Shopsmith Forums

I bought a used SS that came with a lot of accessories, one of which was a brand new, never been opened 4" jointer. I was excited to get home from Afghanistan and get it all set up and running. well I am home now and I got the first load of items ( everything was stored at my parents house in Michigan) I sorted through everything and when I got to the jointer I hear a rattling (not a good sign). when I got everything out I found that the middle section that holds everything together in pieces and with this being die cast I don't see a way to fix it. if there is a way to save this I would be very grateful for the help

If it were 'die cast' it could possibly be welded.

But tis Cast Iron so welding is not likely successful.

Add to that the stud that is broken out operates under much tension.

The pivot is less stressed.

Unfortunately the the two halves are precision ground as an assembled pair.

This might be salvageable, but welding alone will not get er there.

Time for some original thinking!!!

Drilling through the table and tapping and a longer stud should fix the broken stud mount. Not pretty, but functional. The table advance stud may still work as is, but needs reinforcing in the broken off side.

The pivot will require something different. Maybe fabricating a new pivot mounted to the area on the original after grinding it away. Alignment would be tricky! The fence only pivots and a less aggressive(epoxy/jb weld) fix may work.

I have been totally unsuccessful welding or brazing any where on the joiner. I was lucky to have a couple of single infeed joiner tables (quite rusty) that I had brought over time. I had to have both table surfaces machined as a unit to insure proper alignment of both tables. Each infeed and outfeed table was machined as a matched set at the factory and I was never able to mix and match successfully without having to remachine the table surfaces. I was very successful buying the remaining parts of broken or missing parts of Shopsmith equipment over the years.

You might try JB Weld either the two part liquid (like epoxy) or it comes in a stick of putty as well. There are other similar products. The putty is machinable when cured. I've heard of snowmobile and motorcycle racers using it to fill burned holes in a piston to run "one last heat". I recommend using the putty form with your broken pieces surrounding the broken parts with putty and filling in the old holes and then re-drilling and tapping new threads. Make sure you mix the putty thoroughly and follow the instructions for curing times - usually sets in around an hour and fully cured after 24 hours. Take your time.

If it is cast iron it can be brazed or welded, welding would be with a TIG and some high silicone rod and a pre heat in an oven or something. For brazing (maybe welding too) a "V" would need to be ground into the crack, the inner part of the crack, where the threads are would be the point of the "V". Brazing is going to be cheaper and easier to find someone who can do the repair.

My suggestion is make some calls in your local yellow pages for in the welders section. Cast iron is tricky but it can be repaired by someone that knows what they are doing.

Is it worth the time and cost? Jointers are not that expensive in my area.

For example:

shopsmith 4" jointer $50

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/for/4130435971.html

thank you all for the advice. i was thinking about using jb weld but then realized that if it were to fail it would be in the middle of a cut and that is just too dangerous to even consider so I went and scraped it for the parts and I am looking into ebay and craigslist for a replacement. the one you listed would be great but the shipping cost would be a lot so I am looking more locally if possible.