I broke my jointer

[Lee Schierer]

Take your un-broken cutter clamp to any decent machine shop and they can likely make one for you for a nominal fee. You might want to have two made so you have a spare.

It is always a good idea when working on equipment with rotating parts to rotate those parts by hand after final assembly at least one full revolution to make sure everything clears.

[Larry Foster]

Jon, thank you for your offer.

I am in western Pa. north east of Pittsburgh.
While I'd like to meet you, that might be a little far.
Sounds like a nice machine, though

Lee, thanks for the suggestion for the clamp.
I never would have thought of that.


My dilemma is whether to try and go on with this machine since any parts are almost non-existent.
Am I throwing good money after bad?

Buying new blades again gets me up to @ $230 (including the purchase)

And does my infrequent use justify buying a new one?

I did rotate by hand before starting and pretty sure I "snugged" the screws down but didn't torque real hard and they still came loose.
Befuddled me.

The manual said not to over tighten

[Andrew Seemann]

Is your Craftsman jointer the old style one with the non-adjustable outfeed table? If so, those are frustrating to use at best. I would not put a lot of money or effort into one of those. If it is a decent one with dovetailed ways, it might be worth fixing.

[Larry Foster]

I don't think the outfeed is adjustable, Andrew.

For new, the lowest price for a 6" jointer is a Craftsman for around $300.
Others go up from there.

Maybe I'll spend some of my Trump check and get one.

[Geoff Crimmins]

Holbren and/or Global Tooling should have knives for that jointer for $20 or so. You just need to know the dimensions of the knives. I agree with a previous poster that a jointer with a fixed outfeed table is more work/frustration to get set up correctly.

[Larry Foster]

Thanks for that info, Geoff.

I'll check it out.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Larry, I’m a hobbyist too. I don’t use my machines every day, but when I need the operation best done by my 6” jointer, I just walk over to it, hook up the dust hose, plug it in, set the cut depth, and in a scant few minutes I have a surface I can reliably slide over my router table/lift to make 0.001” incremental adjustments. Flat is critical for many, but not all, projects — if we want parts to fit the first time, that is.

For years I lived in fear of the jointer. I pretended that Home Depot lumber was flat if it looked flat (it is not). Compounding my fear, I ran into a setup dilemma last year that the good folks here talked me through. Now that it performs as intended, it’s just one of many go-to specialty tools I rotate through if needed.

Many fine objects may be made with rough lumber, of course. Focus on what you want to make. If you need parts to line up with precision, the wood needs to be well milled before joinery.

I’m fortunate that my 18-year-old jointer still works, because today it would cost at least three times what I paid for it new. So look for a hobbyist selling a lovingly kept 6” jointer. Make the jump and buy one.

[Russell Smallwood]

Depends on what you're building. Some projects (e.g. outdoor furniture or simple gun cabinets) can have pretty loose tolerances and will go together just fine with some clamps and screws. Other projects (fine furniture) have very tight tolerances and require stock to be perfectly flat/square for the joinery to work well.

Most woodworkers do just fine without a jointer for a while, then find it becomes indispensable when their skills justify more complex projects. If you go the hand tool (galoot!) route, you should be prepared for a bit of a learning curve, but once mastered, you're options open up a lot as you are no longer constrained by the size of your machines.

I use both approaches. The machines help with 80% of the things I need to do (jointer is probably the second most stationary machine in the shop). The ease of doing most of the work on the machines, makes the workflow much more pleasant as I can make progress quickly. When needed, I can also slow down and pull out the hand planes. Best of both worlds.

Must my .02

[Dan Hahr]

You definitely need a jointer if you’re working with rough lumber. But you really need to learn how one works first. Find a six inch machine used. Make sure the owner can show it works. You’re not quite ready to start restoring stuff. Use it and read about it before trying to change the knives in it. Make sure that when you do decide to change the knives that it looks exactly like it did when you started before you turn it on even then, rotate the cutterhead by hand several times to make sure that nothing is in the way of the knives.

Just to make you feel better, setting jointer knives is difficult for most people. However most people can get the job done well enough to avoid destroying their machine. If you just aren’t mechanically inclined, you can probably find a local woodworker that can help you with the chore.

Dan

[Richard Coers]

Technically I think it's impossible for the clamp to fly out unless the bolts are extremely loose. The notch in the cutter head is tapered, it was once called a safety head. They called it that after square cutter heads were used in shops and blades could fly off if the bolts were loose that held the blades to the surface of a square head. With the safety head, as long as the bolts are out far enough to limit a straight pull out of the tapered slot, they can't fly out.

[Andy D Jones]

Richard, I agree, but there's a difference between the clamp/blade flying out of the cutter head, and sliding out just far enough to strike the table.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Alex Zeller]

It's a few hours away from you but there's a used Delta 6" jointer for just over $300 on Craig's list.

[Mike Cutler]

Getting to my point.

Since a jointer won't be used everyday, how important is one?

Larry
If you stick with wood working, or have been doing it for awhile, but are now getting more serious, the jointer is one of the "foundation machines" that should be in a wood working shop.
Jointer, Planer, Bandsaw, and Tablesaw. These four machines allow you mill and prepare material. These four machines are the "foundation" of a versatile shop. That's also pretty much the flow of the material through the milling process.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Search for "planer sled".

I have a couple of pieces of melamine with a lip attached at one end. The planer pulls the wood in so I lead with that edge. I place my boards on this "sled" and I shim it so that it lays flat. I then send the sled through the surface planer.

Google this: planer sled site:sawmillcreek.org

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....sled-do-i-need
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....uction-and-use
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ot-Planer-Sled

Mine is simple, dirt cheap, and fast to build, but slower to use. I would try something like mine and if it seems to work for you, then build something nicer if you are inclined.