Delta Rockwell 37-220 jointer

Dave Black

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638
Location
Central PA
I am looking at an older delta rockwell 37-220 6" jointer. It looks to be in good condition. Any thoughts about this model and what a fair price might be?
 
In southern California I would say $200 for a complete machine with an enclosed base in very nice condition (no pitting on beds, complete plating on wheels, sharp blades with lots of meat on them, no gouges on drum.)

But I am so cheap that I usually have to wait a long while when it comes to used equipment :D Most others might pay up to $300, but then you can wait and get an 8" jointer if you are patient (I bought my DJ-20 for $300 because it had a bum power switch).

As far as the machine goes it is quality iron and steel. Most likely a 1/2 HP motor so it will be a little underpowered when face jointing wide hardwoods, just keep the knives sharp. Unlikely to have gibs on the knives for easy setting. In my case I would be certain to get it with the enclosed base for easy hookup to a dust collector.

Cheers,
 
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This is my first jointer so I am unfamiliar with setting the knives. From what I know there is supposed to be about a 1/16" of knife on the back of the bevel sticking up from the cutter head. Does the bottom of the knife have to be sitting in the bottom of the slot in the cutterhead? The knives look to be in decent shape, some minor nicks and overall dull. What is the best way to sharpen them? I have a glass plate that I use for plane irons and I have a small belt sander with 800 grit wet dry belts. I think that it would take too long by hand to get the nicks out. Can I do a micro bevel like I would do on plane irons or do I have to grind the whole bevel down?
 
I did a quick sharpen on the knives tonight, they cut nicely producing nice shavings not dust. There are still some small nicks that I will have to get out, but I think for now I will just keep these knives and get some new ones after I get my sawstop...I need to keep as much in the sawstop fund as I can. I think that I need to do some more tuning, but other than that it seems to work very nicely.
 
I meant to post earlier...

You can get some nice HSS knives for these guys for about $32 for your size jointer. http://www.cggschmidt.com/products.html

You should get an extra set for a couple of reasons:
1. You will see what a fresh factory set looks like.
2. If you dog your current set you will have a fresh set ready to replace for
minimal downtime.

Great going on finding and getting such a great deal.

Cheers,
 
One way to deal with nicks in the blade is to slightly shift one of the three just a bit to one side or the other. The idea is to keep the nicks on all three blades from aligning. Shifting one blade will help eliminate the little ridges that result when the nicks in the blades align.
Have fun with the jointer. Mine's indespensible.
paulh
 
I took all the knives out to sharpen them, i didn't really align them so I figured that the nicks would be not lined up with each other, I really think that I need to sharpen the blades more since I only spent all of 5 minutes doing it the first time. I just couldn't wait any longer to try out the jointer, the anticipation was killing me.:D
 
I still recommend a professional sharpening because of the accuracy that a good sharpening shop can provide over hand sharpening & a spare set of knives. The knives I sent you the URL for are not that expensive, the most expensive set was less then $25:):thumb:
 
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I hear you Bart, though some depends on what you can find locally. The last time got my jointer blades back from the sharpener, i swore i'd never go back there again. They took off about 3/16" of my blade length, rounded over the last 1/2" or so of each end, and left a pretty rough grind finish on them. At that rate, that set of blades might have had one sharpening left in them after i cleaned up the mess.
After that, i got a jointer blade sharpening/honing guide and a scrap of plate glass.(http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=33002&cat=1,43072,43078&ap=1)
I use the scary sharp method with wet/dry sand paper. If they need to be reground first, i set up a simple jig on my grinding wheel made from a block of wood. I only take off what i need to (longer blade life), and i finish them up as fine as i want to.
At some point, i picked up a used Makita wet grinder for my planer blades, and tend to use that now, but the hand method worked just fine.
I second the thought of getting a second set of knives. Completely worth the money.
Have fun with it.
paulh
 
I hear you Bart, though some depends on what you can find locally.
After that, i got a jointer blade sharpening/honing guide and a scrap of plate glass.(http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=33002&cat=1,43072,43078&ap=1)
I use the scary sharp method with wet/dry sand paper. If they need to be reground first, i set up a simple jig on my grinding wheel made from a block of wood. I only take off what i need to (longer blade life), and i finish them up as fine as i want to.
At some point, i picked up a used Makita wet grinder for my planer blades, and tend to use that now, but the hand method worked just fine.
I second the thought of getting a second set of knives. Completely worth the money.
Have fun with it.
paulh

How about a pic. Thanks
 
I too would like to see a pic.
I will eventually get a second set of knives, but right now I am WAY over on my tool budget and my wife is getting me a sawstop for our anniversary so the tool budget is blown for the next 15 years:eek: I probably shouldn't have bought the jointer but I couldn't pass up this great deal.:D
 
I have decieded to take the jointer apart for cleaning and to paint it. I was over on OWWM too long and got seduced by all that shiny new paint on the shiny old machines. The jointer is in good condition as it is, but I thought that I should clean the table raising mechanisms since they were pretty gunked up and while I'm at it give it a shot of paint. Any advice on dis-assembly and reassembly, particularly with the dovetails and gib screws?
 
Well its all painted and cleaned and it looks like a brand new machine, my father in law brought his sharpening machine out when they came to visit so the blades are sharp and nick free. I suppose that i will have to get some pics for you guys to believe me though;). I rearranged the shop(again) this past weekend so I will probably post a bunch of pics of everything my shop tour thread.
 
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