Need Advise - Potential Purchase used Jointer

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 12:52 pm

Here's some info that gives clues what may have changed....

http://www.tool-hunter.com/shopsmith-po ... ew-history

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:03 pm

nuhobby wrote:Here's some info that gives clues what may have changed....

http://www.tool-hunter.com/shopsmith-posts/shopsmith-single-purpose-tools-spt-s-/shopsmith-4-jointer-information-review-history

Interesting!

" . . . A few years ago SS increased the diameter of the cutterhead and increased the size of the knife locking wedges in order to tighten-up the spaces that can cause injury if an operator happens to get their hand too close to the running cutterhead. Again, this is available as a service part"

billmayo · Post by **billmayo** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 1:13 pm

Hope I am not too late to comment. Take a straight edge like a machinest ruler or a framing square or the ruler from a combination square to check the flatness of the infeed and outfeed tables. A feeler gauge would be nice but check for rocking (uneven) of the ruler or square. It should be solid feeling regardless of the direction of the ruler or square. Some of these joiners can have twisted or warped infeed and/or outfeed tables. If heavy rusting on the table surface, pass as the table will require machining to remove all the rust. Make sure the infeed table can be adjusted up and down. Spin the cutter head. If noisy or hard to spin, than the bearings will need to be replaced. Check if the knife edges have started to rust. If so, that normally means a lot of work to recondition the joiner.

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 2:52 pm

All good advice above. When checking flatness, if you don't have feeler gauges you can use a flashlight to make any gaps more visible.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 5:01 pm

joshh wrote:All good advice above. When checking flatness, if you don't have feeler gauges you can use a flashlight to make any gaps more visible.

Nice Hammer Rack!

joshh · Post by **joshh** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 5:15 pm

JPG40504 wrote:Nice Hammer Rack!

Hahahah, I know. Not my shop

mountainbreeze · Post by **mountainbreeze** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 6:24 pm

Be sure to check the condition of the piece that holds the fence and allows for adjusting the tilt angle of the fence (I don't recall the name of it). I believe it is on the SS list of most commonly replaced parts. If it is damaged, the fence will raise up on the far end when tightened down.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Fri Jan 03, 2014 6:30 pm

mountainbreeze wrote:Be sure to check the condition of the piece that holds the fence and allows for adjusting the tilt angle of the fence (I don't recall the name of it). I believe it is on the SS list of most commonly replaced parts. If it is damaged, the fence will raise up on the far end when tightened down.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/itemfind.htm?item=502651&Submit=Find+Item
http://www.shopsmith.com/ownersite/part ... dparts.htm

reluctant43 · Post by **reluctant43** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 12:32 pm

joe_cool wrote:I have found a used Joiner locally on CL and I'm going to look at it tomorrow. What should i look for or look out for. No picture of the Jointer. From reading all the posts about Jointers i found out that there are the older models with 3 screws and the newer models with 5. The seller did say he might have a few to choose from. Any advise would be great

This may be too late but my first SS jointer had a fence that was not flat and hence could not be properly squared with either the infeed or outfeed beds. This is critical for a jointer to do its job. Many things can be fixed in an older jointer, but this cannot without regrinding everything professionally. I had to get a new fence.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Jan 04, 2014 12:50 pm

reluctant43 wrote:This may be too late but my first SS jointer had a fence that was not flat and hence could not be properly squared with either the infeed or outfeed beds. This is critical for a jointer to do its job. Many things can be fixed in an older jointer, but this cannot without regrinding everything professionally. I had to get a new fence.

????? Was the fence not flat, or were the infeed/outfeed tables not coplaner at the same height?

One of the reasons for using cast iron is its resistance to being deformed(bent). I am struggling to understand this unless the fence was 'mis-ground'.

How was the fence 'non-flat'?