Powermatic Model 50 Jointer

Matt Meiser

Member
Messages
470
Location
Monroe, MI
I went to a garage sale today and came across this jointer. The seller had it marked $350, but upon talking offered to sell it for $275. I said I couldn't go over $175 and he said $200 was as low as he'd go. After talking to him for for a little while I agreed to the $200 price and brought it home.

Looking at information on the OWWM site, I think it is probably and early 60's model. It is three phase, but I have a single phase motor that will work. It needs a serious cleaning (that's grease on the tables, not rust) and needs to be repainted. I'm going to strip it down and do a full restoration.

Talking to the seller, it came out of a suburban Detroit-area high school and had been in storage for a few years before he bought it at an auction a few years ago.
 

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Yes, its a 6". It has a 3/4 HP motor in it now. The motor I have is a 1/2 HP, but it is very old (has the drip cups for oiling) and is probably 50% larger, so I think it will work just fine.
 
Fast-forward 25 days. Here is how it looks now. Painting is complete and all the hardware is cleaned up.

I'm still messing around with motors. A friend gave me a no-name Chinese motor which would work, but another friend has a Century motor I'm going to look at tomorrow night that he'd sell me for $35. Only question is whether it is reversible as it currently is rotating the wrong direction and he's not sure.

It came with a magnetic starter, but the overloads for it aren't easily available and were too small for a single phase motor so I decided to put a standard switch on it. I started watching Ebay for an original style switch, expecting to pay $40-50 for it. Someone listed one and I asked if he'd be interested in adding a Buy It Now at whatever price he felt was appropriate. I got it for $12. It cleaned up nicely
 

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Well, I actually finished it up the week of the 4th, but things have been crazy the last couple weeks so I just got around to taking photos. I picked up a dust hood for it over the weekend but haven't had time to install that yet.
 

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Very nice, Matt. That thing cleaned up like new.

Note to self: Bring Matt along as the negotiator when buying used tools. :p
 
I ended up finding an older (meaning probably 70's or 80's) Gould 3/4HP motor which looks like it will do the job well. 3/4HP is what Powermatic always put in this model. Since then, I've also found a very new 1HP GE motor which would also work if I think it needs a little more power.

The color is sick, but its growning on me. Plus I have 3/4 of a gallon left, so I have to find something else to paint that color.
 
3/4 HP should be fine on there. You never.... well, rarely take big cuts anyway. Sharp knives are more important anyway.

Never cared for PM color choices after then went to greens but the gold is an improvement. My old planner was good ole' gray.
 
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