Close Call and damaged machine

[Dan McGuire]

About a year ago I ran across an old craftsman 6" jointer. From the best I could tell it was made in the late '40's early 50's. Since I didn't have a jointer and the price was right, I picked it up. The jointer served me well on a couple of projects, but sat unused most of the summer due to other commitments. I rolled out to the middle of shop and gave it a tune-up today.

After I had replace the drive belt, honed and re-set the knives I gave it a test spin. I was about 3" into a piece of scrap poplar when I heard a terrible sound. My first thought was that there was an unseen piece of metal in the scrap wood. I shut the machine down as quickly as possible to find that a knife had been thrown from the cutter head.

I found the knife on the floor behind the machine. The first thing I did was check the machine for damage. The lip of the knife slot was slightly rolled back on the near side and the knife was damaged. It appears that the knife had come loose on that side and caught the lip of either the infeed or outfeed table as it rotated around.

My first assumption (and probably yours) was I didn't tighten the knives, but that was not the case. After the knives were reset, I went around the cutter head twice to ensure that everything was tourqued properly. My father-in-law stated that he watched me while I did it.

I am wondering if it as some other issue of fatigue either in the metal or the threads of the set screw. Either way the machine is out of commission. My machinist father-in-law thinks it would be feasible to pull the cutter head, file down the bent section and still have a servicable machine. Right now my idea is to sell it for pennies on the pound to scrap man.

Oh well where is that Grizzly catalog.....

[Mark Rios]

Dan, if you file ANYTHING off the cutter head, won't it be out of balance and therefore more dangerous? Just a thought. Glad you're ok though. That would have been scary.

[Alan Turner]

Sure gald you are not hurt. Were it mine, I would scrap it and get out the catalogs.

[Jay Knoll]

I'm with Alan, I would constantly be worried that it would happen again. And I can't imagine the work it would take to make the knife holder balanced again but then I don't have a machinist father in law.

There are enough things that can go wrong in this hobby that can cause safety problems without having to deal with a tool that is marginal at best.

Good luck with your decision.

Jay

[John Bailey]

Just the worry could cause an accident. I'd pitch it.

John

[Tom Drake]

I would be worried it would happen again. Sounds like time to go jointer shopping for sure.

[Brian Hale]

If the tables are flat, incorporate them into a sharpening station.

Hook the motor up to a large squirrel cage blower and make a nice air filter.

Use the base as a storage cabinet or trash can.

No matter what, i'd keep wood away from it.

Glad you're not hurt!!!!!!!!!!

Brian :)

[Steve Ash]

I would never fully "trust" that machine again. Consider your safety and well being.....I'd never use it again.

[Bill Simmeth]

Glad you're not hurt. If the lip of the knife slot is at all compromised, chuck the cutterhead. Filing will make the head unbalanced as another poster suggested. And even if you rebalance, there is serious question as to whether a knife will seat properly in the slot.

A common issue with jointers/planers that have set for a while without proper maintenance is that the gib bolts will rust. If they are not thoroughly cleaned and the threads chased, this can cause a false "reading" that they have been properly torqued. I don't know if you went through the gib bolts when you sharpened the blades, but if not, it might be a cause.

This can equally happen to a 40 yr old Craftsman or a 5 yr old Chiwanese machine that hasn't seen proper maintenance. So, be sure to always inspect/clean the gib bolts when resetting blades.

[Mac McAtee]

On those machines the blades are held in place with a wedge. The wedge is held in place with Allen Head Screws. If you honed the blades and did not remove all the oil, if you used oil, from the blades, that may be what caused the thing to fly out. You need to put the cutter head parts together completely oil free and dry. Any oil on the blade and centrifugal force can throw it out of the slot.

[Bob Noles]

Something about flying razors in the shop makes me want to run......

Don't think I would want to get it anywhere near an electrical outlet again. I kind of like Brian's ideas.

[Byron Trantham]

I think you were very lucky. Don't stare a gift horse in mouth - chuck it! You got a free warning out of this one.

[Fred Voorhees]

You got a free warning out of this one.

I don't think it could be said any better than this! Hey, you got it for a great price and got some use out of it. BUT, the potential damage this thing could do will far outweigh the damage to your pocket a new jointer would cause. For safety's sake, chuck it. It just isn't worth it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Yep Dan.....I think you came to the right place for encouragement to buy a new jointer!:D I'd scrap it if it were mine. Good luck!

[Gary Breckenridge]

:cool: Not only would I junk the machine (imagine a knife going through your eye socket) but I would damage it beyond repair so the junk man does not sell it to another sucker. Remember that you bought it very cheaply; there had to be a reason for the price.:cool:

[Wes Bischel]

Well, you could always make a very large sand flee out of it!

Glad to hear you're safe - machines can be replaced, people can't.

Wes


(caveat - If one is the head of a corporation - then people are replaceable.):eek: :rolleyes: Oh, that just drips with sarcasm doesn't it.:D

[Frank Chaffee]

Dan,
Brian Hale has several useful ideas for utilizing components of your jointer that no longer functions as originally intended. As your FIL is a machinist he can advise you also.

Frank

[CPeter James]

I like Gary's advice. I would remove the cutter head before it went anywhere and then off to the junkie it goes. There are some nice new models out there now that the patents are off the Delta parallelogram design. That new Grizzly really looks good for the price. I have a Delta DJ20, but that Grizzly would be near the top of my list if I were in the market. Now that Delta and Porter Cable have been bought up by Black and Decker, I think that the level of service is going to drop and as we have seen here, Grizzly is really trying to get our business by providing good service. Spend the money now and enjoy the machine for a long, long time. I bought 5, count 'em 5, jointers before I got the one I have now. Do it right the first time.

CPeter

[Dan McGuire]

All great thoughts, I know full well that the machines should go. I went out this afternoon and gave the machine a closer inspection and realized the only reason that the knife did not hit me was the fact that I had the fence moved over the cutter head. The slot where the knife came from, the set screw was worn out. I put an allen wrench on the offending screw and found that it did tighten to a point, but with a little more torque it spun past the point of tight to loose, like the threads were striped.

In any event, I took the belt off the machine and rolled back into the corner. When I get some free time I will throw it in the truck and take it to the scrap yard myself. I guess I will revisit that previous thread about shop built machines and see what I can build around the motor

Dan

[Frank Pellow]

Whithout any doubt, I would scrap it!

You were lucky this time. You, or someone else, might not be lucky the next time.

[Dev Emch]

Without having seen it, I would say scrap it. Many times folks get the idea that some of us OWWM guys would love to buy this thing and tinker with it. So they are sending emails with the old phrase.... boy have I got an old machine for you. Folks, the majority of vintage woodworking machines are simply put, JUNK. Only a small percentage made by a an even smaller group of companies actually made something that is worth the expense and effort of a ground up restoration. This machine aint one of them!

So its not even worth a second throught. But more importantly, DO NOT SELL THIS TO SOME OTHER WOODWORKER. There are product liability issues here and the company who made this as on OEM machine for Sears is most likely defunct. That means that if someone gets hurt, its conceivable that they can come after you. I would take a sledge hammer and kill the cutter head and then haul it off to the scrapper's laddle. This way is for sure that it will arrive next year as a 2007 Kia, Hondai or Toyota. Who knows, it may even show up as a new Grizzly. But its days as a jointer are over. Go shopping!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

If the head hadn't been bent and needed repair work, I would say keep it. However, I would be worried about the head being out of balance and causing another accident.

[Brad Townsend]

If it were me, I would be replacing the jointer AND my underwear!:D

Best advice is those who suggest doing whatever it takes to make sure the machine is out of commission forever.

[Bob Oehler]

I am also in agreement with the it should never see electrons again.

I would not scrap it though. Get the cutter head out and burry it in a hole or throw it in the river or somthing to get it far away from the machine.

The junk collector in me says keep the machine and as other people have said use it for the flat iron it has. You may be able to use other things as the years pass. If you do not have a great deal of room take it apart and save all the good stuff.

But never ever use it as a jointer again.

Work safe
Take care
Bob Oehler

ps let us know what jointer you get to replace it and don't forget the pictures.