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Thread: This one went twelve rounds

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Western PA
    Posts
    1,242

    This one went twelve rounds

    This tool was a real logistical nightmare to have moved from new york to my place in PA. The seller was incapable of building a proper skid and crate for the machine, which severely hampered my abilities to get it moved by a national freight carrier. Kudos to my freight broker for trying to work it out, but the dimensions and state of the freight;s packaging meant i had to resort to uship. I dont want to bad mouth the service, but there are some wackjobs on that site, and ive personally dealt with a few. Thankfully, this guy from kentucky missing all his front teeth was able to step in and haul it for me. Aside from moving a 20" machine on a 5' wide uhaul trailer, he did a good job at a great price. Getting it off the trailer was awful, the seller hoisted it into the trailer with the skid facing the wrong direction and it fit like a glove. After getting it off, my wife and i were able to get the 12" grizzly out of the basement and begin the hellish few hours of getting the new machine into place. All i can say is i dream of the day when my shop has a nice wide double garage door as access. Moving stuff into a low ceiling single car garage and then through a mandoor is always as awful as you would imagine. But, its in place and pretty level, and we were in bed by midnight. Only had a minute to really 'look' at the machine, and my 36" steel straight edge and flashlight showed the beds are flat and straight. I didnt have hands on this machine prior to buying it, so there was a fair amount of risk involved on the purchase. Special thanks to one of Darcy's youtube videos and Warren for helping me identify it as most likely a griggio. 500mm 4 knife tersa cutterhead with around a 100" bed length. Headed to the beach next week, but im looking forward to getting a VFD off jack and getting it up and running. Im sure ill be asking plenty more questions of the group as i dig into it a bit.

    Beds are wet with mineral spirits, because i was sweating all over this thing for hours. I didnt want to wake up this morning to a bunch of rust spots.
    IMG_0892.jpg

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So Cal
    Posts
    3,737
    That’s a nice find Patrick, that tersa Head will be a nice performer.
    I guess the other thread can die now doesn’t look like there’s any worry’s about twisted beds.
    Hope you get it running soon let us know.
    Aj

  3. #3
    Get it running and you'll forget the sweat equity it took to get it delivered.

    That said... Grab a trailer and go get it yourself next time! It's fun!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,645
    That looks a lot like a 16" Zfam (Polish) jointer I moved for my friend a couple of years ago. If the tables are planed and not ground yours very well could have been made by them, too. They made machines for SCM and others in addition to selling under their own name. My friend's machine runs super smooth and is a joy to use. Hopefully, yours will as well.

    John

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Western PA
    Posts
    1,242
    John,

    Were you the guy in florida wiith the homemade ramp in the boxtruck? I remember a thread moving a 16" zfam that came up in my search to identify this machine. The tables have linear ridges, so they arent ground. Interested how they perform when waxed up. I know people say boards glide across those surfaces.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Bloomington, IL
    Posts
    6,009
    Is there a guard?
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Location
    Western PA
    Posts
    1,242
    Yeah it’s one of the plywood segmented ones that might be among the worst guards ever designed. It folds back on itself to expose the blade width you need for a cut. Which would be ok if every board you are jointing was the same width. That is very rarely the case for me. I need to look up some homemade alternatives.

  8. #8
    boards slide on any waxed table ridges or not. I have them on two machines and dont find any advantage to them. They make setting up with a dial annoying. If you get rust on your machine and do Jacks burgandy routine you are better off on a flat table than running a slightly abrasive animal on ridges. Ruffles have ridges.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,645
    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Kane View Post
    John,

    Were you the guy in florida wiith the homemade ramp in the boxtruck? I remember a thread moving a 16" zfam that came up in my search to identify this machine. The tables have linear ridges, so they arent ground. Interested how they perform when waxed up. I know people say boards glide across those surfaces.

    Not in FL but I did move the 16" Zefam out of a UHaul truck down a ramp I made to do so. I pulled it out of the truck and into the garage with a winch connected to my car, with the cable running under the truck and to a pulley I lagged into the concrete floor. At 1600+ lbs you don't move these things around too easily, but you know that better than I because that 20" beast your bought must weigh at least 2500 lbs.





    Here's what the tables look like:



    There are no real ridges in it, but you can tell it wasn't ground. I don't think it matters one way or the other, it's just interesting how you can actually plane metal. The guard on this machine is segmented and drapes down over the side as needed depending upon how wide the stock is. It's a very nice system that doesn't get in your way as a porkchop or Euro guard would with wide stock.



    FWIW, this machine has a 5 HP, 3 phase motor on it and the cutter head uses 3 or 4 straight knives. After burning up a Huanyang VFD, we ended up powering it through a static phase converter built by a local guy for about $100 and it runs w/o issue; it still powers through anything w/o slowing down. You don't want to start it too many times/hour, but in 2 years that has never been an issue for the owner. Besides being low cost, using the SPC allowed us to use the original on/off switches on the front of the machine.

    Good luck with your machine.

    John

  10. #10
    PF 500 is listed as 730 KG 1,606 lbs

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So Cal
    Posts
    3,737
    Patrick’s machine only weighs in at 1606. Or are we taking about Johns post I’m confused
    Just trying to keep up with latest jibber jabber
    Aj

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