Care and Feeding of a 20" Slab Saw

I bought an Iron Worker Built 20" Slab Saw.
Talk about HEAVY! He built the bottom, sides AND lid out of 1/4" sheet Iron!

Hard to believe, but my wife won't let me keep it in HER kitchen, Worra Worra, what to do?





Jeff's 18" build reminded me of some design items I like and dislike in my own (far from first owner) saw.

I like: the 1 1/2 hp motor, the gear reducer belt feed to easy change 3 speed feed drive, and the bearings outside the box.

I don't like: the hood being made of 1/4" sheet iron. The unit was already way too heavy.
The hood holding arm needs a notch so it can automatically drop into place when lifting the hood.
The vice mechanism was inserted too far away from the blade. Whoever put the angle iron on helped.
The box requires way too much oil.
The tension spring on the feed drive belt hooked directly to the leg, causing the belt and pulley to rub on the box.
The 1" drain was reduced to 3/4" 90 degree faucet. full of sludge and worthless.
The motor support rod is too hard to adjust.
The previous owner included a fan to keep the motor cool. -It was fed with a 20' 18 gauge lamp cord!
I re-wired with 12/3 SO cord and never had any over-heating problem!

But Where to keep it? In the shop out back of our new home? Nope, too messy for there . . . Oh Oh!

I just took the cover off the electrical panel there. Only fed with two #4 cables, each brought through a separate knockout - that can induce a magnetic current in the metal between the two wires causing it to heat and start a fire. Worse, there is no ground wire!

Ditch digging time at my age?





Yep, there is the old phone wire too.

I put in a new power feed, phone line TV cable, control wires for a future inter-com, and a natural gas line to heat instead of wood.

Once the trenches were filled in I built a work table over them.

Well, I'm going to need a shed on the north end of my shop and winter is getting close.
Might as well pour a slab AND supports for a gantry. Did I mention this thing is HEAVY?



Slab poured, started building the north wall with a 20' length of 4" angle iron on top to hold up the roof.



I had a camper shell with bubble windows I decided to make into skylights.
I had to wire it for night work. At 76 I take a LOT more breaks than I used to.



Roof on, west end closed in and sheet-rocked, time to build a gantry and get the saw under a roof.



Building the rolling cross-bar.



Making sure the parts will fit on the trolley.



Putting it together.



And in place. Finally the saw is inside. Did I mention it is HEAVY?



Winter is here and I need more than a roof! Time to build doors.



I decided to make them sliding doors so I used uni-strut with pipe sliders inside.



Doors in place, Window time!



Snow.



I changed my mind about the east wall, so when it warmed up I made it into a door that opened UP.