Powermatic 66 Tablesaws for Sale

The Powermatic 66 is an American classic, and if you ask me, it beats the pants off any other tablesaw. I've owned a Delta Unisaw, a Sawsmith 2000, a Jet 10" cabinet saw, a Ryobi BT3000 and even a Powermatic 64 and a 72, but nothing comes close to the solid and smooth fit, finish and feel of the 66. The link below will take you to current listing of Powermatic 66 saws for sale on eBay. Note that the older 66 was green, then in the late 1980's they switched to a much sexier gold, as seen here. Don't pass on an old "Greenie" table saw though, 'cuz they were very well made.

Click link for Powermatic 66 Tablesaws for Sale

A Great Deal on a Great Non-PowerMatic Mortiser

While not a PowerMatic tool, I figured that if you are looking on this blog that you must appreciate good tools, so here's a non-Delta one for ya.

If you are interested in handsome and strong joinery you already know that mortise and tenon joints are the way to go. Yes, pocket hole joinery is all the rage, and I have three Kreg jigs myself, but when I want to build furniture that will be passed-down to my grand kids I know I'll be making mortises and dovetails.
Try as I might I was never able to get good results mortising with my Mark V. It takes a LOT of force to drive a four-sided chisel into a block of hardwood, and not only does the quill handle suffer from a size problem, but just as you make some progress the table wants to move on ya. This is not a good prize, especially because Murphy's Law dictates that you won't notice that your mortises are not as deep as you planned until some time after removing all of the mortising gear from your Mark V.
My mortiser is a PowerMatic 719, which wouldn't ya know I purchased just months before the 719T with tilting table was released. (Grumble). Before forking out the big bucks for my mortiser I researched all the tabletop units, and I just wasn't going to be able to cut the mortise depths that many of the projects I had planned would require. At the time the market was dominated by Delta, Jet and a couple questionable no-name imports.


As I mentioned in a prior post, I was at my local Woodcraft the other day and at a Rockler a couple weeks back and was amazed at the improvements that have been made in benchtop units. The one that caught my eye was the WoodRiver at Woodcraft, which as a huge base with extensions that expand to 35" in width to support for your stock. This unit has a firm fence and rollers that act as hold-ins to keep your stock firmly against the fence.  The fence is made of cast iron and is adjusted with a rack and pinion that reminds me of a mini version of the fence on my Delta jointer.

One of the biggest hassles that benchtop mortisers tend to introduce is caused by very limited access to the drill chuck.  The WoodRiver has two HUGE clear plastic doors that swing open for practically unhindered access.  Another neat thing about this design is that because the doors are clear they allow plenty of light to make bit changes as easy as I've ever seen.    

Another advantage of this unit wasn't obvious from a study of the manual: It's ambidextrous.  The two access doors swing open on both the right and the left.  Likewise, as  you can see from the bottom photo, the lever handle can be mounted left or right.  With the switchbox on the left I thought there might be a problem using it on the left, but nope, she worked just fine.

The thing that really surprised me was that it comes with a full set of four chisels and bits and the mortiser has a full 5" depth of cut! Seeing this made me curious, so I measured my PowerMatic and learned that while it has a 6" stroke, all of my chisels are 5" long!
So, if you are in the market for a great looking, reasonably priced mortiser, check the WoodRiver out at your local Woodcraft.
BTW, until Aug 27th this mortising machine is on sale for $234.99 at this link: WoodRiver Mortiser with Chisels and Bits

Powermatic PM2000 Tablesaws for Sale

The Powermatic PM2000 is a new tablesaw that is targeted at the serious hobbiest who is setting their sights just a bit lower than the PM66. While the PM66 is made in the USA, the PM2000 is made in Taiwan. Well, that's not totally true; the fence is made in the USA. I've played with this was a couple times and it's quite nice. One cool feature that should make it's way onto the PM66 is it has a set of casters built-in that lift the saw when you crank them down using the blade tilt wheel. Yes, that sounds weird, but it's slick!

Click link for Powermatic PM2000 Tablesaw for Sale



Non-"Model 66" and "PM2000" Tablesaws for Sale

Beyond the PM66 and the PM2000 Powermatic has made a huge variety of table saws. Pictured here is the PM64, which is a contractor-style saw.

Click link for non-"Model 66" and PM2000" Powermatic Tablesaws for Sale

Powermatic Jointers for Sale

Powermatic Jointers were the first to feature lever table adjusters. Now, not everyone likes a lever, but I do. Another thing that the older Powermatic Jointers featured was a fence that you could slide into an angled position so your board would pass across the cutterhead at an angle, making your cut a shearing cut. Now, for most boards you wouldn't know the difference, but take a gnarly board and it could be your only hope at getting a clean cut.

Click link for Powermatic Jointers For Sale



Powermatic Planers for Sale

Remember what I was saying about how the purchase of Powermatic by WMH/Tool Group changed the bandsaws? Well, it’s true of the planers too. The old 12” Powermatic planers looked more like the old Parks planer, while the new WHM versions look more like the current Delta, JET and Shop Fox planers.

If you’re looking at one of the old green planers I suggest you avoid the direct drive version. You can identify these by the fact that the motor is sticking out the side near the top of the unit. Not only will a belt driven planer give you a smoother finish due to the isolation of the motor vibrations, they are also more compact.

I used to own an 18” Powermatic, which was actually larger and about three times heaver than the current 20” version.
Man was that thing HUGE! But I digress.

Bonus features, but not deal makers or breakers would be things like a dust chute, a mobile base or a built in blade sharpener. Killer options are things like a spiral cutter head. These cutter heads are quite and uber-smooth. With a spiral head it’s critical that either the blades are individual carbide cutters, or there MUST be a built-in sharpener.



Powermatic Bandsaws (band saws) for Sale

Powermatic Bandsaw's have evolved quite a bit since they were purchased by WMH/Tool Group, the parent company of JET Tools. The old band saws were mostly cast bodies, where the new design (shown here) favors the classic Delta Bandsaw. Don't get me wrong, This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Look for features like a quick tension release, fence, Carter Guides, etc. but keep in mind that these are readily available as aftermarket upgrades.

Open stands are ok, but an enclosed base is usually an indicator of a larger motor. A riser block means the saw can resaw thicker stock, and for the record, a miter gause is just about as useful on a bandsaw as a chicken with a bicycle. (I take that back! That would be cool!)


Click here for Powermatic Bandsaws For Sale








Powermatic Drill Press For Sale

Remember what I was saying about how the purchase of Powermatic by WMH/Tool Group changed the bandsaws and planers? It turns out that the WHM versions of the Powermatic drill presses rock!

The old green Powermatic drill presses (I don’t know, that looks like the plural of press to me) seemed to fall into to categories: Open belt antique-style press, or massive, variable speed units that could drill a 12” hole through a slab of solid granite! The new Powermatic models all have nice, large tables, enclosed belts, and an a few cases the old variable speed.

My advice is to buy the biggest press you can afford. I know, there’s nothing exciting about a drill press, but there’s also nothing more frustrating than having your project hit the column with the drill bit 1/4” shy of your mark! Remember that a drill press with an 18” swing will drill to the center of an 18” circle, meaning that you can only squeeze a work piece 9” beyond the bit. Tricky eh?

Powermatic Lathes for Sale

Powermatic hit the turning world by storm when they introduced the 3520B and 4224 lathes. They’ve had several lathes over the years, including the famous Model 90, but after several years essentially out of the lathe business they came back in a big way! You can’t go wrong with the 90, but if you get a chance to grab one of the new gold lathes you’ll not regret it.

Click link for Powermatic Lathes for Sale

Powermatic Mortiser for Sale

This is one of my favorite Powermatic tools, and wouldn’t you know that about 6 months after purchasing mine they would come out with the tilting base. Oh well, I still love mine. Powermatic has several mortisers; any of which beats the pants off those silly bench top units from Delta, Jet, Grizzly, etc. More to come.





Powermatic Shaper for Sale

As I review his post I guess I'm just phoning this one in.
But hey, you know it's a great shaper because it's the model that all the Taiwanese and Chinese shapers are cloned from. What more can you say?

Click link for Powermatic Shapers for Sale

Powermatic Sanders for Sale

There's a wide range of sanders from Powermatic. The older ones are green, which means lots of cast iron and it was also made in the USA. If the unit is gold it may have been made in the USA, Taiwan or China. When in doubt, and if it matters to you, ask the seller. It's always printed on the name plate.

Click link for Powermatic Sanders for Sale

Here's a great FREE site that will keep you informed if anything new gets posted!

You can be the first to know if something new is added to this blog (Or any other site of interest for that matter). Visit http://www.watchthatpage.com/ and sign up for a free account. You can then add any url to your personal list and you'll be emailed should anything change. I've used this site for several years to keep track of changes on one of my favorite sites: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/ which is a site that rarely changes. Test it out with our blog and you'll be the first to know if anything changes!