Old Crescent Jointer

[Smithkp]

I have found an old Crescent 18" wide jointer. Owner wants 1600.00 and is two states away. He says it is in great running condition. It has a 3 phase 220, 5hp motor and looks like a heavy beast.

This seems like a great deal but is it worth me driving 8 hours one way to retrieve it or am I asking for trouble?

[nativewolf]

I have found an old Crescent 18" wide jointer. Owner wants 1600.00 and is two states away. He says it is in great running condition. It has a 3 phase 220, 5hp motor and looks like a heavy beast.

This seems like a great deal but is it worth me driving 8 hours one way to retrieve it or am I asking for trouble?

Yes... :D  to both questions.  Great deal and trouble.  The old jointers are hard to screw up.  If it runs it is worth it.  18"  Nice...
Moving it..that's the trouble.

[Smithkp]

I run a slab and table building business and this is something I have dreamed about for years.

[muggs]

Ask if it is ball or babbit bearing.

[alan gage]

Two states away can mean different distances/times to different people depending on which states are being referred to.

Alan

[Ljohnsaw]

Two states away can mean different distances/times to different people depending on which states are being referred to.

Alan

:D
For someone going east from NY to RI, not that far.  For me going east, that's 10-12 hours!

[YellowHammer]

Depends.  I'd have him send a video from his phone before I made a decision.  Old iron is great up to a point. 

[moodnacreek]

Those old monsters are hard to sell. Mine is a 12" berlin on babbit. The shaft is scored and the babbit is likewise. In my experience these heavy cast machines get scrapped.

[Andries]

Yep, some get scrapped, but mine didn't.


 

Yellowhammer has a good suggestion: get the owner to send or post a video. 
Also, run a search here on the Forum for jointer and clamshell. Some cutter heads are worth staying away from.
If you get the right one, you get a lot of machine for the money.

[Don P]

Yup, if its a square head I'd pass or replace it right off the bat.

[moodnacreek]

Yep, some get scrapped, but mine didn't.


 

Yellowhammer has a good suggestion: get the owner to send or post a video.
Also, run a search here on the Forum for jointer and clamshell. Some cutter heads are worth staying away from.
If you get the right one, you get a lot of machine for the money.

I hate to see em scrapped and I think I have found a new owner for mine as it's in the way and I never use it anymore.  It is a round head.

[Smithkp]

I was wondering how much time and effort would need to go into "updating" it to a modern cutter head and ball bearing if required.Most likely going to have to find a new 5hp electric motor as I have no desire to convert 3 phase.

[muggs]

I was wondering how much time and effort would need to go into "updating" it to a modern cutter head and ball bearing if required.Most likely going to have to find a new 5hp electric motor as I have no desire to convert 3 phase.

I would think it would be a deal breaker. :'(   Muggs

[Smithkp]

So I just found another identical machine in PA for 400.00 less. Very little info on it aside from "as removed from service". A single phase 5hp motor from Baldor would run me 345.00. Only issue is the babitt bearings which may not be an issue if I could swap them out with ball or just replace them. Would it be possible to update the cutter to helical?

[moodnacreek]

Have never seen a cast iron machine w/ poured bearings that could be converted without machine shop work if it could be done at all.  The babbit bearings are very wide compared to single  ball bearing pillow blocks. Also the shafts are set low in these old machines.

[YellowHammer]

One of the issues with updating old iron is simply the cost effectiveness of it, as well as the safety.  

I think if you can purchase a machine in serviceable, working condition, then it would be an excellent deal if it was "work ready" and didn't have to be updated.  Accept it for "It is what it is" and if it's been running well for 50 years it should run for another 50.  Start upgrading and modifying, and you might as well get one of the newer models.

One of the biggest characteristics I've found with big jointers is that they have grooved beds which let airflow under the flat board and reduces sliding friction amazingly.  Some of the old ones had this, some not.  The grooves turns the bed into an air hockey table, and the flatter the board, the easier it slides.  Otherwise, with a mirror smooth ground bed, a vacuum forms and actually sticks the board to the bed, which is one way I knew I had boards dead flat on our old 12" jointer.  Our current 20" SCMI will slide with half the force.  

[low_48]

Absolutely nothing wrong with babbit bearings if they still have some shim left between the two halves. That will let you scrape them in if they have worn a little oval. I think they run smoother. You just need to keep them oiled. I had an 18" Yates American when I had my business. Looked like an aircraft carrier, and really put out a whine when you turned on the dust collector. Sold it for what I paid, $450 when I sold the business. Still running in that guys shop, 18 years latter.

[moodnacreek]

One of the issues with updating old iron is simply the cost effectiveness of it, as well as the safety.  

I think if you can purchase a machine in serviceable, working condition, then it would be an excellent deal if it was "work ready" and didn't have to be updated.  Accept it for "It is what it is" and if it's been running well for 50 years it should run for another 50.  Start upgrading and modifying, and you might as well get one of the newer models.

One of the biggest characteristics I've found with big jointers is that they have grooved beds which let airflow under the flat board and reduces sliding friction amazingly.  Some of the old ones had this, some not.  The grooves turns the bed into an air hockey table, and the flatter the board, the easier it slides.  Otherwise, with a mirror smooth ground bed, a vacuum forms and actually sticks the board to the bed, which is one way I knew I had boards dead flat on our old 12" jointer.  Our current 20" SCMI will slide with half the force.  
So that's why the tables are corduroy, I never knew.