There is something I find incredibly satisfying about taking a motor that hasn’t seen the light of day in years, cleaning up the internals, and seeing it start to resemble a functioning piece of machinery again. In this video, I’m walking through the deep cleaning process and the initial stages of getting the motor back together.

I’ll be doing a complete tear down, inspecting the wires, replacing bearings, cleaning parts, and going over the process of figuring out how to wire both the reversible 6-wire version and the 4-wire version of these motors. After all that I will make sure things are cleaned up, painted, and get it all put back together and running smoothly. It’s been a long journey, but we’re getting there!

Deep Clean and Inspect

Before I could even think about reassembly, I had to deal with the accumulated dust, the old grease, bearings, and wires. I spent a good amount of time cleaning the motor housing and checking the condition of the windings and their leads. I replaced all the bearings while I had it torn apart, and uncovered a few surprises. I don’t think I’m the first person to have rebuilt this motor, there were a few clues like non-original bearings, modernized wires, and different start switch with sharpie markings that indicated someone had rebuilt it before.

Electrical inspection

I very, very, rarely ever run a vintage machine motor before I take it apart. The only time it happens is usually when the seller wants to show me it’s running (and before I’ve dolled out the cash). I never trust it’s good. I’ve found some sketching things before, so I like to double check to make sure that wires are proper size, in good condition with no cracking or brittle insulation.

This motor was no different. I had cut the cord when disassembling the saw to speed up the process, so I knew how it was wired up, but still had to inspect everything for myself. In the video I run through how to figure out the windings and proper connections for both varieties of these motors (6-wire reversible and 4-wire single direction). I also corroborated this information with Walker Turner Serviced Machines, who is a fantastic source for knowledge and parts. If they were within driving distance, I’d be surprised if I didn’t own one of the machines they’ve restored!

Reassembly

With everything finally clean, inspected, painted, and ready, the fun part began. I started the process of putting the motor components back where they belong. It’s a bit like a puzzle, especially when you’re working with vintage hardware where every shim and spacer matters and you can’t always just find a replacement at the ready.

The arbor assembly may warrant its own blog entry, as there was some nuance that I go through with that, beyond just the order the parts go on the arbor shaft. Seeing everything back together and running as it should was definitely a huge relief though.

Next Steps

I’ll probably be doing a deep dive soon into the specific part stack-ups, the exact assembly order, and how I finally tackled the motor wiring in some future blogs. All the details are in the video, it might just be nice to get them written out.

For now, I’m just happy to see the heart of the saw coming back to life!

Thanks for following along!