New to me Rockwell 8 jointer

[Tim Einwalter]

Picked a 8” Rockwell jointer the other day. 37-315 is the model number. It was in a school shop and is in pretty good shape. It was for sale on a auction website along side an identical sister machine. The sister machine sold for $780 and I got this one for $550. I was wanting to win both so I could flip the worse one of the pair. I believe the sister machine sold for more because it had the original pork chop guard where as my jointer has the Shurty guard. I think the other one might have been a bit newer because mine has a few Art Deco bits on it with a fabricated steel base. I broke the serial number down and the machine dates to 1962. It’s been painted twice, but they did a good job and I don’t feel a need to strip and repair. It has a helical head that Byrd has confirmed is theirs. The motor is a 1hp 3ph original Rockwell tagged unit. I have a 1.5hp 3450 motor on the shelf that I could use, but I’m very tempted to keep the original motor. I’ll proably end up with yet another vfd; looks like I can get a 1hp unit for $240, the 1.5hp vfd is on $20 more so I’ll proably go with the bigger unit so a 1.5hp motor could be used at a later date.

The reason for my post is that the fence is adjusting so only 6” of cutter head is exposed. There another 2” of head under the fence. Is there something obvious that I’m missing here?

[Mike Kees]

Tim first let me say great deal. I owned that same machine for about 7 years. Just sold it about a month ago. I would pull the fence apart (Off the machine) and just clean it with laquer thinner and look for any burrs on surfaces that mate. I am trying to remember the fence mechanism,think there is a shaft with a ring around it that has the handle on end of shaft .When you turn the lever it turns the shaft and tightens or loosens the fence. Just give everything a good cleaning and maybe a bit of parrafin wax. If that does'nt work post some pics to help jog my memory.

[Mike Kees]

The shaft is eccentric. The whole casting of the head assembly covers it. the 'ring' slides along it until you twist the shaft (via the lever on end of shaft ). The shaft may need to be lightly cleaned up with emery cloth ,probably a burr on it. there is also a 'track' at the bottom of the cast housing that has a hardened bar that keeps things aligned say north-south when you move the fence ,check that area for rust ,gunk or burrs. hope this helps, Mike

[glenn bradley]

So is it like page 20 and 45 here?

[Mike Kees]

Glen that is the way that I remember it. I also had a DJ-20 that is exactly like the Griz you linked to,so hopefully I am not confusing the two .I am fairly certain the mechanical portion works the same way.

[Bill Dufour]

I do not remember exactly but on my delta 8", bought from a school, I took the fence off and cleaned the gunk of the eccentric bar. Lucky for me I played with the fence before I bought the machine so I knew it needed cleaning or something.
I removed the fence before putting the machine upside down in the truck to haul it home. I did not have to take the fence apart to clean it just turned it upside down and used solvent to clean the gunk. I probably used graphite in alcohol to lube it.
Bill D

http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=3671

[Tom M King]

I'm still using one that I bought at a school auction in 1975. If you don't get the fence hangup figured out, I can look at mine if it will do you any good.

[Tim Einwalter]

So is it like page 20 and 45 here?

No, that unit would have been comparable to the DJ-20. Probably would have for $1,000 ore than what I paid. The eccentric clamp operates in a similar manner. I’m thinking the Byrd head shifted over so it’s now too for in (under the fence). It looks like the fence is sliding the full stroke of the slot.