Gary Mazzaferro
01-02-2017, 2:31 PM
I'm new to this forum and as I'll reaching retirement in the next 10 years, I'm returning to fine cabinet making. I'm used to old style tools,@1960s.
While fishing on craigslist for some tools and finding a Delta 37-190 jointer which I talked down to $80 from $240. Purchasing at night and poor lighting is never a smart move. Running the jointer table vibrated badly and sounded like rolling marbles spinning up. But it was $80.
On inspection in the light, the table was a bit pitted from rust and the infeed table locking block was cracked. The painful part is the cast iron infeed block is no longer available, so I need to fix it or make a replacement. The original owner placed a long screw in the infeed stop to lock the table via the gib (great idea).
Pulling the cutter head, showed bone dry bearings that sounded like a baby's rattle. It looks like the bearing were replaced with Perry brand, maybe autozone ? I just ordered new NSK, ABEC-3, metal clad bearings. Hopefully the bearing will fix the vibration.
Not being familiar with the newer-ish Delta jointers, I'm truly horrified at the table and table design.
The tables which should be flat and co-planer and to the cutter head, well aren't. Each table is high on the edges at least 0.003", although the interior of the tables seem flat. The in/out feed tables aren't co-planer, off by 1/10 inch after 18 inches.
Worse there is no alignment adjustment for the table and the gibs aren't tapered. This is a design I'd expect to see from the pac-rim in the 80s. The angle of the tables change as they are moved over the ways. Making the table co-planer, shimming requires 15 mils on the extremes and 8 mils in the center. It seems the dovetail ways are not flat and likely incorrectly machined.
The tables are not planer with the cutter head, about 4 mils off. Again, just to keep the factory's final assemblers on their toes, the in/out feed tables are offset in opposite directions. The outfeed table is lower on the back and higher in the front. The infeed table is higher in the back and lower in the front.
The hardware is especially interesting. Some bolts/nuts are metric, while others SAE. The gib set screws are the best, neither metric or SAE.
The odd thing about this jointer, when assembled on the stand, there is no reference to align the motor or the bed. The motor sits on the dust chute which has a 1/4 inch play making pulley alignment a best guess. The chute is too flimsy for a 3/4hp motor, contributing to vibration and cut chatter.
I'm thinking I've shouldn't have ordered carbide blades for this machine. It does give me an excuse to break out the anderson way scrapers.
Lesson learned: Don't buy a jointer in the dark.
Happy new year
While fishing on craigslist for some tools and finding a Delta 37-190 jointer which I talked down to $80 from $240. Purchasing at night and poor lighting is never a smart move. Running the jointer table vibrated badly and sounded like rolling marbles spinning up. But it was $80.
On inspection in the light, the table was a bit pitted from rust and the infeed table locking block was cracked. The painful part is the cast iron infeed block is no longer available, so I need to fix it or make a replacement. The original owner placed a long screw in the infeed stop to lock the table via the gib (great idea).
Pulling the cutter head, showed bone dry bearings that sounded like a baby's rattle. It looks like the bearing were replaced with Perry brand, maybe autozone ? I just ordered new NSK, ABEC-3, metal clad bearings. Hopefully the bearing will fix the vibration.
Not being familiar with the newer-ish Delta jointers, I'm truly horrified at the table and table design.
The tables which should be flat and co-planer and to the cutter head, well aren't. Each table is high on the edges at least 0.003", although the interior of the tables seem flat. The in/out feed tables aren't co-planer, off by 1/10 inch after 18 inches.
Worse there is no alignment adjustment for the table and the gibs aren't tapered. This is a design I'd expect to see from the pac-rim in the 80s. The angle of the tables change as they are moved over the ways. Making the table co-planer, shimming requires 15 mils on the extremes and 8 mils in the center. It seems the dovetail ways are not flat and likely incorrectly machined.
The tables are not planer with the cutter head, about 4 mils off. Again, just to keep the factory's final assemblers on their toes, the in/out feed tables are offset in opposite directions. The outfeed table is lower on the back and higher in the front. The infeed table is higher in the back and lower in the front.
The hardware is especially interesting. Some bolts/nuts are metric, while others SAE. The gib set screws are the best, neither metric or SAE.
The odd thing about this jointer, when assembled on the stand, there is no reference to align the motor or the bed. The motor sits on the dust chute which has a 1/4 inch play making pulley alignment a best guess. The chute is too flimsy for a 3/4hp motor, contributing to vibration and cut chatter.
I'm thinking I've shouldn't have ordered carbide blades for this machine. It does give me an excuse to break out the anderson way scrapers.
Lesson learned: Don't buy a jointer in the dark.
Happy new year