Steps to Restoreing a old 12" Jointer

[brett gallmeyer]

I bought a Moak 12" jointer today at an auction. Lets just say I got a good deal.... "ill post pics and the gloat after i get it into my shop... some how...."

Mechanically it seems very sound. Cosmetically it needs some help. So i'm looking for some tips or a guide on where to begin.

thanks, brett g.

[Bob Cooper]

Brett:

You're making me nervous. I just bought a 12" Moak jointer at an auction too. Hmmm. Except mine was about 2 days ago.

[brett gallmeyer]

i saw your post. just a qoincedence... or however you spell that. mine was a local purchase.
;)

[Bob Aquino]

You really want to get on over to the owwm website, thats where the old tool expertise resides.

[John Toigo]

I have all old machines in my shop. Currently I have a 16" jointer by Jos. Collady which dates from around 1905. Generally, for me - old machines fall into two categories. They are either in good running condition or need rebuild/repair. If they're running I generally don;t do much with them other than clean & lubricate them properly & check all the belts & moving parts. Cosmetics are easy. I generally strip all the old paint off with a wire wheel, electrolysis, sandblast or whatever. Everything gets a coat of primer & then 2 coats of finish paint. A jointer is a fairly simple machine - easy to disassemble & re-assemble. You'll find the beds are heavy if you're removing them and might want to get a freind/engine hoist/chain block or something so you don;t drop & break one. You'll probably want to have the knives sharpened so you'll get to learn about setting knives. There's a very good video over on OWWM about setting jointer knives. If the machine has babbitt bearings you'll want to clean the bearings, reservoirs & oil passages. More than half of the machines I've bought with babbitt bearings were packed with grease which is the worst thing for them. Babbitts are designed for oil - I use a regular 30w oil on mine. Old machines are fun and add lots of character to your shop. Good luck!!

[Stephen Cherry]

I saw a show on TV a while back (when my tv was hooked up to something so that I could watch shows), and there was a crusty old dude telling about an old beat up motorcycle that had been ridden in the early days of motorcycling. The host of the show asked him if he had considered restoring the motorcycle to make it new again. The crusty dude told him that each scratch and scrape represented part of the history of the motorcycle, and that by covering those over the history would be lost.

I've got some old tools, the usual craigslist, yardsale, and ebay finds; and I wouldn't dream of painting them. Every once in a while I'll think about how many kids have ruined their school shop class project by jamming the skew chisel on the lathe that is now mine. Or the convicts that used my shaper. Or I'll read the name of the man who very carefully engraved his name on the rule of my combination square.

And maybe when my yardsale is conducted, somebody will see my scratches and scrapes and think about the guy before him, and the one to follow.

All just my opinions though.

[Van Huskey]

As mentioned check out owwm dot com.


I for one disagree with Stephen, I think a fully restored older machine looks incredible and shows the owners appreciation and love for the quality and longevity of the machine.

[keith micinski]

Boy Brett, your lucky I didnt see any auction adds for that Moak Jointer otherwise you would have had another bidder involved. After seeing all of this talk about these recently I really want one bad now.

[Kirk Poore]

Brett:

I've never heard anything bad about Moak machines, so I think you're starting from a good base. Jointers are pretty easy to restore since they are very simple--unless they are direct drive. I'm going to assume you have ball bearings, since I don't recall hearing of any Moak machines with babbitt. I'm going to also assume you have access to a press (hydraulic frame press or plain arbor press) and a general set of tools including a large gear puller and a bearing splitter. Sorry, I don't know what grease to use in this case.

First, if the jointer runs at all, run it for a few minutes to see if the bearings are good or bad. If they heat up quickly, or squeal, or give a rubbing sound while running, they're bad. It may take longer for this to show up, so if you don't change the bearings you'll need to pay attention whenever you use it. If the bearings seem good, and are open bearings, you can probably just grease them if there is an existing fitting.

Let's take the worst case next--direct drive with the motor sharing the same shaft as the cutterhead. These can get fairly complicated, since there is usually a bearing between the cutterhead and the motor. You may need to take the motor's rotor off of the shaft, or do other exotic stuff like take out the motor windings. I was faced with this on my Oliver direct drive planer. Solution? I was uncomfortable with this, so I took it (the whole motor plus the cutterhead, minus the knives and gibs) to a reputable motor shop. $200 and one week later I picked it up, done.

If you have a belt drive head, you should be able to remove it from the machine and then remove the pulley. This should give you access to the bearings, which you can remove with the gear puller and bearing splitter. Read the size off of the current bearings, order new ones, and install them. Check the bearings on your motor and change them too if necessary. Details on these can be found by searching the OWWM.org archives or looking in the wiki section of OWWM.com.

After the bearings are taken care of, I'd disassemble and clean all moving parts. Repaint everything if you want to. Take lots of pictures as you go, so you remember how to put it all back. Replace belts, cord & plugs if worn; add them if necessary. If the motor is three phase, get a VFD or rotary phase converter.

All this sounds complicated, but basically it boils down to change the bearings if they're dry, and hook up the power safely. No feed rollers or gears or tilt mechanisms to deal with--it's easy.

Kirk