A cautionary tale of an 8” jointer

[Ken Werner]

I’m sharing this story in the hopes that it will help some other woodworker. And no, there’s no horrible injury, gore or destruction.

It was with great enthusiasm that my wife and I drove a couple of hours and met a very nice guy in a parking lot, where we exchanged cash, conversation, and a lovely 8” jointer. He had driven about 1 1/2 hours, to meet us part way. The jointer had a brand new 220v motor, which had not yet been run. The seller didn’t have 220 in his shop yet, and he had decided to hold off on running the circuit, and sell the jointer instead.

Anyway, after waiting a couple of days for my pal John to come over and help me lift the behemoth out of the back of my SUV, I plugged it in and turned it on for the first time. That motor ran so smoothly you couldn’t see motion on the pulley.

The blades had seen some use, and though not fabulously sharp, they looked ok. Passed a 2x4 just to take a test cut. First thing I felt was that the wood seemed to vibrate in a way I had never experienced before. Scary vibration, with 2 HP behind it. I adjusted the infeed and the outfeed tables every which way. This is my third jointer, [moved up from 4 to 6, and now 8”] so I figured I knew how to set one up. My last one was tuned beautifully. No matter what I did, it would roughen the wood, shake like heck, but not cut a shaving.

I contacted the seller, a really nice guy, and he seemed to feel about at badly as I did. He told me that he had removed and replaced the blades when he had cleaned the cutterhead, so I figured if I re-set the blades, I’d be ok.

The next night, fresh from a day at work, I went out with the brand new Freud blades the seller included in the sale, and meticulously installed them. They were perfect. Got that same 2x4 out, and uh-oh, same vibrations, and no cutting. I had put about 3 or 4 hours into fussing with the machine by then, and I was starting to feel a bit despondent. I had the base housing open, and had just turned off the motor. As it slowed down, I saw the direction it was spinning….

DUH.

Once diagnosed, it was a simple matter of reversing a couple of wires.

Just figured reading this might help someone else.

Ken

[Allen Bookout]

Your story sure held my attention. I am sure that it is going to happen again to other individuals. Allen

[Larry Conely]

About 20 years ago I responded to an ad for a Rockwell radial arm drill press that didn't "drill good." I went to see it and seller demonstrated the tool. The drill would not cut wood but would burn wood.I bought it for far less than market value, can't remember how much now. Took it home, switched the wires and I'm still using it.

Larry in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

[Corvin Alstot]

Great story, bet it cuts a little better now.!

[Jim O'Dell]

Right up to the point you said you put new blades on it, I thought you were going to find out the previous owner had installed the blades upside down or something! Glad you figured it out. Jim

ps: no pictures, didn't really happen.

[Tim Morton]

I thought you were going to find out the previous owner had installed the blades upside down or something!

no offense taken....:D


but i am the guy who wired the motor backwards...and I did the same thing with a similar leeson motor with my bandsaw project....maybe someday people will believe me when I say I don't quie understand electrical connections. And why I did not run the 220 circuit myself.

Ken, glad you are finally giving that jointer some use.:cool:

[Allen Bookout]

Well Tim, You may not be real hot at wireing but there cannot be anyone more honest. That is the important point. Allen

[Seth Poorman]

LoL :) I love this Thread..

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Great story but can somebody explain why this happened. It sounds like there is a polarity situation here but I don't understand it. Calling the electrical gurus.

[Tim Morton]

Great story but can somebody explain why this happened. It sounds like there is a polarity situation here but I don't understand it. Calling the electrical gurus.

The Leeson motors are able to run in both directions...I believe the default is CW....when in fact they need to be wired for CCW for jointers and bandsaws. Or somethign to that effect. I do remember following the instrctions quite carefully in order to get it to be running 220v....and i "thought" I had the direction correct. With a bandsaw the saw will but poorly and burn the wood, and apparently with a jointer it will not cut and vibrate badly.

The most important lesson I think we all need to learn is that when buying used equipment, assume nothing. So I am hoping ken has gone through the entire jointer and checked for loose parts, especially checkign the allen bolts for the pulleys and the motor mounts that will align the pulleys. IOW...things "I" may have had my mits on.:)

[Tim Clark]

Don't feel too bad about it Tim. A professional repairman wired my furnace blower backwards :eek: back in '98, right after the big Ice Storm.. It took two or three different service calls before they sent a different guy who caught it. The house was much warmer after that.

[Allen Bookout]

Great story but can somebody explain why this happened. It sounds like there is a polarity situation here but I don't understand it. Calling the electrical gurus.
Alan,

A lot of electrical motors can be wired to run either clockwise or counter clockwise be they 110 or 220 or dual voltage. This does not mean that you have to rewire the motor, rather it just means that you need to connect the incoming wires to the correct terminals, or colored wires if that is the case, to make the motor run the direction that you want it to and run the voltage that you want. You may have to change a jumper wire to get the desired results. There should be a wireing diagram either on the case or inside the electrical cover that will cover the options.

Allen

P.S. Just have Tim Morton come over and help you out. I am sure that he will be glad to. JUST KIDDING TIM.

[Doug McLauchlan]

I read the part about cash being handed over in a parking lot and thought that the story was going to be about getting the machine home to find the motor gone and a couple of hamsters in a cage in it's place.

A call to the seller gets the response - "The ad said 2HP - it didn't say what the H stood for !!!" :D


Must just be the type of person I do business with ;) !

[Dave Fifield]

You're a great story teller Ken! :D Had me glued to the page right till the end! Have you considered writing for a living?

Seems like both Ken and Tim (the seller, apparently) are happy with the final outcome.

.....and they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Dave F.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks for the story, Ken. When you mentioned the vibration I was guessing the cutter was spinning the wrong way. Of course if I was actually experiencing it, I'd have probably never figured it out.

I learned recently that you can turn a bandsaw blade inside out and end up with the teeth pointing in the wrong direction. It took me a few minutes to figure out why the nearly-new 3tpi 3/4" blade I'd just put on the saw wasn't cutting worth a darn and smoking my test pine while setting the fence drift.


- Vaughn

[Ken Werner]

I look at it this way:
I bought a great jointer.
I met Tim, and he is a really good person.
I learned a valuable lesson.
I got to tell a good story.
And yup, I'm living happily. As for ever after? I'll answer that when the big "game over" sign comes up.

[Jon Healy]

Some years ago I excitedly unwrapped the packaging from my brand new Freud stacked dado and hurriedly installed it on my saw. Grabbing a 2 X 4 to do a test, I also was met with a rather rough cut - no where near as clean and burn free as I was expecting. After a minute or two of staring, I decided that "yes" if the blades were installed so the FRONT of the teeth strike the wood first, that I might have that clean cut that I was looking for. Sure enough, after installing the blade the correct way, I've enjoyed excellent performance ever since.:o

[Brad Townsend]

Reminds me of the time the cable guy came to my house to install a run. He took out a 3/4" masonry bit about two feet long to go through the brick facing on the house. He told me to go inside and give him a yell when he broke through. After about ten minutes of listening to him grind away, I went up to see what was taking so long. He complained that it was the toughest brick he had ever drilled. I pointed out that he would have more success with the drillbit going clockwise! He finished the run as fast as he could and left without saying another word.:D

[Matt Meiser]

You could have saved yourself some time lowering the outfeed and raising the infeed tables and just jusing it backwards :D

[Alan Tolchinsky]

It shouldn't matter which hot lead you connect to a particular terminal with 220 volts. That's what I was wondering about.

[Allen Bookout]

It shouldn't matter which hot lead you connect to a particular terminal with 220 volts. That's what I was wondering about.
Alan,

You are correct. However, if the motor is one that can be reversed there will be another combination of terminals or leads that you can wire those two hot wires to that will turn the motor the other direction. It does not matter which of these two hot wires that you connect to each of these two leads as you mentioned.

If the motor is reversable there should be two wireing diagrams. One for counter clockwise (CCW) and one for clockwise (CW).

Allen

[Ian Barley]

I learned recently that you can turn a bandsaw blade inside out and end up with the teeth pointing in the wrong direction. It took me a few minutes to figure out why the nearly-new 3tpi 3/4" blade I'd just put on the saw wasn't cutting worth a darn and smoking my test pine while setting the fence drift.

- Vaughn

I have that T-shirt too Vaughn - I could see that the teeth were the wrongway up and hadn't fit the blade but it took me 15 minutes to work out that I needed to turn the blade inside out - doh!

I also have fun with 3 phase kit and direction of rotation. I managed to ruin a $150 diamond router bit the first time I wired in a 3phase machine - I now take a bit more time to check direction of rotation!

[Frank Pellow]

no offense taken....:D


but i am the guy who wired the motor backwards...and I did the same thing with a similar leeson motor with my bandsaw project....maybe someday people will believe me when I say I don't quie understand electrical connections. And why I did not run the 220 circuit myself.

Ken, glad you are finally giving that jointer some use.:cool:
Hey Tim. I am going to be driving through Vermont in June. Have you got any tools that are running kind of funny that you would like to sell? :D

[Allen Bookout]

Hey Tim. I am going to be driving through Vermont in June. Have you got any tools that are running kind of funny that you would like to sell? :D

I like that Frank!!!!! Might be worth a drive up there for me also.

Allen

[Tim Morton]

Hey Tim. I am going to be driving through Vermont in June. Have you got any tools that are running kind of funny that you would like to sell? :D

I do have this Air cleaning filter that seem to be blowing dust at me...maybe you could take a look????:confused: :confused:

Funny Guy:D :D

Seriously, If you are going all the way thru the state I am not far off the beaten path...I will throw some ribs on the BBQ for you and Mrs Pellow.

[Tim Morton]

I like that Frank!!!!! Might be worth a drive up there for me also.

Allen

Ya know..Ken asked me if it would be OK to post this here...I said sure no problem what could it hurt...

silly me:D :D

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

And I thought the tale would end with the state police and you on the side of the road while they checked the serial numbers on what was to turn out to be a stolen jointer.

I like your ending better.

[Ken Werner]

Hi Tim,

Goes to show you - no good deed goes unpunished.
You are a good man.

Ken

[Ken Werner]

Have to be a strong thief to steal that baby.