Taking up valuable space in my overstuffed garage (I call it a shop) is a vintage Powermatic 60, 8-inch jointer that has seen better days. This hunk of junk had been stored in a metal building in Fort Worth, Texas for many years, and, at some point has obviously been stored outdoors for an extended period of time judging by the rust on all of the unpainted surfaces and the paint peeling from the painted ones. The good thing that it has going for it is that it appears to be complete and original other than a couple of knobs that are missing.
The motor is dual voltage and was already wired for 220v which is my preference. I purchased 20 feet of 12 gauge industrial wiring and some plugs and made a heavy-duty extension cord as there is only 1- 220v outlet in the shop. I can only use 1 machine at a time and I intend to roll it toward the door when in use to limit the shavings inside.
The motor and cutterhead moved freely but I stood to the side when I flipped the switch for the first time. Much to my surprise it came right to life and settled in at a nice hum.
Back during the summer I spent a few several hours cleaning part of the bed surfaces. It was slow going and didn't produce the results that I was looking for so it got put off for another day. That day was last Saturday.
There are many ways to clean up "old 'arn" as they say. Some popular options are Evaporust, WD40 & razor blades, sandpaper, citric acid, electrolysis, and surface grinding. I've used most of those at one time or another. Due to the condition of the beds on this machine a surface grind would be the best, but not in the cards. Sanding it is.
Using a heavy-duty, 6-inch random orbital sander did the job. Started with using up a full box of 220-grit and working all the way through 800-grit. This was a slow job that took a full afternoon but the surfaces are much smoother than expected. Finished off with a couple of coats of paste wax to make things slide well.
I stopped to have dinner with the boss and caught a second wind. I had intended to stop and enjoy the progress for a week, yet now this thing is sitting there with both beds lowered, the cutterhead is out, bearing caps and bearings pulled. There is an industrial bearing supply just down the street from work so we'll get a new set of bearings as well.
The knives are dull and have some chipped out places. Time to pull them out, get them sharpened, and order a spare set. One of the knife jacking screws is missing and will need to be replaced. The other option that people rave about is a helical cutter head with carbide cutters. I'm on the fence about that, the helical cutterheads are pricey. Having never had a jointer doesn't give me any sense of judgement on how often it will get used. It should open a lot of doors into projects that I've not yet attempted but I don't have the experience to support that yet. I'm leaning toward keeping the straight knives for a year or two and working with the straight knives.
Enough rambling. You need pictures.
The motor is dual voltage and was already wired for 220v which is my preference. I purchased 20 feet of 12 gauge industrial wiring and some plugs and made a heavy-duty extension cord as there is only 1- 220v outlet in the shop. I can only use 1 machine at a time and I intend to roll it toward the door when in use to limit the shavings inside.
The motor and cutterhead moved freely but I stood to the side when I flipped the switch for the first time. Much to my surprise it came right to life and settled in at a nice hum.
Back during the summer I spent a few several hours cleaning part of the bed surfaces. It was slow going and didn't produce the results that I was looking for so it got put off for another day. That day was last Saturday.
There are many ways to clean up "old 'arn" as they say. Some popular options are Evaporust, WD40 & razor blades, sandpaper, citric acid, electrolysis, and surface grinding. I've used most of those at one time or another. Due to the condition of the beds on this machine a surface grind would be the best, but not in the cards. Sanding it is.
Using a heavy-duty, 6-inch random orbital sander did the job. Started with using up a full box of 220-grit and working all the way through 800-grit. This was a slow job that took a full afternoon but the surfaces are much smoother than expected. Finished off with a couple of coats of paste wax to make things slide well.
I stopped to have dinner with the boss and caught a second wind. I had intended to stop and enjoy the progress for a week, yet now this thing is sitting there with both beds lowered, the cutterhead is out, bearing caps and bearings pulled. There is an industrial bearing supply just down the street from work so we'll get a new set of bearings as well.
The knives are dull and have some chipped out places. Time to pull them out, get them sharpened, and order a spare set. One of the knife jacking screws is missing and will need to be replaced. The other option that people rave about is a helical cutter head with carbide cutters. I'm on the fence about that, the helical cutterheads are pricey. Having never had a jointer doesn't give me any sense of judgement on how often it will get used. It should open a lot of doors into projects that I've not yet attempted but I don't have the experience to support that yet. I'm leaning toward keeping the straight knives for a year or two and working with the straight knives.
Enough rambling. You need pictures.
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