ken brueggestrass
11-13-2006, 12:32 PM
Greetings lads. I can’t tell you how many hours I sat back and read the various posts on this site. You all should be proud of the meaningful content contained within. Like many before me, I was reaching the point where a jointer was within my budget and had a need to supports the purchase of one. I had a lead on a Delta 6” that is likely about 40 years old, had been previously owned by a local high school in their shop class. The guy I bought it from had recently installed a new Emerson motor. I even took it for a test drive. I learned that a machine like this, all cast iron mounted on a cabinet, likely was a better tool for the money than a new import. I was also enthused about the possibility of getting re-prints of user manuals on this machine from Delta.
Well I bought the thing a few weeks back and got a lead on some nice reclaimed lumber. I fired up my new jointer Thursday Nov 9 and quickly gave a good chunk of my right pinky up to the woodworking gods. Yep, cut it clean off. It seems that one of the three blades wasn’t tightened down well enough, started to slip out of it’s slot, nicked the infeed table enough to shatter the blade and a section of metal had it’s sights on my beloved pinky. You might think I’m venting but I do have some discussion.
The Delta folks seem willing to provide written material for my machine but without a model number, they seem to have bumped up against a wall. We’re still trying to get it done with casting numbers and I’m gong to send pictures. Does anyone else have any ideas? I saw one similar to mine with a similar background, used in a school district, and it too lacked a model. Is it possible that these were sold through some sort of a gov’t funded program, not intended for public sale/purchase, and therefore lacked any kind of a model number? I’m thinking of the old police cars which were pretty much just made with no sort of VIN.
Damage to the machine……with one of the blades destroyed, I’ll likely purchase a new SET. The additional section of medal that also fits into the cutter head groove, which holds the blade in place… What are these called? Are they available new? Read somewhere where someone had replaced the original bolts with SS, good idea? The meat of the cutter head sustained minimal damage abut I’m wondering if I should (or if it can be) replaced.
In the future, what is the best way to ride out a storm like this? It hit in only a second and the only thing I can think of is that I should have simply ducked and turned off the machine. Incidentally, the board I was working on shot about 29ft across my workshop. I could feel that something was happening out of the ordinary, kind of like when you have a flat tire. Just didn’t seem right and my hands were telling me something was out of align.
All in all, this incident really stinks. On the other hand, I feel extremely lucky. I was home alone and could have been knocked out. I could have lost a lot more than just a knuckle on my pinky, eyes, face etc. On the materialistic side, I have insurance and the machine wasn’t destroyed. It may seem like a foolish question, but should I be afraid to use this machine again?
Well I bought the thing a few weeks back and got a lead on some nice reclaimed lumber. I fired up my new jointer Thursday Nov 9 and quickly gave a good chunk of my right pinky up to the woodworking gods. Yep, cut it clean off. It seems that one of the three blades wasn’t tightened down well enough, started to slip out of it’s slot, nicked the infeed table enough to shatter the blade and a section of metal had it’s sights on my beloved pinky. You might think I’m venting but I do have some discussion.
The Delta folks seem willing to provide written material for my machine but without a model number, they seem to have bumped up against a wall. We’re still trying to get it done with casting numbers and I’m gong to send pictures. Does anyone else have any ideas? I saw one similar to mine with a similar background, used in a school district, and it too lacked a model. Is it possible that these were sold through some sort of a gov’t funded program, not intended for public sale/purchase, and therefore lacked any kind of a model number? I’m thinking of the old police cars which were pretty much just made with no sort of VIN.
Damage to the machine……with one of the blades destroyed, I’ll likely purchase a new SET. The additional section of medal that also fits into the cutter head groove, which holds the blade in place… What are these called? Are they available new? Read somewhere where someone had replaced the original bolts with SS, good idea? The meat of the cutter head sustained minimal damage abut I’m wondering if I should (or if it can be) replaced.
In the future, what is the best way to ride out a storm like this? It hit in only a second and the only thing I can think of is that I should have simply ducked and turned off the machine. Incidentally, the board I was working on shot about 29ft across my workshop. I could feel that something was happening out of the ordinary, kind of like when you have a flat tire. Just didn’t seem right and my hands were telling me something was out of align.
All in all, this incident really stinks. On the other hand, I feel extremely lucky. I was home alone and could have been knocked out. I could have lost a lot more than just a knuckle on my pinky, eyes, face etc. On the materialistic side, I have insurance and the machine wasn’t destroyed. It may seem like a foolish question, but should I be afraid to use this machine again?