Jointer Gloat

[Mike Cruz]

Well, any of you that saw my thread about a DJ-20 that was up for sale on CL that I was asking advice about, will have some inside knowledge about this.

Basically, I have a Delta 6" jointer, and have been waiting for an 8" jointer to come around for a good deal and fairly close. Well, it was about 1 hr 20 minutes from me. He was asking $500. I got it for $400...woohoooooooo! Yeah, it needs some TLC. The bed is a bit rusty, but not pitted. It needs a handle and some screws for the access panel, and a LOT of wiping off. I hope to get her cleaned up tomorrow, and will then post prettier pics of her.

She was born in 1991, and yes, made in Brazil. There is a 1 1/2 hp motor in her. Not really sure if it is original or not. It looked in great condition. It is wired for 110 right now, but I'll switch it over to 220. I fired it up at the guys place and it ran very smoothly. It did take a little while for the head to get up to speed, but I think that is because he hooked it up with a long 16 gauge extension cord... :eek:

Yeah, this thing is a little big for my shop. That is a 4'x4' work bench behind it in the first pic...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congrats Mike! Great tool...Great price! May it serve you well.

[Chip Lindley]

Great price on a DJ20! And I thot mine was cheap @ $675! Mine's not even an Invicta, but a '98 model. Great jointer though. I know you'll enjoy yours!

[Van Huskey]

You suck!

Now its time to use all the money you saved for a Byrd head... ;)

[Mike Cruz]

Hehe, lookin into it as we speak...

BTW, I'm having some issues getting a manual. On Delta's website, I got to the manuals, but the 37-350 manuals are in a foreign language. The 37-680 is in English. They both look alike. I don't know what the difference is. Anyone know wassup?

[glenn bradley]

1991? She's just gettin' warmed up. That same basic design has been proving itself for more years than that. You may want to pop the sides and see that the chip chute is closed off at the top. If not, the usual fixes (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88751&d=1211053894) for the older Griz G0490 series should apply.

If you go with a link belt (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=88752&d=1211053935), they can sometimes rub the underside of the fence carriage when the fence is in a more forward position, I just used an angel grinder (per Grizzly's suggestion) to grind out about 1/32" in the offending area and wah-la; its all good.

[Neil Brooks]

I don't mean to be technical, Mike, but ... to my eyes ... it's not big for your shop; the shop's a touch small for the jointer.

It's an easier problem to deal with, too :)

Congrats !

After clean-up pics, too, please !

[Dan Friedrichs]

Mike,
I remember the manual being difficult to find on the internet, but I did find it eventually (unfortunately, I don't have it any longer).

After you clean it up, I'd find that manual and get a good straightedge and adjust/align it well. It's very easy to do, and the manual explains the proceedure very well. I added a few notes to one of your pictures to show some of the adjustments - you'll see that it's really easy to dial this machine in to darn near perfectly coplaner.

[Van Huskey]

Mike make a post about the manual, certainly someone here has a DJ-20 and could copy the manual for you.

[Neil Brooks]

How different, if at all, would it be from this one:

http://www.dewaltservicenet.com/documents/English/Instruction%20Manual/Delta/EnA06586.pdf

[EDIT: parts diagram (http://www.mikestools.com/download/Delta-Parts-Lists/37-680-Model-DJ-20-8-Inch-Jointer-J3C.pdf) looks identical]

[Lee Bidwell]

Nice score Mike. And it sure looks good next to your Uni gloat! You may be the SMC king of Craiglist scores.

Lee

[Van Huskey]

On and your shop isn't too small, appears you have outfeed DOORS in just the right places!

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, I found that one, but if the numbers are different, I would think it is for a reason... I will call Delta to ask them. If they can't steer me in the right direction, I'll start a new thread about the manual. You're right, it does look identical. That is what puzzled me.

[Mike Cruz]

Van, at some point, hopefully not TOO long, I'll post a shop tour. I'll get up high in the shop to show the layout.

For now, I can tell you that my Planer, TS, Jointer and DC are all situated in a clump. The outfeed for the jointer and planer point toward the doors. But, because they are on angles, I can still joint and plane 12 foot boards without moving the machines or opening the doors. The planer's outfeed is across the infeed of the Uni (where I would stand when using the Uni), and the jointer's outfeed across the outfeed of the Uni. The DC is between the planer and the jointer, and to the left of the Uni.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, Lee, I try... Actually, about 5 years ago, when I built the shop (building) I had planned to buy all new equipment. But we spent a boat load on rehabbing this farm, and suddenly, the funds weren't available any more. So....CL to the rescue!

[Peter Quinn]

Enjoy that jointer Mike! My DJ 20 cost me twice that used, so for that YOU SUCK! Its a nice tool and a BIG step up from the 6" weight class. You can easily joint 10"-11" material too by pulling the guard and using the rabbit ledge, then throwing a melamine bed board on the planer to hit the other side. Some rabbit set ups don't allow this as easily.

[Sandy Johnson]

Nice score on the DJ-20. Bought mine used several years ago for more than twice your price. Given the low price of the jointer, if you have the funds, I would suggest the byrd head upgrade (bought mine from Holbren)--jointer is noticeably quieter and the finish is really nice. Heard you mention something about blades, if you're interested I think I have two new sets that came with the jointer that I never used. Also have the original head--didn't seem right to chuck it.

[Mike Cruz]

Yeah, Sandy, I'm taking a good hard look at the Byrd. I'll probably end up with it... Thanks. :)

[Mike Cruz]

Well, for all that asked for an update when I was done...oh, forever ago... here it is. This was NOT a restoration. It was a clean up. I took Formula 409 to the entire exterior of it. Got all the dirt and grime off. Paint splatter and the likes that wasn't comming off without taking off the DELTA paint was left on. I got off all the rust. And put a Byrd head on it (with the help from my brother...ok, he did pretty much all of the cutterhead part, but I helped :o).

Oh, I added a mobile base. Put on a new switch. Added the Byrd head. Changed out all the cabinet screws...to unrusted ones. Replaced (and added missing) bolts that hold the cabinet to the black base.

[Chip Lindley]

Nice job Mike! I enjoy our '90s DJ20s with the unobtrusive, business-like name badges, before Delta felt the need to splash the whole side with that BIG X! It must be an Asian hype thing!

[Paul McGaha]

Mike,

It seemed to clean up pretty well.

How's it running and cutting?

PHM

[Mike Cruz]

It is quite as a church mouse. It was even before I put the Byrd on. Hehe, funny story....

When I first got it, I rewired it for 220 (previously wired for 110). When I took the juction box cover off the motor and looked at the wiring diagram, I scratched my head and couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the motor ran the way they had it wired up. It was NOTHING like the diagram. So, I rewired it, and ran a board through. Man, the blades were dull, so dull in fact, that they just burnished the oak that I was testing through it. So, I didn't do anything with it until the Byrd head was on. When I got the Byrd head on, I turned the jointer on and ahhhhhhh, sounded perfect. I turned it off and as it slowed down, I scratched my head... Did I just see what I thought I saw? Is it really spinning the wrong direction? So, I opened up the juction box again, and I had it wired perfectly.... Then I saw the writing under it saying for ccw direction, swap black and red wires. :o Swapped 'em and ahhhhhh, purred AND cut beautifully, too.

[James Malcolm]

Could you give me a little insight into replacing the cutter head? I know about the bearings and all, just don't know about being able to get the cutter head out without removing the tables. It looks real darn close. I'm guessing that to remove the tables, you bolt the two halves of the linkage "arm". Seems that you shouldn't need to adjust the tables again if that's all it is... Any insight is helpful.

[Neil Brooks]

Looks absolutely great !

Enjoy it :)

[Myk Rian]

Could you give me a little insight into replacing the cutter head? I know about the bearings and all, just don't know about being able to get the cutter head out without removing the tables. It looks real darn close. I'm guessing that to remove the tables, you bolt the two halves of the linkage "arm". Seems that you shouldn't need to adjust the tables again if that's all it is... Any insight is helpful.
You should just need to crank the tables all the way out/down.

[Mike Cruz]

Yup, just crank the tables all the way down. Yes, it is tight, but it will go in. I highly recommend wearing thick leather gloves for the install... No, I didn't learn that the hard way. Saw someone elses post about how they did... You certainly wouldn't want to drop it, and the gloves not only protect your hands, but give you confidence while holding it.

I'm not a "machine" person, so I had my brother (a Master Mercedes tech) help me (read install it for me) with the install. Seeing him do it, yes, I have the skills to have done it, but wouldn't have known what to do...if that makes sense. There were no instructions how to take the old head out in the owner's manual, and no instructions how to install the Byrd. Of course, installing the Byrd was just a reverse of taking the old one out.

Do you NEED new bearings, no. But, if you were to damage the old ones while taking them off, you'd have to order new ones and wait for them to come in. I ordered my bearings from Grizzly for WAAAAAAYYYYYY less than what Delta wanted. Delta wanted something like $35-40 per bearing (there are two). Grizzly's were in the $2-4 range if I remember correctly. I would question the quality difference, but I've ordered parts from Delta before and they are ALWAYS way high.

[Chris Nolin]

You've really got a sweet machine there, Mike. I love that you found it used, cleaned it up, upgraded it, and made it yours.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, all! Yeah, it took some elbow grease an patience...getting into all the nooks and crannies. I really could have taken this to the next level and refurbed it, but I didn't have the time. I have a bunch of tools that I've "saved" like this, and if I took the time to refurb them all, I'd never get any wwing done. So, good clean ups is the extent of what they get. So far, I really like this one.

[Ben Franz]

Great looking cleanup. I have the same vintage DJ-20 (c. 1988) - if the manual is still an issue, I have one in hard copy that I can scan - let me know. My machinery spent a winter in an unheated metal shed after a move. I didn't think to protect the CI surfaces before storing and got lots of surface rust. Pennance was a few hours with rust remover, plastic pads, steel wool, etc. while chanting "I will pay more attention, I will...." Lesson learned.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks for the offer Ben, but I found the manual...or at least what Delta says is the appropriate one from online. It seems to be accurate. Funny that you mention storage in an unheated shop over the winter... My shop hasn't been heated yet (will be this winter, just completing the insullation now) and I haven't had problems. But, climates are different everywhere. Glad to hear your stuff survived, though.

[Ben Franz]

It wasn't so much that the shop was unheated. One end faced the prevailing winds and snow was blown through every microscopic opening and some openings that didn't really exist. I had a 2 foot snow drift in one corner. A few cans on spray foam and some rubber weather stripping has secured the barn after the horse left.