What RPMs ?

[Robert Peloquin]

Another newbie!
I,m also pretty new to woodworking.
I recently picked up an older 4" jointer with no motor and would like to know at what speed should the cutter head be turning. It has a 2" pulley on it . Should I use a 3600 rpm motor?
The same thing for a 9" rockwell table saw, the motor on it is a 1725 rpm with a 4.5" pulley .When I got it it did not have the original motor or pulley.
Thanks in advance!

[Troy Donson]

Robert, what brand Jointer is it? Model # ? Same for the table saw.

And how old is "older" ? :)

I am sitting on my kiester and feeling pretty bored while I wait to go back to work in 2 weeks, so if you can give me more info I certainly have time to do some research for you...

BTW welcome aboard.

Troy

[Joe Chritz]

Welcome!

All machines are designed to operate with a particular motor speed or range of speed. Obviously if you put a 1750RPM motor on one that originally had a faster spinning one without changing pulleys you reduce the cutter edge speed.

Send some model numbers out and I am sure someone will know. They can race Troy to get an answer.

Joe

[Troy Donson]

Gee thanks for that, Joe...:rolleyes:

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, 4,800 RPM would be a reasonable cutterhead speed for a small jointer made in the last 30 or 40 years.

Similarily, an arbour speed of about 5,000RPM would be suitable for a 9 or 10 inch sawblade. (about 12,000 FPM)

It doesn't matter what RPM the motor is, simply adjust the pulley ratio to yield the correct shaft speed.

Regards, Rod.

[Troy Donson]

Robert, without having any idea what you are working with beside the descriptions you gave, I went snooping around.

On your tablesaw: I went looking at a bunch of different 10" manufacturer sites (yes, I know it's a 9" but the rpm at the arbor should be at least close) and the rpms they list as "no-load" rpm range (at least at the ones I looked at) from Powermatic 7.5hp cabinet saw's 3450rpm up to the Hitachi contractor saw's 5000rpm.

Others include:

General Cabinet Saw 4200

Makita Contractor Saw 4600

Jet 3hp Cabinet Saw 4300

Jet 1 1/2hp Contractor Saw 3600

So on your 1725 rpm motor with a 4 1/2" pulley, a 2 inch pulley at the arbor should give you about 3881 rpm.

As for the jointer:

Spooking around I found a figure of 8K and 10k rpm for 4" jointers. Now I was unable to find any 4 inchers that are currently being made other than the Sunhill Machinery Jointer and they list it at 8000 rpm.

With a 3450 rpm motor and a 2" pulley on the cutter head, you would need a 5" pulley on the motor to turn 8625 rpm at the cutter head. I would rec at least a 5/8 hp motor and keep your cuts in the 1/32" area max each pass...

I got all my pulley calculations from http://www.csgnetwork.com/pulleybeltcalc.html

Kinda a nice little tool to bookmark.

Anyway I hope that helps you out, Robert.

Good luck with your projects.

Troy

[Matthew Hills]

You might even be able to find the owner's manual for your old jointer at the Old Woodworking Machines website:

http://www.owwm.com/mfgindex/pubs.aspx

For my older Delta 6" jointer, the manual recommended aiming for a 4500rpm cutter head speed, with an example of a 1725rpm motor and motor:cutter head pulley ratio of 7:2.75.

Matt

[Robert Peloquin]

Thank-you gentlemen for your quick responses!
I suspect that the jointer planer is not a "high grade" item.
There are the remnents of a decal that is mostly gone, although part of one word looks like "jet" but I am not 100% sure. There is the "model 60"
still in tact. The tool is medium blue in color.
I could email some pics to anyone who would like to see it.
The end bearing on the pulley end of the shaft had some slack, so I totally disassembled the unit. The bearing took a bite on the shaft, would it be best to turn down that end of the shaft and use a smaller id with same od bearing? I don,t have in front of me but I think is about 1/2" at that end.

[Troy Donson]

Robert, depending on how attached you are to that 4" jointer, Sunhill Machinery is selling a 4" jointer for $79 new + $30 for shipping to the lower 48 states. Probably not be all that great a unit, but by the time you find a motor, bearings, blades and whatnot, you may be into your current jointer for quite a bit more than that...

http://www.sunhillmachinery.com/SM-100.htm

Just an idea.

[Robert Peloquin]

Thanks again Troy!
The thing is that I foolishly spent 40 bucks for the thing, and I live in Canada, so If I bought even a cheap planer down there, I would be paying 2?% exchange, customs , 2 taxes and who nows what else...
I will try to find a cheap good used motor, and change the bearings .
Its expensive being a Canuck!

[Troy Donson]

Robert, now I can see why you are interested in saving the equipment you have...

You may want to do a search for some of the other posts that mention Canada. There seems to be quite a few good suppliers and manufacturers in The Great White North that may be able to help you out.

You had also mentioned turning down a shaft that had gotten scored from a bad bearing. While it is certainly "doable" you need to determine how much of a load (heavy or light) that shaft is under. If it is a moderate to heavy loading be real careful how much material you take off. The last thing you want is to have a jackshaft or cutterhead shaft fatigue and fail while you are working over it...

Good luck with your project.

Troy