Powermatic PJ882 help

[Henry Kramer]

I just received a Powermatic PJ882 8" jointer for my Birthday (I love my wife). I am in the process of setting it up and the tables are not coplaner. They are not that far out of whack but they are not perfect either and there is no sense compromising when you spend the money for a good machine. Anyway, the adjustment cams on the inside (work side) of the machine are hidden behind the lift handle hubs. I was able to remove the hub on the outfeed table however the hub on the infeed table just does not want to come off. Both set screws have been removed and it wont budge. I was even able to remove the key out of the slot with a strong magnet thinking that it would give me enough slop to wiggle it off. I even mounted a small wheel puller and put gentle pressure on it and nothing. I suppose that i could have cranked harder on the puller but I really didn't want to force it. And don't think that I should have to on a new machine.
Any advice?
Henry

[Art Mann]

A piece of equipment that expensive should have been delivered properly set up. I think you should call the seller and ask him how he is going to solve the problem.

[Joseph Fronio]

Pretty sure there are 2 yes 2 Allen screws in one of those holes. Same thing happened to me.

[Matt Day]

Did you call Powermatic?

Art, I wouldnt expect a new machine to be delivered without needing some adjustment, simply because what it goes through in shipping. The part not able to be removed however, deserves some attention from the seller/manufacturer.

[Charles Coolidge]

Yep my Grizzly parallelogram jointer has 2 set screws in each hole. The good news is once you get past this issue you will love how easy it is to adjust the tables planer with the cams, if you have a long accurate straight edge.

[Henry Kramer]

Yes, as mentioned in the original post, both set screws have been removed. These are the set screws in the adjusting hub itself that must be removed to get access to the adjustment cam nut. Not to be confused with the two set screws housed in both tables. I do have a long accurate Vertitas straight edge. I would use it if I could only get that darn hub off...........

[Joseph Fronio]

If i can remember correctly you should be loosening a total of 3 set screws. I also had to take the long adjustment handle off. There may be a set screw under the threads of that handle. I definitely had this same problem, but can't seem to remember where I found that last hidden screw

[Art Mann]

Did you call Powermatic?

Art, I wouldnt expect a new machine to be delivered without needing some adjustment, simply because what it goes through in shipping. The part not able to be removed however, deserves some attention from the seller/manufacturer.

Shipping isn't the reason the OP is unable to remove the hub. Either he isn't doing it right, in which case he should consult the people who sold it to him, or it is ceased up, in which case he should call the people who sold it to him.

I bought a 6" Ridgid jointer for a whopping $500 on sale. The tables were parallel and the knives were set to the correct height for the outfeed table. If the Chinese can build, adjust and ship a machine that is correctly set up, how come Powermatic can't?

[Henry Kramer]

OK everyone, after doing a thorough search (and reading Joseph Fronio's post) I found someone on another forum that had the same problem. There are three set screws, two in the same hole in a very similar fashion as the socket set screws recessed in the top of the base for the cam adjustment. I guess P/M wants a set screw holding down another set screw to insure that they wont come loose. Anyway, thank you to all for your help and suggestions. Too late to adjust the tables but tomorrow's another day.
Henry

[Henry Kramer]

Shipping isn't the reason the OP is unable to remove the hub. Either he isn't doing it right, in which case he should consult the people who sold it to him, or it is ceased up, in which case he should call the people who sold it to him.

I bought a 6" Ridgid jointer for a whopping $500 on sale. The tables were parallel and the knives were set to the correct height for the outfeed table. If the Chinese can build, adjust and ship a machine that is correctly set up, how come Powermatic can't?

In the case of removing the hub, I wasn't doing it right. I never would have thought that there would be back to back set screws and I surely didn't notice that in the manual. As far as the tables not being coplanar, it is not terribly bad. I would not say that it is workmanship on behalf of Powermatic. On the contrary, everything appears to be in pretty good shape. The castings in general may not be as smooth as my 1967 PM100 Planer or my 1980 PM66 Table saw (I doubt if many of the Asian machines are) but the tables are ground very nice. I admit to being terminably picky and I want the tables aligned perfectly. I imagine that some jostling around in shipping containers for all of those miles could be responsible for the tables being a bit less than perfect.

[Charles Coolidge]

Don't feel bad Henry, my brother's Powermatic PM2000 was WAY out of whack from the factory and required a lot of adjusting. My Grizzly 8" parallelogram jointer outfeed table was fine, the cutter head required shimming and the infeed table required some adjustments but the cams made that so easy compared to the older dovetail type jointers. They are getting better on some machines though, Grizzly claimed to have adjusted my 12" table saw blade to miter slot and fence to within .001 at the factory and dang if they didn't do just that. I guess if they want to adjust them accurately they can.

[glenn bradley]

I guess P/M wants a set screw holding down another set screw to insure that they wont come loose.

This is common. This is what folks meant by "both" set screws. Sometimes the written word restrictions don't convey what we are trying to say :). Glad you got the wheel off. The fact that you have to tweak the adjustments, even once, will have you praising the parallelogram design if you've ever tried shimming a DT-way table adjustment. Congrats on your new machine.

[Joseph Fronio]

Drove to jersey to pick mine up. Getting it out of my pickup truck was not easy. Had to remove the top section from the bottom to get it down, with some help from the wife. So I didn't mind if my beds weren't dead on. The wood whisperer has a great video on adjusting the beds. Watched him do it in 20 min. Took me about two days to get it perfect. Congrats on an awesome machine

[Henry Kramer]

Drove to jersey to pick mine up. Getting it out of my pickup truck was not easy. Had to remove the top section from the bottom to get it down, with some help from the wife. So I didn't mind if my beds weren't dead on. The wood whisperer has a great video on adjusting the beds. Watched him do it in 20 min. Took me about two days to get it perfect. Congrats on an awesome machine

I am still waiting for my mobile base to arrive but I did get the beds dialed in. They are between .001-.002 which should be close enough for woodworking. It didnt take long at all. I suspect that the PM882 will be my last jointer however, if I ever were to purchase another for whatever reason, it would be another parrallegram jointer. Of course I do have my little 4" Delta 37-290 for little jobs but there is not enough weight hanging out there to cause any sag issues so that machine is really easy to align.