I’m considering buying a Delta 8″ jointer. It was originally purchased in 1979, one owner, seems to be in good shape, though I haven’t seen it.
Does anyone have any tips to examining the machine before I purchase it? What should I be looking for in terms of defects or problems. For example, with a table saw, I might grab the arbor and see how much play there is, put a straight edge across the tables, etc.
It’s being sold for a third of the price of a new one and want to know if I’m getting what I pay for. Or is a jointer the kind of thing that is noticeably better “out of the crate” and I should pass, save my money and buy new?
Replies
I'd be more interested in examining a couple of boards the machine has processed. If the current owner will let you, joint the edges of a couple of boards and see if you come up with what would be a good glue joint.
Running a pair of test boards would hardly be a good test of the condition of the machine. Almost always a jointer that isn't cutting well just needs a tune up or a set of sharp blades, it would be a shame to pass up a good machine just because it needed a few minutes of adjusting.
If the machine does give straight cuts in tests with the fence at both the front and back edges of the tables, and the middle, then that would help to confirm that the tool is in good shape, but a poor result all by itself would prove little.
My advice, if the machine hasn't been in a shop, like a school's, where it could have been abused, and it hasn't been worn out from heavy use in a busy commercial shop, it is probably as good as new. One hundred year old jointers are still in service, being the machine is a good brand, if it hasn't been beaten into the ground, it is worth purchasing.
Testing the machine's tables for alignment and flatness is a high precision job needing tools that few people would have, ordinary shop straight edges aren't nearly good enough to give reliable results. I would rate the chance that the tables or base casting having warped at maybe one in five hundred.
John W.
This might be obvious but check the castings over carefully for signs of cracking or repair (welds or brazing). Look closely at the dovetails that the tables travel on.
After that, check for any play in the bearings. Finally, plug it back in and check the operation as another suggested.
Regards,
Mack
"WISH IN ONE HAND, #### IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
workinhard
Listen to JohnW on this one. My 12" Northfield jointer was built in 1957, and is way better than any of the stuff being built today coming in from Taiwann, or wherever they cast the stuff today. You can probably call delta with the serial number, and they should be able to tell you the history of the machine. If the bearings aren't screaming or wobbly on the machine, a sign of serious neglect with maintenance, then you should be o.k..
Any jointer can be tuned up, as long as the castings are flat, and the infeed and outfeed tables are in the same 'plane'.
cstan, I saved the spell check on this post for you, as I know how much you love to correct me.
Jeff
You may very well take your dial gauges and your Starrett straightedges and all that rot with you when you look at the machine. But, it would be foolish to buy without running some wood through the machine. You could at least start the process of getting warm and fuzzy if the machine will at least do what it's designed to do, no?
You should be aware that the late 1970s were not necessarily the heyday of finely built woodworking machinery, but I guess it is likely that this machine was manufactured in the U.S. which is a bright spot.
Or is a jointer the kind of thing that is noticeably better "out of the crate" and I should pass, save my money and buy new?
The saving grace of a new jointer is the ability to take it back and get a refund.
Clearly, a jointer does a simple, but crucial job. There is nothing more frustrating than one that won't do its job or hold a tune up. You don't want to be constantly fiddling with this machine. Have you ever owned a jointer before? Have you ever tuned a jointer before?
Never owned one, nor tuned one. I was going to peruse the archives for the tuneups after I purchased. One guy mentioned a board with several screws in it that he used to get everything in the same plane. But, that's for when I own one.
I'm not scared to spend a few dollars or a few weeks in elbow grease to make it sing, just wanted to make sure the savings moneywise was well spent.
I've heard as others have said that solidly built American machines from way back are better than the ones being made today. Seems like a good deal to me. Even if I decide to part with it and upgrade, I should be able to resell it for close to what I paid for it.
I think you've all sold me, as long as there isn't any major damage/cracks and no major wobble or play in the motor shaft, I'll bring it home this weekend. Then the fun begins.
I promise I'll look through the archives before posting all my questions on tuning it up. If you know of any recent threads, I would appreciate it.
Invest in John White's book "Care and Repair of Shop Machines". It is a very worth while volume that covers the tune up and repair of all the basic shop stationary equipment including the jointer. It describes the construction of the "bars with screws" that you mentioned. I have made those bars, used them and they work as advertised!
It's available at most WW'ing stores and is just like PBS; time well spent. Best of luck with the new jointer!
Regards,
Mack"WISH IN ONE HAND, #### IN THE OTHER AND SEE WHICH FILLS UP FIRST"
I am a big fan of buying used equipment. My partner and I bought an antique 8" x72" antique jointer (Indiana Machine Works) about a year and a half ago. Babbet bearings, runs quiet (esp after we adjusted them.) I had to go thru the whole thing and adjust everything, then tried it out on 9' walnut (8/4) for a big table top. Worked great. A new jointer that size was priced at $1100. We paid $350 without a motor, and put a motor we had on it, plus our own better electricals. We used the $1100 price as a negotiating lever, but didn't tell the seller that we had no interest in the new machine.
Here's the deal: you can either pay 1/3 of new price for a good machine you may need to adjust a little, or you can pay full price for a machine you have about a 50% chance of having to screw around with to get it right. I just advised a friend of mine who recently bought a brand new 8" jointer (I don't remember the brand.) When he face-jointed a board several times, the board came out tapered significantly from side to side. I told him that the infeed table was not aligned with the cutter and outfeed table, so one side of the board was seeing more of the knives than the other. He shimmed the dovetail ways that the infeed table rides on, and the problem was fixed. Brand new jointer. Reading the complaints of funky motors, parts not fitting, etc. on the web for the new machines does not inspire me to pay the new price. Sure you can take it back, or call and get another part, and screw around with it. Why not buy a machine you can inspect, that has been working well, and give it a ilttle TLC?
Enjoy your jointer! They are great, and that's a great one to start out on.
JHarveyB
Ditto to Mack's post -- it's hard to find books with good info on jointers, and "Care and Repair....." is a good one. Getting info in the forum or anywhere else on the internet is problematic -- pictures are essential.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Well, I bought that 37-315 8" Rockwell over the weekend. Took about 4 hours to get there and back with a buddy helping me on this end to remove it from the truck. Darn that's heavy!
The fence movement (which I forgot to check) wasn't smooth, so I got to taking it apart. I sanded with scotch brite pads all the mating surfaces and sprayed a coat of Topcote, wiped down and reassembled. Works like a charm.
I'm starting to get a warm fuzzy feeling for old machines. If they don't work, they aren't hard to figure out and the parts won't fall apart in your hands when you take them apart. Wow! Really satisfying. It came with the original receipt from 1979 when the owner paid $934.45 for it plus $402.75 for the "electrical package". I assume the electrical package is for this jointer, but don't really know. Also got the original owner's manual with all the breakdowns, etc.
Cool deal. Now I don't think I would've liked a new one over this one.
Very satisfied and thankful for all the advice received before my purchase.
I ordered the book you mentioned and should be getting it in the next couple of days. In the meantime, I've been tinkering and have set it up so that there won't be too much tweaking to come.
Not sure that late 70s Delta qualifies as vintage machinery.
Don't think I ever mentioned vintage, did I? Maybe I'm mistaken. I think I said old. 35 years seems old to me for a machine, no?
But thanks for the comment, very insightful and helpful.
I really meant to speak to the things that others were saying about vintage machinery - how sound it is (was). This is true. The really old stuff was superbly made. I realize that you did not characterize the tool as vintage, but others discussed vintage machinery, I think. I was just simply making the point that 1970s machinery was not what they were talking about so you wouldn't think that you were buying a diamond-in-the-rough.
Edited 1/26/2005 1:10 pm ET by cstan
Check the bearings for play on both the cutter head and the motor.
If it doesn't come with a second set of knives, I'd purchase a set, that way you can change to a sharp set and take the dull set to be sharpened.
Power it up, it should run smoothly without any hiccups.
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