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8" Jointer Surfacing

beeser

Cast Iron
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
I just purchased a 20 year old Delta 8" jointer that has less than ideal table surfaces. Any suggestions on resurfacing?
 
I have a table saw like that and after much thought, decided to leave it alone. We're talking wood here, and slight errors don't matter much. There was also the possibility that if I messed with it, it might just relax to some new unflat position. A jointer table is thicker, so maybe a better candidate if you can find a grinding shop. Or, hand scrape it?
 
I have a table saw like that and after much thought, decided to leave it alone. We're talking wood here, and slight errors don't matter much. There was also the possibility that if I messed with it, it might just relax to some new unflat position. A jointer table is thicker, so maybe a better candidate if you can find a grinding shop. Or, hand scrape it?

We're somewhat rural so finding a grinding shop may be a challenge. The scraping idea sounds promising though.
 
What is less than ideal? Not flat or gouges etc? If gouges etc. stone any high spots off and use it. Flatness is more important but I worked in a shop that there was a .03" hollow worn in the center of the table. It made setting knives difficult but we were able to flatten faces and edges of our lumber quite well on a daily basis. This was in a shop of over a dozen patternmakers. One of the jobs regularly done on this jointer was making 12' and 16' straight edges for a customer.
 
What does "less than ideal mean"?

If it's just cosmetic, live with it and use it. It's a tool, not a decorative object.

If the tables are not flat, then it's worth fixing. But it's not an easy task, and can turn into a rabbit hole easily. Scraping is a good approach, relieves stress as you go. I've known guys who've spent serious $$ to get jointer tables ground and were not happy with the results.
 
you would need someone close and cheap to justify grinding an 8" Delta. I've rehabbed jointers and would want a machine in the 12-16" range and at the Oliver 166, Northfield MD or Hd, Yates, Porter, etc level. Either a parallelogram or a wedgebed design where the tables can be separated from the wedge. Any table that has an integral top wedge is a waste of effort. Delta 8" jointers are fairly common and fairly cheap. I'd clean up the tables and see how flat they are and save up for a better jointer. Before long you will wish for something wider. Dave
 
It would be helpful if you posted a few pictures for us along with measurments.

The rule of thumb for metal surfaces is to plane or grind if it is over .005 out of tolerance then scrape it in. Hand scraping, even with a power scraper, takes a long time and is a lot of work..

As Conrad said the table probably has some internal stress that will be released by machining the surface. Heat stress relieving would probably be needed if you take a lot of material off...

More information would help us help you :)

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 
Here are a couple of pics of the Delta 8" jointer. I cleaned the rust off of the bed. Cosmetically it's not too bad except for some deep scratches made by the previous owner while demonstrating how easy it would be to remove the rust using an ugly looking chisel. I ran an indicator along the bed and found a maximum .003" variation from adjacent surfaces. I couldn't tell the depth of the scratches. Overall I'm disappointed with the build quality of the jointer. The adjustment knob for the outfeed table is flimsy and is already showing signs of slipping off the shaft. The infeed adjustment is nothing but a lever but seems to function better. I would've preferred solid handwheels on both ends. The opening on the outfield table is not parallel with the cutter assembly and I can't figure out how to align it properly. The jointer will probably not be a keeper based on my perception of the build quality. What would be a step up from this without going to a larger machine, which I doubt will be needed?

Delta 8 Jointer 001.jpgDelta 8 Jointer 002.jpg
 
Looks good from my house :)

As stated before finding local planers may be tough in your area however, you may be able to find an automotive machine shop who could put a nice radial ground finish on it.
 
That table casting is when Delta had stuff made in Taiwan. Delta went from US to Brazil, to Taiwan, and finally China. The quality of the iron and grinding follows that trail as well. If you at .003 you are as good as Delta ever got. Sand down any rough edges and check that the tables are co planar ( not cancave or convex ). If they are you need to shim the wedges but if good, you have as good as it gets for that model. Check the fence for 90 as the fences are often bowed, twisted, or don't easily return to 90. If your is good you are golden and the machine will serve you. Most jointers made in the past 20 years are less flat than any built before that time. Seasoned cast iron and tighter machining tolerances. Dave
 
I'll persevere with the jointer for now until something better comes along. What brands have better build quality?
 
I agree that the old PM were good for a light duty jointer. Oliver and northfield both made 8" machines that were a solid step up but the better deal is in the 12" size. Believe it or not, most of the guys who want old industrial jointers want 16-24" so 12" can be found. Oliver 166, American, Yates, Clement, Fay and Egan, Newman, and my favorite, the Porter 300cm, are the really great jointers. Fine grain cast iron, planed to within a couple thou and often still close to that. 5" cutterheads give a better cut and the mass of the machine and head, take out the vibration. Dave

PS: A wedgebed three toed jointer was the pick of the design litter but the tables bolted to the wedge. Your Delta, like almost all jointers that are not parallelogram cast the top part of the wedge with the table. Cheap idea but bad in real life. If the tables droop or are concave, you need to shim the wedges which is a pain and doesn't work all that well. The old jointers could shim the table to correct any problem with the wedges.
 
A joiner needs parallel tables, a cutterhead with sharp knives set to outfeed table height, and a fence at 90 degrees. Pretty much all else is secondary.

About the last thing to worry about on a piece of woodworking equipment is table finish. And the worst finish seems to be a super smooth ground surface, as it can get really sticky with a smooth flat board.
 
beeser, do you need a jointer for professional woodworking, or is this just for occasional, perhaps hobby, use?

I ask because it's easy to fall into wanting big, industrial iron, even if you don't need it. No reason not to have it, but it usually costs more, takes up much more space, is harder to move, and can require 3 phase (not a big deal with the cheap vfd's available now)

I used to make furniture in a big 6000 ft shop, downsized 6 yrs ago to half that size, and am making banjos. Had a 24" Yates jtr, a great machine, but I had picked up a 6" Powermatic with a Shelix head cheap from Craigslist to use for edge jointing curly maple. It's on wheels, plugs into the wall outlet anywhere. Found it was entirely adequate for my needs, so I sold the Yates to a motivated buyer. The PM is the current parallelogram model, nothing to get excited about, but flat, true, and entirely adequate. Just sayin...

Ok, full disclosure - I did feel a little inadequate with just a 6", so I got a 16" Clement, which I never used, and eventually sold, Then I got a great buy on a older 16" Wadkin, which I finally have used. Only 2 knives, I had been thinking I'd gt a Shelix head for it, but again, it's been just fine as is.
 
I agree that a larger jointer may not be needed. My point was that if you are going to spend time and money rehabbing a jointer, and maybe grinding tables, it should be a machine that will benefit from the effort and have some value when done. Dave
 
Not much to add as others have covered it, but if you do production woodwork and joint great piles of lumber at a time manually, a lever feed infeed can be convenient. Or a large ships wheel style on the side, like Porter.

Both my JA Fay & Egans have the relatively small handwheels at each end, as does the Diehl here in the shop.
But there's an Olympia sander built like a 13" jointer with a belt over a couple rollers, instead of a knife head. (I use it mostly for facing lumber flat as it is being resawn for veneers) The Olympia has lever adjusters.

After busting up a pile of lumber into approximate blanks and beginning to face them flat on a jointer, a typical goal is max thickness yield. Yet every jointing pass makes them thinner. When a hump (long bow) is planed off a piece of hardwood, it curves the other way, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. So the iterations for each piece are different. On long sticks with S-curves, you have to plane the humps off each side, and them go back and choose a side for flat, and maybe take a full length pass with the least amount of cut. So one is constantly going from a situation where the jointer infeed is either too deep or too scanty for efficient processing of any given board. If the lever has a good scale, or better yet, stops, it is easier to go back and forth from a deep roughing cut to a minimal final clean up pass.

FWIW/YMMV- personally I don't count on a jointer for finish surface. It's for making stuff flat. I'm working it about as fast as it will go, and let the planer and widebelt sanders do the finish work.

smt
 








 
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