... Yeah, it needs some work and a few parts and was possibly 3 phase. But, $50? Yeah, I'm going for it.

This morning as I'm getting ready to head out to drive the hour to go and pick it up, he sends me this message:

you interested in two of them we have another just like the one in pic

Hmm, I'll check it out when I get there. So, there were two. $75 for the both of them. I paid $80, since all I had on me were 20's. Then, after he moved them out of the rather loud production shop they were in to another place, I started disassembling for transport home.

In this pic, I've already removed dust doors from both, and a few other things from the one on the left. Completely forgot to ask about the motor cover in the above picture - I didn't see it when I was there. But the dust door, which wasn't in the picture, was on there.



 

Both of these fit nicely into the back of a Toyota Sienna minivan - without having to remove the middle row of seats. I will unload them tonight.

My one challenge with these is that they are both 3 phase machines. @woodtickgreg - maybe I shouldn't have passed on that phase converter you now have! 

The other challenge is that he mentioned there is an issue with the motor in the one on the left - was getting bogged down cutting 1x pine - so I'll have to do some digging on that. Worst case scenario, I part it out. My plan is to get one, hopefully both, fully restored and sell them. I dream of having two Unisaws in my shop, but since I already have one and don't have the space for another, there's no way to keep them.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 5 | +Karma 1


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## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

For the count: This brings me up to having 5, yes, 5 table saws at the current time.  3 Unisaws, a Sprunger 10" (which is in pieces and needs to be restored) and a Sprunger 8" (which I am wrapping up restoration on.)

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## Steve in VA (Oct 2, 2019)

Between the 5 of them can you actually rip a board? 

Sorry....couldn't help myself. I'm jealous of the space you have as I can barely get to mine!

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

Yes, one saw is currently fully operational. A second will be, just as soon as I get a chance to make a few adjustments to align the table to the blade and then the fence to the blade. That second saw resides in a small shop area I have in our basement that allows me a place to work when it's too hot or too cold in the garage.



Steve in VA said:


> space you have



Space? I ain't got no stinking space, lol. I'll be tripping over these two new-to-me saws until the day they're sold and gone, lol. Both of these new saws are still in the back of my wife's van - I'll unload them tonight, if it's not raining - but the garage is going to get pretty cramped here once they're offloaded into the garage. But I did specifically buy these to restore and then sell for a profit, so they will not be permanent fixtures here. My shop space is a one car garage that is already quite full. The basement shop space I mentioned is about half the size of a one car garage. Between the two shop spaces I have, I'm looking at about a 1 1/2 car garage area. I've gotten a lot of practice in creative organization and many things are on mobile bases, pulled out to use when needed.

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## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

I will also add that I enjoy restoring machines almost as much as woodworking, so restoring these to sell will be a fun project for me.

Reactions: Like 5 | Way Cool 1


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## Steve in VA (Oct 2, 2019)

If you ever make it down to VA, I'll buy you some beers and let you have a go at my garage; God knows I need the help!

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 3


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## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

Steve in VA said:


> If you ever make it down to VA, I'll buy you some beers and let you have a go at my garage; God knows I need the help!



I have enough trouble keeping my own clean and organized!  I'm actually in the middle of a small scale reorganization of some things in the shop - it was getting out of hand!


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## Tony (Oct 2, 2019)

That is a sweet deal!!!!!

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Mike1950 (Oct 2, 2019)

Steve in VA said:


> If you ever make it down to VA, I'll buy you some beers and let you have a go at my garage; God knows I need the help!





Sprung said:


> I have enough trouble keeping my own clean and organized!  I'm actually in the middle of a small scale reorganization of some things in the shop - it was getting out of hand!



Hold it Steve, Matt I offer burl for cleaning.....

Reactions: Funny 5


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## Mike1950 (Oct 2, 2019)

Kathie put a new auto correct on phone. I can see it is going to have its downside....

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Sprung (Oct 2, 2019)

Mike1950 said:


> Hold it Steve, Matt I offer burlesque for cleaning.....



Mike, I do not want to see you doing burlesque! 

Now, burls on the other hand, well, that I might consider!

Reactions: Funny 5


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## Tony (Oct 2, 2019)

Mike1950 said:


> Kathie put a new auto correct on phone. I can see it is going to have its downside....



That might be the funniest thing I've read all year!!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## barry richardson (Oct 3, 2019)

Nice score! Your mini van musta been riding low carrying those....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Oct 3, 2019)

barry richardson said:


> Your mini van musta been riding low carrying those....



Previously it would have been riding low. Every minivan I've ever driven has had awful rear suspension. With occasionally hauling a heeavy load, like machines or camping gear, I installed a set of these in the rear suspension. It has helped tremendously when transporting a load or towing a trailer. It has even proven beneficial for suspension and handling even when the van isn't loaded down - the back end doesn't bounce as much on big bumps and the van has less of that tendency to roll into a turn. At $215 it seemed expensive for what is basically a couple rubber bumpers and some hardware, but in the end the results were definitely worth the expense. (I did this not to try and get my van to haul or tow more than it's designed to - I keep it under max load - but to be able to better handle those loads, since the rear suspension in our Toyota was just awful.)

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 1


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## Sprung (Oct 3, 2019)

Well, these are now out of the van and in the garage.



 



 



 

I need to finish my kitchen table build, plus make something my mother-in-law asked me to make her, and maybe get the kitchen hutch done before I dive into this project.

I think the most challenging part of all this will be removing lots and lots and lots (did I say lots?) of pine pitch from just about everything inside one of the saws. Just a glimpse - but it's much worse than this:

Reactions: Like 2 | Funny 1


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## Diver Temple (Oct 4, 2019)

Sprung said:


> For the count: This brings me up to having 5, yes, 5 table saws at the current time.  3 Unisaws, a Sprunger 10" (which is in pieces and needs to be restored) and a Sprunger 8" (which I am wrapping up restoration on.)


Me thinks you are overcompensating for something you are lacking...like all the pretty stabilizing you used to have. I have heard that being able to stabilize somethings is the first thing to go as you get older!!

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Diver Temple (Oct 4, 2019)

Sprung said:


> Well, these are now out of the van and in the garage.
> 
> View attachment 172543
> 
> ...


It's almost winter, you could use it as fat lighter and burn it off while roasting marshmallows.

Reactions: Funny 2


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## ClintW (Oct 4, 2019)

What an awesome grab! I have heard those saws are awesome for a homeshop! I wonder if a 2 hp 120v would be an adequate replacement motor?

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## rocky1 (Oct 4, 2019)

You're doing better than the ones I found. Local ad had 2 advertised, looked to be in decent shape. Wanted pretty respectable price for them. Ad suggested they're just like new. Go to contact info, they're at one of the local mobile home factories. So I'm thinking yeah, just like new, you betcha!! Those guys are rolling out 7 - 10 houses a day, saw probably runs non-stop except for blade changes.

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## Sprung (Oct 4, 2019)

ClintW said:


> What an awesome grab! I have heard those saws are awesome for a homeshop! I wonder if a 2 hp 120v would be an adequate replacement motor?



These saws are awesome. Period. Whether in a home shop or a production shop. They're great saws.

As far as a replacement motor, Unisaws have a proprietary motor mount. And replacement motors, even used ones, are spendy. I'll be ordering a VFD that I'll use to get the one up and running - the VFD will provide phase conversion from 220v single phase to 220v three phase - and I'll also use it to see what may be wrong with the other motor. Three phase motors are bulletproof, so I'm hoping it's something simple and easily taken care of. If not, I have a line on a replacement motor at a little bit more reasonable price than normal.



rocky1 said:


> You're doing better than the ones I found. Local ad had 2 advertised, looked to be in decent shape. Wanted pretty respectable price for them. Ad suggested they're just like new. Go to contact info, they're at one of the local mobile home factories. So I'm thinking yeah, just like new, you betcha!! Those guys are rolling out 7 - 10 houses a day, saw probably runs non-stop except for blade changes.



Well, these have certainly been well used as well! But, at first glance, are in decent shape, despite looks. I'll know more though when I get to dig into them further and start taking apart the internals. I do plan on going through everything - and they will get new bearings, new belts, anything else they need. By the time I'm done, I want these to be both like new and able to be listed for sale as a fully restored saw that is ready to go to work - and not something a buyer has to monkey around with. I'm hoping that a thorough and well done full restoration will help bring a good price for these.

Reactions: Like 2


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## rocky1 (Oct 4, 2019)

At $75 for the two you've got room to play, they wanted $800 for one, $1000 for the other.


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## Sprung (Oct 4, 2019)

rocky1 said:


> $800 for one, $1000 for the other.





$800 to $1000 is the price range of one that's been fully restored and is ready to just put to work.

For comparison, the one I already had, I paid about $550 for and put another close to $200 into it with a new arbor, new bearings, new wiring, and a few other things. I felt pretty decent being into mine for about $750. (Though once I sold my previous saw, and a Unifence and a Uniguard that came with the Unisaw, it only cost me about $50 to make the upgrade to the Unisaw.)


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## rocky1 (Oct 4, 2019)

Yeah that's kinda what I said when I saw who was selling them. 

Would be different if I didn't know what they had for help out there. Most of them aren't necessarily real bright and from what I understand about 2/3 of them are on drugs to boost their motivation and meet scheduled output. Little leery of the saws at any price knowing where they came from, and certainly leery at that price. 

No doubt in my mind they've seen a LOT of 8' or more cuts. Wouldn't surprise me if that's not all they did, all day long. Probably set in large feed table with remote mounted switch and the only time anything touched them was going across the surface, hence the looking like new with thousands of hours on them.


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## Sprung (Oct 4, 2019)

rocky1 said:


> hence the looking like new with thousands of hours on them.



I'm not sure that's too much of an issue with these saws, especially if you can get them for the right price.

In their use there, the blade tilt and elevation may not have been much adjusted, so those internals would likely be in great shape. Bearings, belts, and arbors are replaceable - those are really normal wear items. Pulleys can be found. Even motors can be found - especially if you can wait on the right deal to show up, since they are a proprietary mount. Restoring a well used saw that saw many, many hours of use in a production environment it entirely possible. But it's certainly got to be a case of checking out the saw first and buying it at a price that would allow you to be able to fix any issues with it and not lose your shirt. The internals of the Unisaw went largely unchanged from 1939 until about 2000. It is possible the most produced model of saw ever made. Parts availability certainly is not an issue - OWWM.org and eBay can both supply you with any part you might need for a Unisaw.

But, yeah, a well used saw from a production environment - they're waaaaay overpriced on them. Now, if they were for sale for $200 to $300, there's more than enough room there for you to buy it, fix anything that needs to be fixed, and have the last saw you'll ever need at a great to decent price.

Reactions: Agree 1


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