Unitronix Polamco 16” Jointer ???????

[Chris Rosenberger]

Unitronix Polamco FJ-41.2 HEAVY DUTY 16" JOINTER
Has anyone heard of this brand jointer before?
I did a internet search & all I could find was the listing for this jointer. The dealer that has it for sale, sold it new in the 70's. They have not sold the brand for years & no longer have information on hand. They believe it was built in Italy. The jointer does not have a name plate. It was removed when the stock feeder mount was installed.
The jointer has a 16 1/4" wide 4 blade cutter head with carbide blades & a 99" long table. It has a 5hp 3 ph motor with a cutter head brake & it is in very good condition & is very heavy. I would like to find a manual for it.
It is now setting in my shop.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/UnitronixPolamcoJointerA.jpg

[Bruce Page]

Congrats!

I haven't heard of it but it looks like an excellent professional grade machine.

Did you get a good deal on it?

[Larry Edgerton]

Nice.......

How much?

[Charles B Wilson]

Chris,

The Unitronix / Polamco Machine line was manufactured in Poland. As I remember it is a solid no frills type of machine. I have never used a jointer of theirs but have played with a saw and shaper years ago.

Exfactory may have some parerwork on their website.



Charles

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks for the replies.

Thank you Charles for the information. I will check Exfactory.


I am going to get an estimate for getting a Byrd cutter head made for it. So tonight I pulled the cutter head out of it to get measurements. I found bearings I have never seen before. The center will tumble sideways inside the race.
Has anyone else seen this type of bearing before?

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0764.jpg

[Charles B Wilson]

Looks like a double row self aligning ball bearing.

http://www.bearingstrade.com/self-aligning-ball-bearings.html


CW

[Darius Ferlas]

Polamco used to be a division of Poland's Metalexport (http://www.polishmarket.com.pl/document/:522).
It seems the US contact might be possibly found here (http://www.techspex.com/techspex/manufacturers/info?company_id=2924)


And a little trivia:

In 1970's/1980's the president of the company was a Polish spy working against the US

[Bruce Page]

Looks like a double row self aligning ball bearing.

http://www.bearingstrade.com/self-aligning-ball-bearings.html


CW
Yep, think precision pillow block.

[Calvin Crutchfield]

Nice find. Hope it was a good deal.

Got three phase? If not and it is your only planned 3 phase machine, get a VFD. Better option than a rotary phase converter with regards to space ease of install etc . . .

As for the byrd cutter head, I believe they have a 16" one for the Felder jointer/planer combo and it is $1,500.

Have fun.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Nice find. Hope it was a good deal.

Got three phase? If not and it is your only planned 3 phase machine, get a VFD. Better option than a rotary phase converter with regards to space ease of install etc . . .

As for the byrd cutter head, I believe they have a 16" one for the Felder jointer/planer combo and it is $1,500.

Have fun.

Thanks Calvin.
I have 3 phase in my shop. I am hoping the head will be around $1500. It will be a custom head so I need to send Byrd ball park measurements for a quote.
It has a big cutter head. It is 4 7/8" in diameter. So the price may be a little higher.

[Paul Murphy]

Chris, I have what I think is the same machine. When I bought it (over 15 years ago) Unitronix had some relationship with Fortis machine, although I am not too sure exactly what that was.

I had a Baldor single phase motor installed, and other than a fuse in the original start relay, a set of belts, and new knives, it is original.

Set the knives @ 1.1 mm or .0433 in. above the cutterhead.

Stock knives were 410 mm x 35 x 3, but I have been running 16-1/8” x 1-3/8 x 1/8 which are a little thicker, and I had to grind a bit on my wrench to get it thin enough to set the knives. If you want to cut a rabbet, be sure to project the end of the knives by about 1/8” so as to clear the side of the outfeed table.

I think it weighs ~1650 lb, and runs (2) 8 x 13 x 1400 mm v-belts, which worked out to be close to the 4L56/A54 standard.

The fence on mine has a bit of play, but I just park it against the base of the powerfeed to stabilize it. Someday I might see about actually taking the play out…

A Byrd cutter head sounds very nice. Let us know what you find out! I dream of one at every knife replacement.

I have the 19 page "manual", but other than an electrical diagram it doesn't get very detailed.

[Chip Lindley]

....As I remember it is a solid no frills type of machine.

Um....isn't that STEFF stock feeder a *frill*?

Jointers are pretty straight-forward machines. Not sure what other *frills* anybody would want....except flat, parallel tables and a flat 90 degree fence!

[Joe Meazle]

Great find Chris! can we get some some close ups of that guard. I have a 12" faux Oliver and the big pork chop guard is in the way when face jointing wide stock. I have been contemplating some type of hinged guard that would fall away during wide jointing (trying).

Joe

[Chris Rosenberger]

Chris, I have what I think is the same machine. When I bought it (over 15 years ago) Unitronix had some relationship with Fortis machine, although I am not too sure exactly what that was.

I had a Baldor single phase motor installed, and other than a fuse in the original start relay, a set of belts, and new knives, it is original.

Set the knives @ 1.1 mm or .0433 in. above the cutterhead.

Stock knives were 410 mm x 35 x 3, but I have been running 16-1/8” x 1-3/8 x 1/8 which are a little thicker, and I had to grind a bit on my wrench to get it thin enough to set the knives. If you want to cut a rabbet, be sure to project the end of the knives by about 1/8” so as to clear the side of the outfeed table.

I think it weighs ~1650 lb, and runs (2) 8 x 13 x 1400 mm v-belts, which worked out to be close to the 4L56/A54 standard.

The fence on mine has a bit of play, but I just park it against the base of the powerfeed to stabilize it. Someday I might see about actually taking the play out…

A Byrd cutter head sounds very nice. Let us know what you find out! I dream of one at every knife replacement.

I have the 19 page "manual", but other than an electrical diagram it doesn't get very detailed.


Thanks for the info Paul.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Great find Chris! can we get some some close ups of that guard. I have a 12" faux Oliver and the big pork chop guard is in the way when face jointing wide stock. I have been contemplating some type of hinged guard that would fall away during wide jointing (trying).

Joe

I will post the pictures shortly.

Chris

[Larry Fox]

Looks like a really nice jointer with a very cool looking power-feed on it. Congrats. My only concern would be parts.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Chris,
Did you consider getting a Tersa head for it? I have one on my machine and love it

[Joe Jensen]

Thanks Calvin.
I have 3 phase in my shop. I am hoping the head will be around $1500. It will be a custom head so I need to send Byrd ball park measurements for a quote.
It has a big cutter head. It is 4 7/8" in diameter. So the price may be a little higher.

My SCMI 12" head was 3 7/8" in diameter. Their drawing looked slightly different than my ability to measure mine so I sent it to them. Took about 4 weeks total. I was originally quoted $1200 before Brian spoke with Byrd. He came back at $1500, and then in the end it was $995. I was able to do a MS cash back for $795 net. I was super happy, but I have no idea how much yours will be. My 12" PM planer head is more lie 3" dia and has 6 rows of cutters, 12 wide, for a total of 72 cutters. I paid Suffolk $1000 before I know that Holbren sold them. The SCMI jointer head is large and I think it the SCMI has 8 rows of cutters but I think it has 13 across for a total of 104 cutters.

In short, I think I got a crazy deal, no idea what you will be quoted..joe

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thanks Larry.
I do not see parts as an issue. I took this into consideration before I bought it. The only parts that would be a problem are the bearing blocks for the cutter head. But, if I break one of those I am going to have more problems than just the blocks.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Chris,
Did you consider getting a Tersa head for it? I have one on my machine and love it

Considering that the quote I just got from Byrd is $2054, I am going to check other options. I have a Terminus head in my planer & have been very happy with it. The Terminus is similar to the Tersa. I will check on both the Terminus & Tersa tomarrow.

[Chris Rosenberger]

My SCMI 12" head was 3 7/8" in diameter. Their drawing looked slightly different than my ability to measure mine so I sent it to them. Took about 4 weeks total. I was originally quoted $1200 before Brian spoke with Byrd. He came back at $1500, and then in the end it was $995. I was able to do a MS cash back for $795 net. I was super happy, but I have no idea how much yours will be. My 12" PM planer head is more lie 3" dia and has 6 rows of cutters, 12 wide, for a total of 72 cutters. I paid Suffolk $1000 before I know that Holbren sold them. The SCMI jointer head is large and I think it the SCMI has 8 rows of cutters but I think it has 13 across for a total of 104 cutters.

In short, I think I got a crazy deal, no idea what you will be quoted..joe

I emailed Brian this morning about a Byrd head & have not heard back from him. I bought a Byrd head from Brian for my 8" jointer.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Below are pictures of the blade guard.
The pieces are held together by strips of some type of fabric in the grooves in ends. It looks like the fabric is woven from nylon.
I would be glad to provide any other info needed.


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0765.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0766.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0767.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0768.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0769.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0770.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0771.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0772.jpg

[Chris Rosenberger]

Chris, I have what I think is the same machine. When I bought it (over 15 years ago) Unitronix had some relationship with Fortis machine, although I am not too sure exactly what that was.

I had a Baldor single phase motor installed, and other than a fuse in the original start relay, a set of belts, and new knives, it is original.

Set the knives @ 1.1 mm or .0433 in. above the cutterhead.

Stock knives were 410 mm x 35 x 3, but I have been running 16-1/8” x 1-3/8 x 1/8 which are a little thicker, and I had to grind a bit on my wrench to get it thin enough to set the knives. If you want to cut a rabbet, be sure to project the end of the knives by about 1/8” so as to clear the side of the outfeed table.

I think it weighs ~1650 lb, and runs (2) 8 x 13 x 1400 mm v-belts, which worked out to be close to the 4L56/A54 standard.

The fence on mine has a bit of play, but I just park it against the base of the powerfeed to stabilize it. Someday I might see about actually taking the play out…

A Byrd cutter head sounds very nice. Let us know what you find out! I dream of one at every knife replacement.

I have the 19 page "manual", but other than an electrical diagram it doesn't get very detailed.



Thank you Paul for the copy of the manual & all of the other information you provided.

[Joe Meazle]

Thanks Chris.
Very helpful as always.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I got the jointer finished up & moved into the shop today. I made it more of a project than I had intended at the start. I decided to repaint it. That meant taking apart most of the jointer. I am glad I did, because after I got it apart & saw the amount of grease that had leaked out of the bearing housings, I decided to install sealed bearings.
One thing I did not expect problems with was the motor, because I had heard it run before buying. The 3ph motor was wired 460 volt & I have 240 volt 3ph service. When I opened up the motor junction box & started pulling the wires out, the insulation on the wires crumbled. I ended up with 12 bare wires going down into the motor. I called the dealer that sold me the jointer & told them what had happened. I was told to bring the motor back & they would get it repaired. I got a call Thursday that the motor was ready. When I got there, they had a new 5hp 3ph motor for me.:D
The fence face was made from soft aluminum & was warped. I added a piece of hard maple over the aluminum & than face jointed it. It came out very straight & flat.
The tables were very hard to adjust because the pivot points had not been lubed in years. Over several days I sprayed penetrating oil into the table pivot points. I did too good of a job because in the end the tables loosened up to the point that as soon as the table lock was released the tables would drop to there lowest positions. It was an easy fix on the outfeed table. I just adjusted the table down limit stop so that table could not drop. To fix the infeed table, I installed a large counter balance spring under the table. Now the infeed table is very easy to move up or down.

I bought this jointer because of the price & not because I thought it was a great jointer. After I discovered that it was made in Poland, I was beginning to have second thoughts. After going through the restoration, I am convinced that I made the right choice. It is a very nice jointer that has several very nice design features. The electrical panel is accessable from the front of the stand. The cutter head has a brake with a micro switch. I can stop the cutter head instantly with the brake pedal. The dust chute has an access door so clogs can be cleaned without taking the pipe apart. Last but not least is the tambor blade guard. I owned a 16" Powermatic jointer a couple of years ago & it had the standard pork chop guard. The guard was always in the way when face jointing wide boards. With the tambor guard, the guard just wraps around the side of the jointer.

Again, thank you for all of the helpful info that was provided here.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/UnitronixPolamcoJointerB.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0780.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0779.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0778.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0782.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o303/chrisrosenb/100_0783.jpg

[Mikail Khan]

Looks great. Very nice work.

MK

[Herbert Mulqueen]

About 20 years ago I had a large table saw from Unitronix. The distributor was from the Chicago area. It had a good size motor say about 12 hp or so. Just used it for ripping SYP 2x6's about 20 feet long. Truck loads and truck loads for one project. It worked fine and I believe it is still running. It had a sliding table with it and we put a 8 wheel feeder on it. The frame was very heavy. Problem we had was that at that time most USA saws were 5 to 7 1/2 hp and we were worried about bogging down. We ripped on an angle, not at 90 degrees. As to Polish equipment, some of the biggest lathes were made in Poland, 100 inch plus swings and huge length. Note the only thing I remember was that the blade guard was not acceptable to my OSHA guy. So an after market guard and everything was fine. Never a problem.

I check my records and see if I can find a brochure.

Enjoy your machine.

Herb

[Paul Murphy]

Wow Chris, it turned out beautifully!!! I am sure it looks better than when it was new.
I’ll bet it works as well, and probably better also.

Can you let me know the bearing details, as it will save me a bunch of research if I have to do mine?

I'm also interested in what you decide on for a cutterhead, although mine still does pretty well when the knives are sharp.

[Joe Jensen]

Below are pictures of the blade guard.
The pieces are held together by strips of some type of fabric in the grooves in ends. It looks like the fabric is woven from nylon.
I would be glad to provide any other info needed.

Hmm, mine had a plywood cover with a factory looking spring mechanism and I assumed that the original had been damaged and replaced with plywood. Looks like Plywood was a blade guard material after all.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Thank you for the kind replies.

Herb,

I would love to have a copy of a brochure.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Wow Chris, it turned out beautifully!!! I am sure it looks better than when it was new.
I’ll bet it works as well, and probably better also.

Can you let me know the bearing details, as it will save me a bunch of research if I have to do mine?

I'm also interested in what you decide on for a cutterhead, although mine still does pretty well when the knives are sharp.

Paul,

Thank you.
I got the bearings from bearingsdirect.com. The numbers are 2207 for the guard side & 2208 for the pulley side. The prices were about 1/3 of the price I was quoted locally for unsealed bearings.

I got a sheet of sealing felt from McMaster Carr to make new seals for the bearing housings.

I decided to stay with the stock cutter head for now. It came with a set of carbide blades, so I will see how long they stay sharp. I have not given up on getting the Byrd head. I will just wait for work to pick up.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Hmm, mine had a plywood cover with a factory looking spring mechanism and I assumed that the original had been damaged and replaced with plywood. Looks like Plywood was a blade guard material after all.

Joe,

The guard on my jointer is made from solid oak.

[george wilson]

Was the spy trying to get the secret recipe for Mount Olive pickles?:)