Many of you may know that my table saw is a 1947 right tilt Unisaw.  A few weeks ago it refused to start up so I tapped the motor with a hammer and it took off.  I figured it was probably time to do a little maintenance on the bullet motor.  These motors are a beast weighing in an about 90 pounds and are a real pain to pull out and rebuild on a bench so I opted to rebuild the back end on the machine.  After a ton of research on OWWM and our own Larry Buskirk I ordered bearings, brushes and a spring for the “necklace”.  This motor was built before capacitors and is an induction reversing motor.  I won’t bore you with the details on IR technology but it uses a spring loaded centrifugal copper necklace.  
 Anyway, I thought I had everything I needed but the Amazon supplier send arbor bearings instead of motor bearings so I ordered the rear bearing from MRO Supplies.  Mistake there because they still haven’t shipped them so I ordered one from eBay.  The bearing is a bit of an oddball and a little hard to find.  Anyway, today, I cleaned the commutator and reassembled the motor.  It runs great and I almost feel accomplished.

That has been a GOOD day!!

Good day Ron. Glad it all worked out and you didn't have to get a bigger hammer.

Edited March 5, 20251 yr by Grandpadave52

1 hour ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Good day Ron. Glad it all worked out and you didn't have to get a bigger hammer.

The brushes were down to a “nubbin”

Just now, Ron Dudelston said:

The brushes were down to a “nubbin”

Your saw is five years older than me. I'm already down to nubbins myself.

Well it is the same age as me and if it is creaking like I am , it ain't good

 Should be good for another 78 years. 

I ditched my old RI motor around 2012 I think..... I almost went this route instead, but I needed the saw working ASAP so I got a replacement Leeson.  Felt kinda bad junking the old RI motor, as it was pretty, but I do like the speed of the modern motor better.

 

Last time I had to replace bearings of that kind of vintage was just this year in a motor for a Monarch lathe at work.  The bearings in it were made by Hoover and had last been replaced in the 1960's (lathe is WWII vintage, a tech from the USN had written the replacement date on the motor).  I took one apart, and all that was wrong with it was the grease had lost its oil.  Those were a little hard to find too, we got some NOS bearings from ebay, but next time around I doubt that will happen.  Bearings have been standardized to metric for so long now, no one makes older sizing standards as far as I know.

Edited March 6, 20251 yr by JWD