New (to me) jointer

[tyb525]

I found a good deal on CL, it's a Delta Milwaukee 6". Not sure of the model, the tag is gone.

The guy just finished using it for all the trimand paneling in his new house and didn't need it anymore. He just put a newer 1hp motor on it. It has the adjustable outfeed table, so that should be real nice for eliminating snipe. Have yet to try it, but I've turned it on and it runs fine. He said he ran a lot of hickory and walnut across it and it had plenty of power. I have a 2 hp 220v motor if I need it though ;)

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need :

[Holmes]

 That is a great find tyb525. Nice old cast iron jointer. It will serve you well.  Now that you have everything that you need you can start on the list of everything you want..  Holmes

[pineywoods]

Ty, I have it's twin. I salvaged mine from the ashes of a building that burned to the ground. New motor and new bearings and it's still running. I didn't know who made it, all the tags burned off. The thing is built like a tank. Should serve you well

[pasbuild]

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need

:D :D :D :D

[submarinesailor]

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need :

No you don't. ??? ??? ???  You just think you do ..........at this time anyways. : : : : ;D ;D ;D

Bruce

[ely]

you dont have everything, unless the guard off that thing is laying in pickup bed.
if not you best find one.
i've got a couple of that ones ugly sisters.

[metalspinner]

Ditto on that guard.  I wouldn't think of passing a board over an unguarded jointer.

A jointer is the first step in machining a perfect board.  You'll not regret buying it.

[Norm]

Nice find Ty. 

[Dave Shepard]

Cool! It looks like you can set it up to cut ship lap. Our Boice and Crane at work doesn't have that option, so we have to cut it on the table saw, a real pain.

[SwampDonkey]

I've got a newer Delta, well it's about 20 years old now, and it's not much different other than a lighter fence and a blade guard. ;) I've edged a lot of rough sawn boards and had to edge cupped ones to when first planed flat.

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Nice looking jointer Ty, but I agree, get a guard on that blade before you use it.

I did get a good laugh out of you saying that with buying this, you now have all the tools you need. I wish I had 50 cents for every time I thought that, but alas thousands of dollars of tool purchases later and I still manage to find some neat gadget of newly designed tool I just must have. The only difference is the price of the ones I do not have keeps going up and up. For example, now that I have the $4600 hydraulic dump trailer, a little voice in my head keeps saying a $10,000 used skid steer might be nice to go along with it to load it with.

[isawlogs]

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need :

Famous last words  : :D :D 

[SwampDonkey]

Wait until you start having the wants for some finer hand tools like this beading tool. :D

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Amen on the guard. I saw my father lose two joints of his pinky and ring finger on his left hand while using a jointer after removing the guard.

And my own tablesaw accident taught me again how quickly things can go wrong.

Be Careful!

Herb

[isawlogs]

SD .. most of us have elactricaty and routers ..  ;)

[Dave Shepard]

My router doesn't use electricity. I've got a Stanley 71 1/2, but I've been eyeing the Lie-Nielsen Large Router Plane, among other things. :D

[tyb525]

Those last words were sarcasm ;)

The thing didn't come with a guard, and I don't see any place where one would be attached. I have push-pads for it to keep my fingers away, and I'll keep the cuts very light. It has a 3 knife head with 1/8" knives. I joined one face and edge of a honey locust board, about the hardest wood I have, and the motor didn't slow down at all, but the knives sure pounded. I'll be sharpening them and polishing/waxing the bed so the boards feed smoothly. A not-very-smooth tablesaw top was the cause of my incident with that table saw (the board didn't want to slide, my hand slipped off the jig) and I believe that is one of the most important safety features you can get, a very smooth table.

If it did come with a guard originally, I'll see if I can get one.

[metalspinner]

Here's a link to your jointer...

http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/delta-jointer-6-inch.html

You have a hole on the infeed table for the guard to slide into.  If you cannot find one right away, it should be easy enough to make on for the time being.

Please be patient and get that guard in place. ;)

[tyb525]

Ah, must've overlooked it ;) I'm sure I can come up with something from wood and a simple spring device.

[beenthere]

From the guard comments posted, I hope no one is getting a false sense of security from the guard.
It protects the blades from inadvertent contact with fingers and pieces of wood, and objects dropped on the sharp blades when the jointer isn't in use.

However, proper use of the jointer doesn't require the guard to be in position. And in some instances, can let the operator forget just where those rotating cutting blades are at (IMO).

What is necessary is never having fingers or hand parts over the rotating blades such that the piece can kick out leaving your fingers to drop into the blades. The proper push sticks and push pads help prevent this, as does the proper push of the piece ahead of and behind the blades. The guard itself doesn't help avoid this unsafe operation.

Eye protection is important PSE to wear.

[tyb525]

bt, That was kinda how I was thinking, although the guard would give me more peace of mind in case I lost my balance for whatever reason while a board wasn't over the cutter and my hand ended up over/near the cutterhead.

I can't even think of trying to joint a board (especially face jointing) without push pads, it scares me just thinking of having my fingers that close to the cutterhead, guard or not.

[logwalker]

My old shop teacher drilled it into us...the jointer is the most dangerous power tool in the shop. Guard or no. That is all Ten Finger Joe has to say about that.

[Larry]

That's a great jointer, capable of doing anything a new shiny one does better.  Best part...it was made in the USA and you kept your buying dollars right here.

Before you attempt to take the knives out use something to break the rust/corrosion on the jack screws.  Ignition wrench set will be right to loosen the jack screw.  Most of those machines took a 3/32" thick knife even though an 1/8" fits.  The 3/32" allows more room for the wrench.

You can date your machine, find the correct owners manual, and possibly pick up a guard over on the OWWM site.

Happy jointing!

[SwampDonkey]

On mine Ty, it's shaped like a mailbox flag. It is pinned into a hole on the edge of the infeed table and is spring loaded.

It can save your hand from being bit if you have roll over or even if you trip on something under your feet and land on the router, that's a lot of blade wide open, worse than a meat grinder. On mine the ends of the work piece is where you might be bit while passing hand over the blade and the end kicks going in or rears passing by. It's not false securely in that it prevents being cut in others ways your not thinking of. ;)

Yes don't run your hands on the piece over the blades, if you have to than the piece is too short. Don't get complacent and know where your digits are at, at all times. It's easy to hurry and not think closely about what your doing, especially if you get to jointing a lot of material at a session. Gets repetitive, and the brain goes lazy. Some goes for any piece of equipment. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

SD .. most of us have elactricaty and routers ..  ;)

Marcel, this tool is better is some ways as you can make your own profile if you want (which are cheaper than bits) and it's handy if you want to work in tight quarters that a router can't work. A beading or reeding router bit would cost about $30, about half of this tool cost.  And you get no burn. I never saw a bit that never burnt wood no matter how good it was. ;) It's not meant for deep cuts either, an 1/8" or 3/16" max maybe. In my photo the blade is down way lower than it would be used. The little tip/point is all that goes in the wood. The shoulder of the blade has to be at least a 1/64" below the sole of the tool creating a slight angle offset from 90 degrees. Another handy tool is the profile scraper to take that burn off router bit cuts. ;)

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Ty

Looking at the picture of your jointer, I see a few other small items that need attention.

1. Looks like he was pretty sparce with the bolts used to hold the motor in place. I only see 1 bolt and at least 3 empty holes. Suggest you add a few more bolts.

2. I do not like the electric switch setup. Scrap the plastic box and use a metal box with a clamp fittings to clamp the in-coming and outgoing cables firmly in place so they do not come loose with vibration. In the picture you can see that the in-comining power cable is already pulling out of the box

3. Could just be the picture, or how he mounted the motor, but the drive belt looks somewhat loose. When you address the motor mounting issue, you might want to modify it using threaded rods and aircraft nuts above and below the motor mounting plate so you can adjust the motor up and down for proper belt tension. For safety sake, you might want to fabricate a guard for the drive belt as well.

4. I use silicon gun lube on my jointer and surface planer tables. Keeps them from rusting and gives good reduction in friction

[tyb525]

Fred, I was definitely going to build a whole new stand for it, as the current set-up is very cobbled together, and place a new switch somewhere ready accessible on the front.

I've heard silicone can cause fish eyes in the finish, do you have problems with that?

[Bandmill Bandit]

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need :

Famous last words  : :D :D 

Are you sure those eve qualify as famous last words?

My wife's fav question is "and now you have every tool you need, right?" my answer is "I need a biggar shop!"

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Fred, I was definitely going to build a whole new stand for it, as the current set-up is very cobbled together, and place a new switch somewhere ready accessible on the front.

I've heard silicone can cause fish eyes in the finish, do you have problems with that?

I have never had a problem with that happening. I do not put a whole lot on, and I do wipe if over once it has been applied.

[Peter Drouin]

A jointer was the last "must-have" tool I needed, now I have "everything" I need :
[/quote]

Famous last words  : :D :D 
[/quote]

Are you sure those eve qualify as famous last words?

My wife's fav question is "and now you have every tool you need, right?" my answer is "I need a biggar shop!"
:D :D :D :D thats a good one, :D :D more tools more tools. My wife( now what??) :D :D :D 8) 8)

[metalspinner]

Those rubber padded push pads have always been bothersome to me.  They are ok for holding the board down, but pushing with them never felt secure.  My leading hand usually has the rubber pad thing to push down.  My trailing hand has a wood push shoe made from a thick piece of wood stock.

Can't find the camera cable to load a pic. :-\

[tyb525]

A quick question, about how fast should this cutterhead spin? Right now it's set up with a 1750 motor with a 7" pulley and a 2.5" pulley on the head. According to an online calc it spins around 4900 rpm. Is this an okay speed?

[D._Frederick]

tyb

I have a 6 inch Delta that dates to WII and it has the same size pulleys, that speed cuts good with sharp knives.

You should be able to make a guard out of birch plywood to cover the cutter.

[logwalker]

A quick question, about how fast should this cutterhead spin? Right now it's set up with a 1750 motor with a 7" pulley and a 2.5" pulley on the head. According to an online calc it spins around 4900 rpm. Is this an okay speed?

That might be a little fast but will give a nice cut. I will be interested in hearing from someone that knows. Joe

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

A quick question, about how fast should this cutterhead spin? Right now it's set up with a 1750 motor with a 7" pulley and a 2.5" pulley on the head. According to an online calc it spins around 4900 rpm. Is this an okay speed?

I took a look in the Grizzly catalog and their 6 inch jointers spin at 4800rpm, regardless of whether they have straight blade cutters or the spiral cut heads, so you speed looks good to me.

[tyb525]

Thanks guys I ordered some new blades for it. Does anyone sharpen their own blades? I've had a grizzly 12 1/2" lunchbox planer for a few years with double sided blades, I've "honed" both edges twice using a flat piece of glass and a big piece of 600 grit wet/dry paper. While that works good, I'd like to see if there is a better way useing a bench grinder or something, I'd think someone one here might have a jig they made? Is it worth trying to resharpen them?

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Local machine shops will usually sharpen planer blades at a fairly reasonable charge