Big Iron (with a happy ending)

[Lee Hingle]

Hey Gang,

Ran across this jointer on ebay a week or so ago. Followed it for the duration of the auction, looked like it wasn't getting a lot of attention so I took a shot.

Maybe it was my lucky day, maybe it was because it was listed as a 10" jointer (when in reality it is a 12" jointer), maybe because it was local pickup only. In any event, I thought $587 was a fair price for 1785# of cast iron.

I have spent the better part of the last few days trying to find any info out about the machine. I do know it is circa 1970 or so from the serial number. Any one here have any first hand knowledge of this machine?
Thanks,

Lee

[Jason King]

Congrats on the big Arn. I haven't had any experience with that particular model, but oliver made a good jointer back in the day...

You may want to try your question over at www.owwm dot com. They have an obcene amount of knowledge about this sort of thing.

[Bruce Page]

Sweet win, congrats!
Is that a single phase motor?

[Jim Andrew]

I just have to say WOW, what a buy!

[Lee Hingle]

Sweet win, congrats!
Is that a single phase motor?

Hi Bruce,
No, it's 3 phase. But on the bright side, the motor is belt driven so it can be swapped if I decide to. I already have a static converter on another 3 phase machine that I picked up on ebay for about $50. I will more than likely get another to run the jointer - if I feel it seems underpowered I may swap the motor or look at a rotary converter.

Lee

[Dewey Torres]

I looks like you have some work to do on this. Maybe return to the post once you get her cleaned a polished. Oliver made some great stuff. I think you will love this jointer (until you have to move it). Let us know if it passes the standing nickel test.
Dewey

[Steven Hardy]

Hey Gang,

Ran across this jointer on ebay a week or so ago. Followed it for the duration of the auction, looked like it wasn't getting a lot of attention so I took a shot.

Maybe it was my lucky day, maybe it was because it was listed as a 10" jointer (when in reality it is a 12" jointer), maybe because it was local pickup only. In any event, I thought $587 was a fair price for 1785# of cast iron.

I have spent the better part of the last few days trying to find any info out about the machine. I do know it is circa 1970 or so from the serial number. Any one here have any first hand knowledge of this machine?
Thanks,

Lee
Are you saying that " Brown" would not deliver that for you???;)
Thank you for preserving a part of the US's industrial history!

[Craig Summers]

I'm wondering what you kind of mobile base you are thinking of for that leviathan ?

Yeah i admit it, I'm jealous too

[Peter Quinn]

QE2 NOW DOCKING T PIER 4! NICE JOINTER. Don't know anything about it.

[Paul B. Cresti]

do not know too much about old iron as i have the european kind . i would consider changing out those babbit (sp?) bearings, if it has it, and possibly a new modern cutter head with replaceable knives. this way you get the best of old and new

[David G Baker]

There is a large old arn listed on Central Michigan's CL. Didn't check the size but if I remember right it looked like an airplane could land on it.

[Frank Drew]

OMG! I never thought I'd see "Oliver 12" jointer" and "$587" in the same paragraph.

From 1970, that's relatively modern in Oliver terms; I'd be surprised if it didn't have ball bearings, but I don't know that for a fact.

If everything's ok with this machine -- no cracked castings, etc. -- you've landed the deal of the century, Lee. I don't think there's a more respected name in old woodworking machinery than Oliver.

I sold an 18" Oliver band saw recently but I'm so behind the times I didn't until just the other day that they'd gone out of business; I found the news totally depressing.

[Jim Becker]

Yea, wonderful buy! Nice machine...congrats!

[Dave Burris]

I bet you could flat mill a Buick with that thing! Congratz on the score!

[Dana Vogel]

You must have a fork lift on stand by or something for that monster. It was bad enough to off load the cabinet portion of a PM2000 TS. Please post the finished jointer for our viewing.

[Jeff Duncan]

Yeah I saw that one too, but when they won't ship and it's too far
to drive.....
Anyway your machine in good working condition is easily worth $2-3k, so I think if there are no major problems you done good! As previously said get over to OWWM and they'll have plenty of advice for you. If it's a recent machine (70's) you'll have ball bearings and a 3 or 4 knife cutterhead, I wouldn't change anything that's not broken. Even if it had babbitt bearings most of the guys who work with old equipment will tell you there better than ball bearings, I for one believe them.
Lastly when you tell your story on OWWM be prepared for a whole lot of "you sucks" coming your way.
Congratulations!!!
JeffD

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Ohhh look, he got hissef a REAL one.

Can't wait to see the restoration pix.

[Rob Will]

That is a great deal! Congrats.
You might want to call Rich Fink at Eagle Machinery for info, op manual etc.

http://www.owwm.com/mfgIndex/detail.aspx?id=609

Rob

[Kirk Poore]

Very good buy, especially with fence and guard. That does have ball bearings, though given the age it's probably time to change them out. I'd go with the rotary converter to power it. Then you can buy other 3 phase machines for your stable.

Kirk

[Frank Drew]

Oh, and, Lee, you suck!

:D

[Lee Hingle]

Yeah I saw that one too, but when they won't ship and it's too far
to drive.....


Jeff,
That's where a lot of people make mistakes.... I am having the jointer shipped by a freight company. I did all of the arrangements - I have an account with a local freight company and get a generous 70% discount. This even beats the freightquote.com prices. But lots of times "local pickup only" can mean that the seller does not want to be bothered with giving everyone and his grandma a quote. Always ask if the item is accessible by truck and if it's ok to arrange your own freight shipping. Most of the time the answer is yes. And you get the benefit of knowing that the seller is not jacking the freight price up to make a little extra cash.

Lee

[Lee Hingle]

I looks like you have some work to do on this. Maybe return to the post once you get her cleaned a polished. Oliver made some great stuff. I think you will love this jointer (until you have to move it). Let us know if it passes the standing nickel test.
Dewey

Dewey,

I plan to document the whole thing (with pics) from getting it off of the trailer to cleaning/lubricating and more than likely a new coat of paint. I will also check the bearings out in the process. This is the kind of project I can sink my teeth into!

Lee

[Scot Ferraro]

Simply beautiful...congrats!!

Scot

[lou sansone]

nice machine
I like the 3 toed jointers. the head will be a modern ball bearing head. strange that the motor is belted. most were direct drive
best wishes
lou

[Simon Dupay]

NOW THATS A JOINTER!, congrats on the Oliver.:D

[Lee Hingle]

Hey Gang,
I will try to update the thread as I get work done on the machine, time permitting.
Here are some photos of the arrival here with the machine. I had the machine shipped to a friends business with a forklift and then trailered it home from there.

On another note - the ending wasn't exactly so happy. Besides the fact that the freight company completely botched the pickup/transporting/delivery of the machine, they dumped it over on the shipping pallet it was banded to. Then they did me a huge favor by flipping the machine upside down for the remainder of the ride (OMG) :(


Considering the circumstances, all hope is not lost. There is a broken cast iron part which will have to be cast at a foundry and machined. The cutterhead guards (front and rear) are also bent but not badly and can be straightened fairly easily. You definitely do not want to lose your cutterhead guard for this machine - a replacement is $1400 - YIKES!!! As for the beds and fence (the fence has to be seen to be believed - must be 125# by itself) they survived intact. All in all, she should clean up real nice.

Note: the fence and motor, along with the motor drive guard (which was also trashed) were removed for the ride home. Also missing in these pics are the 2 cast iron extension tables (one is a rabbeting ledge/table which attaches to the front of the right side bed, and the other is a ledge which attaches to the back of the left hand bed - the fence attachment plate slides back and forth on this and also locks down here). Front and rear cutterhead guards were taken off also (to prevent any further damage).

[Lee Hingle]

First photo is a shot of one of the beds after a little cleaning. They both cleaned up to a dark gray, gunmetal sort of color. The lighter spots are staining from the light rust that was on the beds.

Second photo: Something I found interesting: as someone on another forum pointed out, this is a wedge-bed design. But the beds are seperate from the "wedge" (for lack of a better term) and are adjustable via these square head bolts - one in each corner of each bed. This would allow having the beds ground off of the machine if one desired - and realignment would be a straightforward matter as on a parallelogram design machine.

Third photo: Here we have copious amounts of 1/2" plate steel:

Fourth Photo: There is a plate identical to this one on the back. These house the cutterhead bearings and the small round plate I am assuming is a dust seal. Hard to tell from the photo but this plate is a full 1" thick solid steel!

[Lee Hingle]

First photo: I also found this to be interesting. Here we have a cast iron "angle" bolted just forward and aft of the cutterhead. According to Rich Fink, these were bolted in place and then ground flush with the beds. You can see the seam on this left side, because it shifted in transit and I had to re-align it after I got it home, before I started working on cleaning the beds. The seam on the right hand bed is nearly invisible. (EDIT: the left hand photo did not come out - too much flash. This is actually the right hand side):


Next photo: Also funny to see the Oliver advertising in action - bolted to the front of the machine just under the cutterhead:

[George Sanders]

You get a big "you suck" for that beautiful old aircraft carrier. American made when quality still mattered. That's why I prefer old heavy iron.

[Brian Weick]

Very nice Planer~ if everything is good on her - you will be elated with that Oliver! Sweet! :D
Brian

[Tyler Davis]

OK - I'll ask: are you planning on billing the freight company for the courtesy of busting your jointer? Sounds like they did some expensive damage


Anyway, congratulations and enjoy :D

[Rob Diz]

Gee, you paid about the same that a new 6 inch jointer costs delivered to your home. Hmm, wanna trade?

[Peter Quinn]

Funny thing: I'm doing a little shop expansion, and when it came time to pick the slab thickness the guy doing the flatwork asks "Whats the heavest machine you have?" I think about 900#. He thinks a 4" slab will easily support that.

Then he asks, "Well what's the heaviest machine you might get in the future?" And I start thinking about this post and tell him "If I'm lucky some day, a jointer around 2000#, maybe a 12" oliver will find its way to me?"

So he says "Yeah, we better make this a 5" slab and go with a high PSI concrete in case you get lucky!"

[Lee Hingle]

OK - I'll ask: are you planning on billing the freight company for the courtesy of busting your jointer? Sounds like they did some expensive damage


Anyway, congratulations and enjoy :D

Hey Tyler,
Well, The bad news is it looks like the freight company is only liable for $.10 on the pound since it is used machinery. Funny they neglected to tell me that before I made the arrangements. I'm still waiting to hear on that. Let this be a warning to anyone interested in havine a used machine shipped - check into the "what if" should a claim need to be made. I wish I had - then I would have driven to Tampa myself to pick the jointer up.

The good news is I have not paid the $580 freight bill - and I will not if I even remotely suspect they will not pay my claim. The smashed belt guard will be $265 and the broken cast iron part I mentioned will be + or - $500. I may try to straighten the belt guard myself. Won't be pretty but it won't be seen much either. So if I go that route then the part they broke plus shipping is a wash with the freight bill. Some may not agree with my reasoning but there was way more to the story than just dumping the machine.

Cheers,
Lee