Help me Fix my Rails
January 5th, 2009They Need a Bath
Help me out, tool nuts.
The rails on my Powermatic 66 have a lot of rust and crud on them. It’s bad enough to make me worry that the fence’s accuracy will be affected. I started working on it with a wire wheel, but that’s pretty slow. And I had to be careful to avoid the paint.
I’m wondering if I should just strip it bare and repaint it. The paint looks bad, and it will be hard to clean off the rust and gunk without removing the paint. Problem: the tape-measure part does not come off, so I don’t know how to work around it, and I can’t figure out how to replace it if I strip the markings off of it.
I’m not sure what kind of paint to use, either. It would have to be very tough.
I could get some blasting media and a blaster and Northern Tool and give it hell.
What would you do?
January 5th, 2009 at 3:19 PM
Of course you should just strip it all off and repaint, especially if you think accuracy may be impaired (heck, I’d do it if it was just so ugly I couldn’t stand it).
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And there are plenty of choices for replacing glue-on style tape measure out there. Just search on Amazon-Home Improvement for “self-adhesive tape”.
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Here’s two Kreg versions …a L-to-R http://tinyurl.com/9cyy3m and a R-to-L http://tinyurl.com/75onmv
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This would also give you the opportunity to re-center the rails (I seem to recall you saying you wanted to do that anyways), and zero the scale to the new center.
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January 5th, 2009 at 4:13 PM
I wouldn’t worry too much about the tape measure because:
1) It can be replaced with an aftermarket, adhesive backed measure, and…
2) On critical measurements, you don’t want to rely on it anyway. You want to measure directly from the blade to the fence.
Why do you feel that the accuracy of the fence may be compromised? Does the fence not clamp down securely? On ANY rip, I set the fence distance from a tooth at the front of the blade, where the actual cut will take place, and then I measure the distance from the fence to a tooth at the back of the blade, where a kickback could occur. The distance at the back of the blade should be IDENTICAL, or, at most, 1/64th” greater than the distance at the front. If you can achieve this, and the fence clamps securely, you have nothing to worry about.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:33 PM
This thing had so much crud on it, I was concerned it would push one of the pads on the fence so far out of alignment, it would make the fence crooked. But I blasted that stuff off with a wire wheel and needle scaler, so I think I’m okay. There is pitting, but it’s not going to affect the fence.
I found out about the sticky tape measures elsewhere. That’s 95% of my problem, right there.