Somebody please help me! - Jointer Problem.

[Sam Rain]

Hi guys,

I have an old delta 37-280 6'' jointer. I am trying to swap out the 3 knives and replace them. It uses 4 nuts and springs i believe to hold the blades in. The book tells me to turn the nuts counter-clockwise so I do. But then I'll keep turning them cc and it will get stiff so ill turn the others and they'll get stiff and nothing happens. I tried turning them c and cc. Used bolt blaster and everything. Now I have about 4-5 the nuts stripped, won't turn at all and the blades are in that sucker tight. What an abomination. Anyone know what I can do? I hope I don't have to take out the whole cutterhead assembly.

Any help appreciated.

[Thomas Williams]

If I understand your situation, the bolts or nuts are in a bar, the bar will wedge the blade in the cutter head. In order to remove the blade you will need to get the bar loose, and then the blades should come out. It may take a light tap on the end of the blade to pop the blade out. If you have stripped the bolt holes, you may have to replace the bars. Here is a link to a parts diagram. http://www.toolpartsdirect.com/cgi-bin/schematic.cgi/delta/37-280_TYPE_1

[Sam Rain]

Thomas-

Yeah I tried tapping it, it wouldn't budge, the bar is still tight in there and the nuts aren't turning to loosen the bar that's holding the blades.

A couple of the nuts are stripped that's my big problem, I don't know how I can get them to turn. I already have the parts diagram in my booklet too.

I wonder I could just get those nuts off somehow...

[Gary Herrmann]

Sam, try posting some pics. There are a bunch of creative and experienced folks on the Creek. Pics will help a bunch.

[Barry Vabeach]

Sam, I don't have that jointer, but usually the way it works is you have a slot - and if you sit at the front of the jointer and look towards the fence, at the left end of the slot is the jointer blade, then to the right of that is the bar , then to the right of that you should see the body of the screws and then at the far right end of the slot should be the heads ( or nuts ) of the screws. Typically, as you turn the nut counterclockwise, the nut will screw into the bar and away from the right end of the slot. Once each of the nuts is loose you can adjust or remove the blade. First use your thinnest feeler gauge to see if you can fit it between the end of the nut and the edge of the slot for each of the four nuts. For any that you can't fit it in, even if the thread or the bar is stripped, you might still get it out by using your thinnest screwdriver to pry between the head of the nut and the right end of the slot as you turn the nut cc to see if you can get the thread to reengage - you don't need perfect - a turn or even half a turn should do it - once there is at least some gap, however small, between each of the four nuts and the right end of the slot you should be able to pry out the knife- or the entire assembly. If that doesn't work, I don't know what else you can do other than cutting each of the nuts with a dremel and a cutoff wheel - staying far away from either side of the slot. If you are only having the problem with one knife, you might want to test another set of the screws to see how it works.

[Mark Schrier]

Sam,

I just recently changed the blades on a Delta jointer I had puirchased used, no manual. I came close to turning the bolts the wrong way, which would have caused the problems you are having.

I don't know for sure what the counter clockwise refers to as you can look at the heads of the machine screws from either side. I did figure out that they are standard right hand thread.

To loosen the blade, I tightened the machine screw into the black clamp-down bar.

To lock the blade, I backed the machine screws out of the bar. This wedges the whole assembly together.

Hope this helps.

Mark

[Mark Singer]

Spray the screws with "Fail Safe". It is a penetrating oil that will loosen the screws

[James White]

Sam,

Don't give up. I had a craftsman 6 inch jointer with the same style head. I knew the bolts were in far enough to not be putting pressure on the gibb. However I could not budge the blades or the gibs. The culprit was dry pitch that had cemented them in. Give it a good soak with some kerosene or some other lubricating solvent and have at it without destroying it in the process. I had to resort to pounding them out with some pieces of hardwood and a hammer. Not recommended. But, it was the only way I could get them loose. I did not realize they were cemented in with pitch.

James

[James Walters]

Same thing happened to me on my 15
' planer.
I had to finally get my dremmel out, using a cutoff blade cut the bolt head off.
Got new bolts at Discount auto, been working good ever since.

Be carefull cutting the bolt heads though.

Hope this helps.

[Sam Rain]

Hey guys,

Here's some pics. The brown stuff on it is the bolt blaster residue. I'm starting to think that the bolts stripping might have been my fault, there could be a chance that I needed a slight smaller size. But the guy at Delta Service Center said it should be a standard 8mm screw which I was using for a wrench.

I'm going to try to see if I could wedge the screws out from behind with a thin piece of something. But to follow up on turning these screws I realized something. Whenever I would turn one of the screws clockwise it would be loose, but as I kept turning it would get tight again. And if I turned it counter-clockwise it would get loose and then tight again as I kept turning.

It was almost like there was a middle ground for each one. So some you would have to turn to the right or left a little to get them loose. I just thought I would continue to turn them cc and the blades would pop out easily.

But oh well, thanks for your help I'm a keep trying. And when I get rich and buy a new fantastic jointer I'm going to submerge this unit in acid.:D

[Sam Rain]

Sorry here are the PICS

[Douglas Brummett]

Looks like the standard Delta 6" config. Turning clockwise should draw the bolts into the knife bar and release tension. Once you are stripped I am inclined to think you are hosed. Break out the dremel and a cutoff disc, just be sure to open a relief angle so it doesn't pinch the wheel when it starts to give. Sorry, no petter advice.