Shop built 12" jointer thoughts

[glenn bradley]

I cease to be amazed by the ingenuity expended on this subject. It is not that hard to find a decent used 12" jointer engineered by actual engineers to flatten and straighten wood for a couple thousand Ameros. There are good reasons why jointers have been built for many years of cast iron rather than countertop scraps or plywood and sheet steel. What is the point?

I think some people just enjoy tinkering. Its a hobby and as such should be fun for them. I would regret all the time I could have spent making something but, I know people who have been "getting ready" to make something for 40 years. That's the part of the hobby they like and more power too them.

P.s. I hear some people actually like working on cars too . . . now that's sick.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Its a hobby and as such should be fun for them.

Right. If you need to get paid for your hobbies, then you should buy your tools.

Some people's hobbies are building tools.....

[Kevin Jenness]

I get the appeal of building tools and saving money, but only if the result is a machine that will safely and accurately do what a conventionally made jointer does. Jointers are simple machines but demand a level of precision that seems unrealistic to me given the materials under discussion. Just my $.002.

[Robert Whitman, MD]

I get the appeal of building tools and saving money, but only if the result is a machine that will safely and accurately do what a conventionally made jointer does. Jointers are simple machines but demand a level of precision that seems unrealistic to me given the materials under discussion. Just my $.002.

There are enough of these machines out in the wild to have proved the concept.

I needed a machine that could joint 10"+ wide boards that I could move into and out of a basement in the event of hurricane flooding and was relatively cheap. I built my homemade CNC (that I used to build the jointer) with the same restrictions in mind. I have significantly less than 80 hours into the build, as I cnc'd the vast majority of it and only made slight changes to the plans. I nested all the parts I needed and left the machine to do its thing. I think I have around $450 into this build, but am not using a cutter head as nice as Gerry's (though I'm pleasantly surprised by it nonetheless). If you don't count machining time that I wasn't there for, I maybe have 5-10 hours into assembling the machine, including making the marble tops and tuning it. Figure another 2 hours for making the toolpaths and setting up the jobs.

All in all, I'm quite happy with it close to a year later. If I were to move and have the room and funds for a nice new shop, a new jointer wouldn't be at the top of the list.

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

I have significantly less than 80 hours into the build, as I cnc'd the vast majority of it and only made slight changes to the plans.

I, on the other hand, probably have more than 80 hours invested. Although I started with the same plans, I made significant changes, and modeled the majority of the machine in Fusion 360. I might have 20 hours of CAD work, but I was learning the software as I went.
I probably have over 10 hours painting all the various parts. And still need to spend another 5-10 hours to finish and set it up.

SC1.jpg SC2.jpg SC3.jpg

[Robert Whitman, MD]

That looks amazing Gerry!

I still have to take mine apart and paint it.
I'm also getting inspired to start learning fusion 360. How do you like it?

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

Thanks. I wanted to make it a little more "finished" looking than most of the others I've seen, in addition to making it larger and more solid than the standard version.

After using AutoCAD daily for 20 years, it takes a while to get used to the Fusion way. But I like it. I bought in early and locked in to the $300/year price for life. I don't see it being free forever.
I still haven't really played with the CAM portion yet, as I do most of my CAM work in AutoCAD with a macro I wrote.

[John TenEyck]

Something like this comes up every now and then. Probably nearly 100 years old and will last another hundred. It was designed and built by people who did it for a living. It's age is a testament to their competence. I like saving money, and I like a good challenge, but for me the risk/reward ratio is completely out of whack to consider building a jointer. I had an Inca for 25+ years. Bought it used and sold it for not too much less than I paid for it. Traded up to a used MiniMax FS35 for less than half the price of a new one. Used machines aren't expensive. The person who bought it new took the big hit on depreciation.

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/tls/5533808926.html

John

[Chris Padilla]

P.s. I hear some people actually like working on cars too . . . now that's sick.

I got over that after about 12 years. Heck, I now take my vehicles to someone else to wash them!

Awesome work, Gerry!

[Frederick Skelly]

Great stuff Gerry!