# I need some jointer help



## ripjack13 (Sep 9, 2012)

I have an old Sears jointer. The motor on it is way underpowered rpm wise. It's a 1725rpm. The blades on the jointer are 4-3/8". Anyone know what a good rpm is for it to be usable? Or should I look into getting different size pulley wheels? I have 4" on the motor and 3" on the jointer...


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 9, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> I have an old Sears jointer. The motor on it is way underpowered rpm wise. It's a 1725rpm. The blades on the jointer are 4-3/8". Anyone know what a good rpm is for it to be usable? Or should I look into getting different size pulley wheels? I have 4" on the motor and 3" on the jointer...


How long has it been since you sharpened the blades? Dull blades can make a machine seem under powered. I would think that the machine was set up for proper rpm as it is from the factory. I would put a freshly sharpened set of blades in it first. Next question: what is the horse power of the motor? And does it slow down when you are using it? Is it a general purpose motor with brushes that screams when it is running like in a circular saw, or an induction motor that is nice and smooth and quiet like a table saw?


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## Woodsman (Sep 9, 2012)

woodtickgreg said:


> ripjack13 said:
> 
> 
> > I have an old Sears jointer. The motor on it is way underpowered rpm wise. It's a 1725rpm. The blades on the jointer are 4-3/8". Anyone know what a good rpm is for it to be usable? Or should I look into getting different size pulley wheels? I have 4" on the motor and 3" on the jointer...
> ...



I would agree with woodtickgreg that sharp knives are essential, especially when flattening the face of a board. The other essential IMO is an induction motor. They are much harder to bog down than a general purpose motor as mentioned earlier. They usually state on the plate "continuous duty". The next thing to check would be the horsepower of it. I would think that for a 4" jointer, a minimum of 3/4 hp would be required. Your setup is only spinning the cutterhead at 2300 rpm. While this seems quite a bit low to me, I would go to craftsman's website and find out just what it is supposed to have had on it pulley-wise and motor-wise. They usually have a really good parts lookup section that should allow you to find exactly what it had on it originally. If you have trouble finding it, post the model number here and I will search it for you. Hope this helps.


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## ripjack13 (Sep 9, 2012)

Ok fellas...here's whats on the motor..
Dayton Split Phase Motor
no.5K910
1/2 HP 7.0 AMPS
Single Phase
Temp Rise 40°C Cont
Sleeve Bearings
Model no. S55NXBYN-1574
AUTO THERMALLY PROTECTED

And the jointer is really old. It just has a riveted tag that says 103.23220 on the backside. The motor was added by the guy who owned it before me.

I actually did sharpen the knives (3) with a jig from woodcraft. Sharp as h**l now too. I was testing it out on some pine and it was ok. Then I tried some walnut and it was chattering like crazy. I even set the knives with a jig. 

Thank you guys...


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## davidgiul (Sep 9, 2012)

Along with sharp blades is the necessity of having the blades set perfectly in the head. When setting joiner blades, there is no room for error. If one blade is set a fraction higher than the other, your joining experience will be frustrating to the max. I have spent up to an hour or more just setting the knives and that is with a magnetic jig to help me along. Planer blades can be just as ornery to set.


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 9, 2012)

Well if it's a really old craftsman it may not have been set up for a high rpm back then. 1/2hp seems a bit light. The chatter you are experiancing in a hard wood may be low rpm. It probably is not the right rpm for the purpose. I would guess that it did not come from craftsman with that motor.


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## Woodsman (Sep 9, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> Ok fellas...here's whats on the motor..
> Dayton Split Phase Motor
> no.5K910
> 1/2 HP 7.0 AMPS
> ...



I agree that they really need to be set dead on before any other attempts are made at "fixing" it. 

A really quick search found this. 
http://www.old-woodworking-tools.net/1952-craftsman-king-seeley-4-jointer-model-10323220.html
If the info found on that page is to be accepted as accurate, I would say that you are at about half the speed that you need. Again, if you were to assume that the info on that page is accurate, then you would need to change the pulley size("s) to get to that speed. If you had a drive pulley size of 5" and a driven pulley size of 2", this would get you to 4312.5 rpm. I would guess that would be sufficient. I believe that my 8" spins at 10,000 rpm if I remember correctly, and would have just guessed that yours would spin at roughly half of that which is what that page indicates. Hope this helps.


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## ripjack13 (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanx woodsman. And thanx to everyone else here that helped and offered some good words. It seems if that page is correct the motor I have should work. I'll just need to change the pulley wheels...hmm...now to find some wheels for my baby.


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## Woodsman (Sep 9, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> Thanx woodsman. And thanx to everyone else here that helped and offered some good words. It seems if that page is correct the motor I have should work. I'll just need to change the pulley wheels...hmm...now to find some wheels for my baby.



I would highly recommend taking Davids advice and double check the set of the knives before changing the pulleys. While I still think that your rpm is probably a bit low, if there is a problem with the set of the blades, it will be intensified by a higher rpm. Let us know how it all turns out.


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## ripjack13 (Sep 9, 2012)

Right. I will surely check again. However I still will get some new wheels anyhow. Faster is better and I just found some online at a good price. 

thanx again fellas.


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## Woodsman (Sep 9, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> Right. I will surely check again. However I still will get some new wheels anyhow. Faster is better and I just found some online at a good price.
> 
> thanx again fellas.



I usually get them at TSC if I don't find them at the local flea markets. No shipping and waiting that way.


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## ripjack13 (Sep 9, 2012)

I found some at Northern...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200576768_200576768

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200576784_200576784

Price isn't to bad either...and...made in the good ol usa...


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## Woodsman (Sep 10, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> I found some at Northern...
> 
> http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200576768_200576768
> 
> ...



Not that it will matter as TSC's pulleys will likely be the same, but those pulleys pictured both say made in china........


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## ripjack13 (Sep 10, 2012)

oh man i didn't even notice that. The page wouldn't let me make it bigger on my phone. Now that I see it on my computer, that's messed up. 

http://i.Rule #2/tdEQyl.png

But it says made in USA down in the corner....weird.

good catch sir.


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 10, 2012)

Changing the pully's to get the speed up might work, and setting the knives is very important, but you may still end up changing the motor to a 3450 rpm?:dunno:


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## Woodsman (Sep 10, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> oh man i didn't even notice that. The page wouldn't let me make it bigger on my phone. Now that I see it on my computer, that's messed up.
> 
> http://i.Rule #2/tdEQyl.png
> 
> ...



I thought that was a bit messed up too. I saw where it said made in USA, but my picture was bigger. I thought who wrote this description??


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## ripjack13 (Sep 10, 2012)

woodtickgreg said:


> Changing the pully's to get the speed up might work, and setting the knives is very important, but you may still end up changing the motor to a 3450 rpm?:dunno:



:morning2:

That's possible too. There's a guy at work selling a tablesaw for $50. I just might get it to be safe. For 50 bucks I can't refuse that deal.  
I will need to see if the wiring can be reversed on it though. 
If not, then I'll keep looking for a motor. I've been pricing motors today, and they're :wacko1: expensive. And there are very few on anything used either. (at least within 100 miles of me)


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## Mike1950 (Sep 10, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> woodtickgreg said:
> 
> 
> > Changing the pully's to get the speed up might work, and setting the knives is very important, but you may still end up changing the motor to a 3450 rpm?:dunno:
> ...



I have found that motors are cheaper when you buy the whole tool- go figure. Before I invested in new motor- find out how cheap a new jointer(used) is.


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## Kevin (Sep 10, 2012)

Mike1950 said:


> ...
> I have found that motors are cheaper when you buy the whole tool- go figure. ...



Of course. When you buy a used table saw you are just buying the tool and the accessories and the motor etc. but no box. When you buy a new motor, there's a cardboard box you have to pay for too. 

:wacko1:


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## Woodsman (Sep 10, 2012)

ripjack13 said:


> woodtickgreg said:
> 
> 
> > Changing the pully's to get the speed up might work, and setting the knives is very important, but you may still end up changing the motor to a 3450 rpm?:dunno:
> ...




This was my $50.00 table saw find when I started this about 6 years ago. It's a 1939 model Delta unisaw. This was the first year they made them. I love that saw!


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## Mike1950 (Sep 10, 2012)

Woodsman said:


> ripjack13 said:
> 
> 
> > woodtickgreg said:
> ...



Nice saw, shop, planer and wood stash!!!!!!!


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## Woodsman (Sep 10, 2012)

Mike1950 said:


> Woodsman said:
> 
> 
> > ripjack13 said:
> ...



Thanks! What you can't see in the picture is that there is twice that much lumber. I hope that was ok to post. I had sent Kevin a pm about posting shop pic's, but never got a reply. I'm sure he's busy as all get out or maybe I goofed something up in sending it. (maybe he's reading this and can check that out)


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## ripjack13 (Sep 10, 2012)

Woodsman said:


> This was my $50.00 table saw find when I started this about 6 years ago. It's a 1939 model Delta unisaw. This was the first year they made them. I love that saw!




Hi, my names Marc and I'm your long lost son. May I come home now to the shop? I promise I won't ever get lost again.


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 10, 2012)

Woodsman said:


> Mike1950 said:
> 
> 
> > Woodsman said:
> ...


Please post pics of your shop and wood stash, we all do it! There might be a thread in Kenbos chat room for this, if not just start your own! It's ok, we encourage it!


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## Woodsman (Sep 10, 2012)

woodtickgreg said:


> Woodsman said:
> 
> 
> > Mike1950 said:
> ...



I was wondering about that very thing. I wasn't sure where to post the pictures of my shop. I really like this site and didn't want to chance getting kicked off because I did something stupid like post in the wrong place or something. I just never could find where others had done so. Thanks!


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## ripjack13 (Sep 12, 2012)

Woodsman said:


> ripjack13 said:
> 
> 
> > I found some at Northern...
> ...




I had a little chat with Northern Tool, today...


Thank you for choosing Northern Tool. A representative will be with you shortly.

Hi, my name is Cindy. I am a Northern Tool + Equipment Sales Specialist. How may I help you today?

marc: Hi cindy.

Cindy: Hello Marc,

marc: this page here im looking at says the part is made in america, yet in the picture clear as day, it says made in china

marc: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200576778_200576778

marc: which is it? china or usa?

Cindy: Please allow me 1 to 2 minutes to research this for you.

marc: yep

Cindy: That is a generic picture.That item number 18617 is US made.

marc: aha...you guys might wanna fix that.

marc: when i linked it to a forum i got a lot of slack concerning the pic and my reference as to it being american made.

Cindy: Let me double check with my superiors.

marc: please do...

Cindy: I'll be right with you.

marc: ok.

Cindy: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.

marc: rightie o

Cindy: I show the Mfg out of Horicon, Wis.

marc: excellent.

marc: let me know when you fix the picture, so i can build my reputation back up, since it's been tarnished by this misconception.

Cindy: I apologize for the inconvenience.

marc: Apology accepted on the basis that said picture will be rendered as not a stock photo, but an actual product picture.

marc: that is all.

marc: live long and prosper.

Cindy: Thank you and have a wonderful day.



:wacko1:


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## Woodsman (Sep 12, 2012)

I'm glad you called them out on that. Every little bit helps when it comes to letting people know that we want American made products!!


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## ripjack13 (Sep 12, 2012)

Apparently even the stock photo's are made in china as well.


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## Woodsman (Sep 13, 2012)

Just wondering if you got the jointer working to your liking yet. I will be following this thread in hopes that you did!


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## ripjack13 (Sep 14, 2012)

I should be able to set it up today or tomorrow. I went up to tractor supply and found a 6" and 2" wheels. The 6 is a smidgen to big for the motor, so I need to put a block under it to raise it up for clearance. (the wheel touches the tabletop when it's mounted to arbor) Then I need to check the blades.
I figure I should recheck them just in case one or more is outa whack for some reason. Never hurts to be safe....

thanx for checkin in on me.


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## ripjack13 (Jun 13, 2013)

Wow...how did I ever forget about this. Anyhow, I finally got it up n running. I bought a magnetic jig to hold the blades so I can set them. They were off about 32nd or so on 2, but the 3rd one was dead nuts on. go figure. 
I have to sharpen the blades again. I got a nick in all 3 from some wood I got from my neighbors pile. I had cut a piece up and was jointing it and then I heard a strange sound. Looked at the wood. A bullet was stuck inside. Looked like a 30-06. So back to the grind.....


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