# First table saw - Startrite TA145 rebuild with photos



## ndbrown (9 Oct 2013)

I have been looking around for a small table saw for my single car garage workshop. I considered a few brand new models that are popular here but as I have already rebuilt a Sedgwick Planer thicknesser http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/sedgwick-pt255-strip-down-and-rebuild-t66864.html, I decided that I wanted to try and find another older British machine. The old Wadkins are fantastic machines but much too large for my single garage. I wanted a compact footprint similar to the TS200 / Kity 419 but I found it really difficult to identify a smaller British industrial tablesaw that was around this sort of size. Doing a bit of research, I thought the Startrite TA 145/156/175 series was a possibility.
I picked this particular one up from well known auction site for £100 + another £63 inc vat to get it delivered. It was described as a single phase model that was functional with a few items missing. Althought the saw was too far away from me to go and look at, at the price I was prepared to bid, I decided to take a chance as single phase machines are a bit harder to get around this price.
This was the machine as delivered.

The Startrite TA145 It is a very nicely made and compact table saw with plenty of cast iron and good quality steel. Not in the Wadkin league for construction but a good workshop saw that should manage to do everything that I need it for. It will take up to a 235mm diameter saw and should just about manage a 75mm depth of cut. Table size is around 56cm by 59cm wide.

Front
View attachment 1



Right hand side






Left hand side





When delivered, it ran, albeit a bit noisy and rattled but otherwise I was really happy with the purchase as all the basic elements were fine and overall despite missing a few bits, it was in far better condition than the Sedgwick Planer Thicknesser I rebuilt!

It came bolted to a very sturdy stand. the problem was that the stand was rectangular and as well as taking up more space than I wanted, it raised the height too much for me to work comfortably.

Original stand




I have "previous" for building stands, see post here: build-your-own-simple-mobile-machine-base-with-photos-t67483.html but I needed a completely different type of stand to allow the saw to be moved around in any direction easily.

I started by cutting some 50mm angle iron and bolting it together for my local blacksmith to weld

Top




Bottom




One of the two outrigger legs, cutting some 30mm box section like so with a hacksaw




The next photo shows before and after cutting and bending




And then temporarily bolted together to a plywood strip to allow them to be welded in the correct shape




I then made four flat plates and bolted everything together to try the table saw stand out before it was taken to get it welded up
Front




And top view




Now some TA series saws have mounting holes in their feet to allow them to be bolted down but my version had only enough area in the feet to locate screws. I needed something more substantial, so I made four square plates up to weld to the original feet at the bottom of the sheet metal base. Again, i bolted them in place to ensure they did not move when being welded.

Four plates shown here




And close up of the underside of one here




Top side after welding




And bolted temporarily to the finished stand here




The finished mobile base with the stripped down Startrite TA145 temporarily fitted is shown below

Front




Side




I stripped the poorly applied blue paint off fairly easily with the new "green and friendly" Nitromors but one of the few good things about the new formula was that it left the original Startrite pain untouched. Unlike my Sedgwick, I decided not to strip back to bare metal and will simply be giving it a freshen up with a couple of coats of the correct colour from Alt Saws.


*Next step, strip down of single phase Brook Gryphon motor (Updated 21/02/2014)*

The Gryphon motor was full of fine sawdust, probably as a result of the saw being used for some time without any dust extraction. The next photo shows the Motor before removal from the trunnion/table assembly

The motor can be removed from the trunnion fairly easily by loosening the three cap head socket bolts that tension the two drive belts with an allen key. Being careful to support the end of the motor (its quite heavy!), then remove the three L shaped clamps that hold the motor mounting plate onto the support bracket. The motor mounting plate can then be removed from the front of the motor by removal of the three M8 bolts.

Before removal




Remove the plastic fan cover from the four pointed motor studs by carefully prising it off. It is just a press fit. Then remove the plastic fan blade at the end of the motor VERY Carefully. This fan blade is just a press fit on a splined part of the motor shaft. Don't use a bearing puller to remove it as it will just break. Remove it with two long screwdrivers as wedges under the moulded boss that fits onto the motor shaft. 
Th belt drive pulley is keyed onto the shaft and even after removing the grub screw, it was still a really tight fit. I removed it with a bearing puller without any difficulty. A bearing puller can be bought fairly cheaply now and is well worth having if you are going to do machine rebuilds on a regular basis.
The nuts from the motor end plate can then be removed allowing the whole motor to come apart. I wish I had taken a photograph of the motor before I cleaned out the sawdust but what I can say is that I was surprised that it was still able to turn considering the amount of fine dust in it. With the aid of a soft brush and a shop vacuum cleaner, I was able to remove all the dust leaving the motor in it's component parts as shown below. Note, the bearings came out along with the motor shaft.




The next image shows the motor casing disassembled with the centrifugal switch attached at the bottom




The next image shows the motor casing on the inside with the field coils (Stator). Everything was in good condition with no signs of overheating. These motors are really well made.




This image is of one of the cast iron motor end plates. The bore in the middle where the bearing was located has a hole at the top allowing grease to be carried down from the grease nipple on the outside


 

The next image shows the motor shaft (Rotor) with bearing already removed with a bearing puller. Again, there was no wear to the shaft and everything looked fine




Examining the bearings, there was a little bit of wear and although they were probably still serviceable, I decided that as the motor had been stripped down to this extent, I would replace them with good quality sealed SKF replacements.
Image of bearings on removal below - the original bearings shown are open cage without any grease seals and were originally installed with a grease tube




The next image shows the motor rebuilt with new bearings before the fan has been fitted. Check the motor turns freely when assembled. The motor was then temporarily fitted with a cable and a plug and ran smoothly and quietly. A quick coat of primer was applied to the motor after masking of the shaft and pulley.




I will post further updates on the trunnion rebuild shortly


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## Bigdanny (10 Oct 2013)

Its looking good so far. I like the mobile base. I guess for additional stability when you are using it you can just pop a few wooden wedges under the angle iron frame.

Danny


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## JustBen (12 Oct 2013)

I'm very much looking forward to seeing the work in progress images and the final result as my machine looks very similar to that.

Keep 'em coming!


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## marcros (12 Oct 2013)

+1. Watching with interest.


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## JustBen (27 Oct 2013)

How is it coming along?......


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## JustBen (11 Feb 2014)

Any news on progress? Still eagerly waiting....


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## shim20 (11 Feb 2014)

looking great so far


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## ndbrown (11 Feb 2014)

Sorry about the delay in updating this thread. Truth is that I was occupied for about 4 months just before Christmas (Not quite woodworking but I was building a Hackintosh out of an Apple Mac G5 tower as a surprise Christmas present for my son) and this project took a little longer than I anticipated. Now back in the swing of things and I will post a progress update this weekend


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## winston70 (20 Mar 2014)

Hi buddy... just been reading your thread.. what courier did you use?? £50 sounds great.


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## marcros (20 Mar 2014)

Try anyvan or Shipley. I have just had a similar one moved 60 odd miles for £66


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## ndbrown (21 Mar 2014)

Apologies, it was £53 + Vat (£63.60) to get it delivered from Manchester to Scotland. I used the National Pallets web site and they were excellent.

Nigel


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## winston70 (27 Mar 2014)

cheers you


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## vormstudio (12 Aug 2016)

Nice mobile base!


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## lebois (20 Mar 2017)

Hello,

I've found your rebuild thread with some delight!!!

I'm rebuilding a TA175 and was wondering if your TA145 Brook Gryphon motor is similar to the TA175? I was pleased to see photos of the data plate on your motor but can't make it out that well.
Any chance you could confirm the:

Kilowatts / Horse Power
Amps
Spindle RPM
HZ
Volts

The reason I'm after the info is my TA175 has been played with and has a random, non-standard capacitor on which doesn't start the motor. What I'm trying to ascertain is the correct specification for a replacement capacitor. The data plate on my motor is unfortunately missing. I think the info I need is written on the capacitor itself. The only info I have is that on the metal stand of the machine it says 1.1KW

Progress of my quest for capacitor infomation is listed here:
startrite-ta-175-table-saw-t104197.html

Hope you can help 

Many thanks,


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## angusmack (23 Jul 2017)

Hi ndbrown,

I'm sorry to drag up an old thread but I recently acquired a TA145 and found this thread with interest. Unfortunately the image links no longer work. Is there any possibility you can update the links please so I can see what you did? 

Kind regards,
Angus


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## angusmack (23 Jul 2017)

Thanks for the PM Disinterior. I can't reply at the moment (I assume too few posts) but I will definitely get in touch once I have picked it up. Bought it blind on a well known auction site for a good price last night.


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## ndbrown (29 Dec 2020)

Since I started this post the TA145 has sat for around 6 years with small amounts done to it every year but in December 2019 I had a final push to finish it and thought it might be worth posting some info plus Photos. The original machine had some missing parts so that will hopefully explain some of the very non standard Startrite parts. 
Firstly new handwheels for the rise and fall and blade tilt. Folding handle on the blade tilt left hand side.



A new rip fence as the original was missing when I bought the saw



I
I made a wooden model of the dust collection panel I needed before taking it along to my local ducting supplier to make up in metal



This is the finished one fitted. This is faiirly similar to the version that Startrite used to offer


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## ndbrown (29 Dec 2020)

Now to the crown guard combined support and dust extraction
i made a mock up in plastic waste pipe and plywood.



Then it was of the the local car tuning specialist to see if they could faricate a stainless pipe in the same shape using ss exhaust pipe




I talked them into bending 2mm wall thickness pipe instead of fabricating it from bends and straights and was happy with the results in 65mm diameter pipe which is really stiff when fixed in place. 
onto the lathe to make a mounting bracket. The bracket allows the guard to be swivelled away, raised or lowered in height or slid along the rear rail or in fact removed if required 




And then the lathe to make some hose adaptors. 



And then onto the crown guard


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## ndbrown (30 Dec 2020)

Now onto the crown guard
The supports are made from 6082 alloy plate with grub screws to enable the guard to be slid ang the tube as required 




And then onto the lathe again to make an adaptor to allow the flexi hose to terminate to the perspex sheet.




Then




Then add some support stays and som flexi pipe.




After a year of use I am really happy with the dust extraction and clamping force applied to the wood being cut by the brush strip at the bottom of the guard. I never intended to add the aluminium angle all around the guard. I wanted a pure perspex guard but mucked up a glue joint so added it to cover it up. It was always my intention to have less chunky looking guard. I will make another one later


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## Peri (30 Dec 2020)

These threads are great 

Nice job !


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## Jameshow (30 Dec 2020)

Going to start looking out for a startrite ta saw... 

saving the pennies.... 

Cheers James


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