16" jointer

bolts

Travis thanks for the warning on the bolts I didnt think about that!
Yes the fence does seems to be original. Jeff you have me worried. I have been busy but I will take the head out this weekend post a picture of it for you. Thanks guys I enjoy talking about tools.

I am axtiously waiting pictures of that cutterhead too. I have heard warnings that slam shells kick out knives as well.

Now Ken, you said in a previous post I think that this cutterhead was a replacement? I would be curious to find out if mine had a square headed cutter head originally. If it did, I would consider machining out a new cutterhead for mine and putting it back to the original. Square heads scare the pants off a lot of people, but they must have worked. Either way I have a lot of respect for Jeff and his willingness to keep his squarehead a squarehead and actually use it.

Is the reputation as bad as the claim Jeff (safety wise)???

Travis Johnson said:

Is the reputation as bad as the claim Jeff (safety wise)???

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Well, as bad? No. Dangerous? Well yes and no.

If you get a finger in the cutter head it's going to be bad. Little doubt your going to loose a finger as opposed to the tip of a finger with a round safety head. So in that respect yes, they are dangerous. But any jointer is just as dangerous. Just the consequences with this one are worse.

If your careful and keep your hands away from the cutters, it's not going to suck you in a vortex either. I was undecided on what to do with mine. If I had a machine shop I would have made a round head. Spending several hundred dollars to have one made was just not an option.

I had a simple rule when I was deciding what to do. No guard, not using it! I just was not going to run it without a guard. I found a simple way to put a guard on it and it works. I try to use push blocks and always be careful all the time an NO ONE else runs it.

I can understand that. I need a good kick in my rump for failing to do more then I have with this jointer. Here I am talking about rebuilding the head into a square head, and yet I have been unable to even make the set of knives for the existing head. How foolish is that? Travers has the metal on sale right now so I should buy it, but I got so many other things to do.

Be thankful you don't have a machine shop Jeff...it does not make things easy, it makes them worse, because you can do a lot, you just don't have the time to do a lot with what you have!!

(By the way, I love your signature line. It is oh so true. I shouldn't down a boat that is currently making me a living, but it is not designed very well at all. The owner is spending a lot of money to do something that serves no real good purpose. Basically its making a sail boat (54 feet long) that will have no visible sailing lines on it. Everything is hidden and controlled from the helm. That means alot of custom sheaves and sheave blocks to control all the lines it takes to sail this thing. Unique to say the least.)

Jeff Horton said:

Can you get a photo of that cutter head? Sounds like an old Clam Shell head your describing. I don't know much about them but they are not highly thought of. Supposed to be notorious for slinging knifes out.

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It does look like a clam shell. I've heard alot of negative talk about them. In my opinion this is a very viable cutterhead. The biggest problem with the Oliver style clam shell is that the bolts are not hex head. Here's a picture of a Clam Shell in an Oliver 16" Jointer I just picked up:



You need a special wrench with four pins to loosen/tighten them. It can be very difficult to determine whether you have the bolts properly tightened. As a result, they either end up being loose or overtightened. You already know what happens when they're loose. When overtightened, the bolts can actually stretch, and on some heads they will bottom out. When this happens, the blade can come loose, or the head will separate. This usually ends up taking a big chunk out of your table, which can be a little scary.

I've dealt with these in the past by replacing all the bolts with hex head flange bolts. Once you do that, you can accurately torque the bolts every time. I would use high quality bolts, and weigh each one with a balance scale to make sure you don't throw the head out of balance. The last time I did this, I bought the bolts from McMaster. I can't remember the cost, but it certainly is a small fraction of the cost of machining a new head for this jointer.

Well that sets my mind at ease. My cutterhead has hex bolts,a little less hex head height so they are specially made for this jointer (again British thread), but I have all of them so I am good. I can see where the Oliver bolts could come loose with a four pin wrench tightening them.

cutterhead

Havent had time to take it apart yet. But here are some pictures of the head. Hope they help. I believe the name on the head tells me the head is not original. Arthur what data did you use to find the correct torque?

ken lutes said:

Havent had time to take it apart yet. But here are some pictures of the head. Hope they help. I believe the name on the head tells me the head is not original. Arthur what data did you use to find the correct torque?

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Ken,
That head probably is original. The Fischer head was sold as OEM for a number of different manufacturers. Here's an advertisement from 1919 for your head:



I torque my bolts to 65 FtLbs. Since the bolts are the most common cause of failure for the clamshell head, I'd suggest careful inspection. If you find anything that even looks a little odd, I'd replace all the bolts.

I wanted to say thanks for weighing in on this Arthur. I have learned a little. No experience with clamshells, just my square head. I read the horror stories and figure like a square head there is some truth mixed in with a good dose of fear and boasting all mixed together.

I would take a clamshell over the square head. But no plans on changing mine out either. Unless someone gave me a round head,then I probably would. But that ain't gonna happen.

wow I didnt get the gauge or wrench with mine!!! Arthur thanks for the great old add. I think I will replace the cutterhead bolts. I hope they are standard threads the other bolts on the machine are. Have you finished your jointer yet and if so how it is doing for you? Got pictures.

Jeff Horton said:

I read the horror stories and figure like a square head there is some truth mixed in with a good dose of fear and boasting all mixed together.

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Jeff, I've heard the stories too. I've also seen alot of pictures of failed heads. Every type of cutterhead will suffer a catastrophic failure if it spits a blade. I've seen this on round heads with wedge gibs and on moulder/shaper heads with corrugated backs. The damage that results is usually pretty extensive. The tables are almost always wrecked, and the cutterhead needs to be replaced. I've never heard of anyone actually getting hurt, but it's definitely possible to be seriously injured. Bottom line is that proper care needs to be taken during installation of the knives.

ken lutes said:

wow I didnt get the gauge or wrench with mine!!! Arthur thanks for the great old add. I think I will replace the cutterhead bolts. I hope they are standard threads the other bolts on the machine are. Have you finished your jointer yet and if so how it is doing for you? Got pictures.

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Ken, There's alot of great material on the owwm site. The site is in a state of transition right now, but you can find alot of information on your jointer there. I haven't started work on the Oliver yet. I have way too many projects. Here are a few more photos from the sale:





I had the same cutterhead as your's in a Fay & Egan jointer. Mine had square bolts in it. I replaced the bolts with new hex heads. I ended up giving the jointer to my brother. I haven't laid eyes on it in several years, but he's still making good use of it.

guard

Does anyone have any plans or pictures of a good guard that can be made and fitted to tnis jointer?

I made my own Ken. I happened to have a hole in the table that was perfect for a pivot point. You might have to fabricate a bracket to hold a pin to pivot on. But it was just some trial and error design out of scraps till I found a shape that kept the blades covered.



I just picked up piece of Steel and a bushing from McMaster Carr. Some bronze washers to adjust the height of the guard. Pretty simple actually. I want to replace the spring set up with something that looks better, but this works fine.

Hey Jeff, just thinking out loud here, but it looks like your porkchop is plenty thick enough, could you possibly put a rewind spring from say a chainsaw inside a recess in that porkchop and get it to spring back as needed? If you used a recoil spring, I was thinking that would look sharp as you would never see the spring.

I am not saying it would work with what you got, but just trying to give you an outside-the-box kind of idea on how to keep things safe yet nice and clean.

I thought about that. But every time I take it off I have to rewind it. What I am thinking is to just make a decent looking metal rod to replace the wire. Problem is, it works perfect as is.

Yeah I know what you mean. I have a whole shop full of equipment like that. The age old adage...function comes before form. The only thing is, my wife is the opposite, (form before function) but she seldom comes out in the shop anyway.