Circling back to the $50 Craftsman jointer… when we last left off, I’d run a piece of oak through it just to make sure it was operational. Other than being crazy loud, it did run through a face pass and left an okay finish. As fourbyford predicted, the blades were in fact very dull. Not wanting to throw another project in the mix as I was trying to get Wife’s Christmas present done, I shelved the jointer until I had more time. During the down time, I did track down a set of blades and a new belt on eBay. I actually bought two sets of blades so I can always have a sharp set ready to go should I find I need to change them in the middle of a project. I do intend to try and sharpen the old ones, but that’ll be a different project in itself.
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As is tradition in The **** Shack, nothing is ever as easy as it should be. The first thing I tried to do, and what expected to be the simplest task, was to replace the blades. I soon found that the retaining screws were very much stuck in the cutterhead body. A heavy overnight soak in PB Blaster had no effect on them. Since I wanted to check the bearings, I figured I might as well just take the whole thing apart.
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Pulling the cutterhead allowed me to use the propane torch to try and heat cycle the screws. This did work on two of the six screws. For the remaining screws, I had to bust out the hammer and cold chisel.
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If you’ve never had to do this before, the process is fairly straightforward. You start by creating a notch on the face of the fastener with the chisel by driving it straight down onto the screw. Once you’ve got a good notch made, you rotate your chisel to an angle and start tapping. You find to find the happy medium of still driving the chisel into the screw so it bites and spins at the same time. Too shallow of an angle and you’ll just chip the notch/face of the screw off, too steep and you’ll just create a bigger notch but not break the screw free. If all goes well, you’ll crack the screw free from the threads without too much drama.
When I pulled the bearings, no surprise, they both needed replacement. One of them may very well be one of the worst bearing I’ve ever come across that still spins. The word ‘spin’ is probably too generous, more like hopped from spot to spot in a dozen or so random increments per revolution. I wish this picture could convey how crunchy the bearing is.
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I was surprised to find that the bearings were single shielded. An interesting choice given the fact that the machine’s purpose is to produce wood chips and dust, but no matter, dual shielded bearings are now installed. I did consider sealed bearings but incorrectly determined my jointer spun too fast. On the front label, it states that it takes 16,000 cuts per minute, which my brain translated to 16,000 rpm. The sealed bearings McMaster offered in this size were rated for 15,000 and 16,100 rpm, so I got 26,000 rpm rated shielded bearings instead. It was only after I had everything put back together that I realized there are two knives on the cutterhead, so the rotation speed is more like 8000 rpm, which makes a heck of a lot more sense in retrospect.
While I waiting for parts to show up, I dug deeper than anticipated on cleaning up the jointer, which I found to be oddly therapeutic. I polished up the cutterhead shaft by chucking it up into the drill press and running some 220 grit paper and steel wool over it. I soaked the cutterhead body in degreaser and wire brushed it to get all the little bits of crud off of it. I sanded all the surface rust off the blade retainer plates and used Oxpho Blue to turn them black again. I sanded and painted the bottom dust chute plate because it was a rusty mess. The power cord was also replaced as it had been taped in multiple spots and the grounding pin had been snipped off. Finally, I fired up the 3D printer and made an adapter for my shop vac. Just as I was thinking I should repaint the whole thing, the McMaster order showed up and I was thankfully brought back to my senses.
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Final result, the jointer cuts very well – the finish is as smooth as glass, which makes me very happy. It is also much quieter than before (hearing projection still required). So with a little bit of elbow grease and a couple new parts, I’ve now got a nice little benchtop jointer. All in, I’ve got $115 into it. Other than the $50 purchase price, the other main spend was on two sets of blades at $46 ($23/pair). Not the deal of the century, but a fun project that fills a void in my shop and I'd be hard pressed to find anything else at that price point.
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