Outfeed table problem on my jointer

[Mark Gibney]

I got a used 16" jointer, an SCMI F410.
I cannot move the outfeed table up or down more than 1/16".

The first photo here shows the hand knob, the second one shows the threaded rod where it attaches to a cross bar to move the cams

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When I try to turn the knob clockwise it clamps up after about a half turn, when I go counter clockwise the knob comes off

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If I use a wrench to keep that nut tight to the knob and go counter clockwise then I cannot turn the rod.

I loosened the limiters on the one cam adjuster that has them, but it makes no difference

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I've googled this problem, and searched youtube, but have found nothing. I also have not been able to find a manual for the machine online, but I have read that the manual is not well written and so not useful.

Any help very much appreciated!

thank you, Mark

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I had the same problem at one time with my jointer, and discovered there was a little pawl I had engaged that I had locked (it was on the infeed table in my case) that made my jointer act exactly like what you’re describing.
Try and find the midpoint between the upper and lower lock points and see if there’s some locking knob or spring loaded pin that’s stopping it. Good luck.

[glenn bradley]

If that nut really belongs under the knob then it should be backed into the knob to lock it in place on the shaft. Thread the knob on to within a mm or two of the nut, hold the knob while backing the nut into it to lock it in place and try again. This is my first guess ;-)

[Mark Gibney]

Aaron, thanks for that suggestion, however the "lock" for that shaft is right under the knob and it is disengaged.

Glenn, thanks also, and alas I have also tried this. No luck.

I sprayed plenty of WD40 on every part of the system. Who knows, maybe late today it'll budge.

[glenn bradley]

Does it move far enough to be hitting this? Sorry for the random guesses. I'll bet a call or email to SCMI North America will be your best bet.

[Mark Gibney]

Good idea, I hadn't thought of doing that - I'll get in touch with SCMI and see what they say.

[Mike Kees]

Mark are you sure that knob is not just a stop ? I looked at your pics from the first thread and it looks to me that the knob you are playing with is not the one attached to the shaft in pic #2. Is there a handle anywhere ? I have a Paoloni parallel bed 16 inch jointer and have completely adjusted it. This mechanism seems different on yours.

[Bruce King]

Probably same problem mine has, old sawdust built up on the hidden parts.
My planer also stopped going up and down, wood jammed all up under in the gearing.
Spraying it with something might make it stick on worse. A brush and pick might be needed.
They say not to take the out feed table loose due to major pain getting it aligned again.

[Jim Matthews]

With a camera at the ready (pics of each step for reassembly) remove all parts and clean them.

Reverse the order for reassembly.

Discard left over parts.

[Mark Gibney]

Mike, that knob might be just a stop. It is on the end of the threaded rod shown in photo 2, however you might be right in that it doesn't actually move the table.

Bruce, Jim - think I'll take Bruce's advice here and not disassemble the whole thing, at least not for now.

[Jim Matthews]

Bruce, Jim - think I'll take Bruce's advice here and not disassemble the whole thing, at least not for now.

That's disappointing.
Now what will I do with all this Popcorn?

Seriously - there's likely some plastic gimcrack wedged in the pinion gear that moves the rack.

[Mark Gibney]

I want to give thanks here to Jerry Johnson, the general manager of JG Machinery.
I emailed him this morning to ask if he had any manuals for the F410 jointer (I stumbled on their website through a google search for manuals) and he replied about an hour later with two pdfs of the manuals. A thoroughly decent thing to do, when it was obvious I was not about to order a new machine from him.

www.jgmachinery.com

I haven't solved the problem yet, but my faith in humanity has gone up!

Mark

[John Connelly]

I have an F410N also. The knob on the front is for adjustment and the one under is the lock. Mine is also difficult to turn, but not enough to unscrew the knob. My machine has a Tersa head so I only need a few thousandths of travel to dial it in.

[Bruce King]

I think John is on to something. The outfeed does not need much adjusting. If it dials in then it’s fine.

[Mark Gibney]

Well I went and did it - I loosened up everything I could, sprayed a lot of WD40, and got the table to come down.
It comes down with gravity, by design.
And down it came, and now it doesn't want to go back up.
No joking. If I lift the end of the outfeed table the front feet come up off the floor, but the table doesn't budge. The goalposts moved!

[William Hodge]

Bad idea to reverse machine polarity to use gravity to bring it back up.

[Bruce King]

Try with two people, one pulling up equally on each end of table while other tries to crank the knob.

[Joe Jensen]

I have an old SCM 12" jointer with basically the same design. Mine is from the 1970s and I ended up completely disassembling it to get the table to move freely. I did not have a manual and for the lift of me I could not figure out how to remove the eccentric bushings that are used to adjust the plane the table sits in. Mine have tapered pins with a nut on the outside of the bushing. Tighten the nut to pull the pin. My bushings needed cleaning to free the table up. Beware that once you remove them realigning the tables is finicky. Also my 12" wide table was really heavy and it took 2 people to remove and really 3 to put it back. the 410 would be really heavy. I used a Starrett Precision Master level to get the tables back in plane relative to each other.