As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?
The old manual I downloaded dont mention them. SOmeone on another
newsgroup said maybe they are for angeling the blade? But my manual
does not mention this. I loosened one of them and could not tell
anything. I was afraid to take them out as I had just adjusted the
cutter head height and did not want to mess it up.

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and lower
it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and adjust the
knife height by raising lowering that side of the cutterhead? The
manual makes no reference to that and just says to adjust each
individual knife with a straightedge. The only thing I could think of
is maybe it would be impossible to get each knife the right height
using that method.

"stryped" wrote in message
ps.com...
As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?
The old manual I downloaded dont mention them. SOmeone on another
newsgroup said maybe they are for angeling the blade? But my manual
does not mention this. I loosened one of them and could not tell
anything. I was afraid to take them out as I had just adjusted the
cutter head height and did not want to mess it up.

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and lower
it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and adjust the
knife height by raising lowering that side of the cutterhead? The
manual makes no reference to that and just says to adjust each
individual knife with a straightedge. The only thing I could think of
is maybe it would be impossible to get each knife the right height
using that method.


Blade height/level adjustment.

stryped wrote:

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and
lower it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and
adjust the knife height by raising lowering that side of the
cutterhead?

Maybe because the head is round?


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

How would those screws control the blade height/level adjustment of all
three blades?
Leon wrote:
"stryped" wrote in message
ps.com...
As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?
The old manual I downloaded dont mention them. SOmeone on another
newsgroup said maybe they are for angeling the blade? But my manual
does not mention this. I loosened one of them and could not tell
anything. I was afraid to take them out as I had just adjusted the
cutter head height and did not want to mess it up.

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and lower
it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and adjust the
knife height by raising lowering that side of the cutterhead? The
manual makes no reference to that and just says to adjust each
individual knife with a straightedge. The only thing I could think of
is maybe it would be impossible to get each knife the right height
using that method.


Blade height/level adjustment.

I know I am stupid sometimes, but I dont follow?
dadiOH wrote:
stryped wrote:

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and
lower it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and
adjust the knife height by raising lowering that side of the
cutterhead?

Maybe because the head is round?


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

They control the height of the cutterhead to which your blades are
mounted. Your blades need to be mounted the same distance from the
cutterhead. That is, they should extend the same distance from the
cutterhead to the end of the blade. This gives them consistent height
and hopefully makes them parallel to the table. If the blades are
mounted consistently then you could use those screws to move the
cutterhead up/down and make it parallel to the table. If you're blades
are not consistently positioned then one blade will contact the wood
and another one won't.

Ok. My mind is not working right as always.

The two screws I was refering to are on the cutterhead themself. There
are two bolts on the cutter head bracket that controls the up/down
placement of the cutterhead, so I dont think those two allen screws I
was saying I dont know what they go to control that.

My manual shouls how to adjust the cutterhead by adjusting the bolts on
the bracket which i understand, but it also shows that you must adjust
the individual blades level to the outfeed table bu having them touch a
straight edge all equally.

So, why could you not skip that last step and adust the cutterhead
height to place the knife at the height of the outfeed table?

Still not sure what those allen screws are for.

I know sometimes I have a mental block about things. For those of you
that maybe can catch something I am missing, here is a website for each
page in the manual to that jointer:
http://www.cloudnet.com/~wtorborg/jointer/

wrote:
They control the height of the cutterhead to which your blades are
mounted. Your blades need to be mounted the same distance from the
cutterhead. That is, they should extend the same distance from the
cutterhead to the end of the blade. This gives them consistent height
and hopefully makes them parallel to the table. If the blades are
mounted consistently then you could use those screws to move the
cutterhead up/down and make it parallel to the table. If you're blades
are not consistently positioned then one blade will contact the wood
and another one won't.

"stryped" wrote in message
ps.com...
How would those screws control the blade height/level adjustment of all
three blades?
Leon wrote:
"stryped" wrote in message
ps.com...
As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter.

Sorry, I expanded what you were saying and "thought" 2 Allen screws on each
end of each blade.
My old Craftsman has 2 screws under each knife on each end for the purpose
that I stated.

stryped wrote:
Ok. My mind is not working right as always.

The two screws I was refering to are on the cutterhead themself.
There are two bolts on the cutter head bracket that controls the
up/down placement of the cutterhead, so I dont think those two
allen screws I was saying I dont know what they go to control that.

My manual shouls how to adjust the cutterhead by adjusting the
bolts on the bracket which i understand, but it also shows that you
must adjust the individual blades level to the outfeed table bu
having them touch a straight edge all equally.

So, why could you not skip that last step and adust the cutterhead
height to place the knife at the height of the outfeed table?

As I said, because the head is round. Consider...

1. One knife is set at the right height
2. One knife is too low
3. One knife is too high

Now, what happens to #1 & 2 if you raise the entire head so #2 is OK?
Or, what happens to #1 and #3 if you lower the head to fix #3?

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

stryped wrote:
Ok. My mind is not working right as always.

The two screws I was refering to are on the cutterhead themself. There
are two bolts on the cutter head bracket that controls the up/down
placement of the cutterhead, so I dont think those two allen screws I
was saying I dont know what they go to control that.

My manual shouls how to adjust the cutterhead by adjusting the bolts on
the bracket which i understand, but it also shows that you must adjust
the individual blades level to the outfeed table bu having them touch a
straight edge all equally.

So, why could you not skip that last step and adust the cutterhead
height to place the knife at the height of the outfeed table?

Still not sure what those allen screws are for.
....

If you adjust the whole head and each knife is not at the same
_relative_ height, you can move any particular knife to the correct
height, but the others are _STILL_ off relative to each other.

This is the jointer I had in the days before the 'net...no manual then!


I looked at the manual, it seems quite clear and straightforward to me
if you'll simply follow along in order and not try to make up new
things. I will say (again) that this particular jointer is "touchy" to
get aligned properly, but once it is, it will do excellent work.

I'll go through this one more time...

The flat-headed Allen screw shown in Fig 3 at each end under the knife
is for setting the knife height individually. The easiest way to get
these even w/ each other is to set each one slightly low and then use
the set screw to bring them up to the correct height. I do not recall
if this jointer has them offset sufficiently to allow that, but I think
it does. In doing this, you have to have the locking gibs in place, of
course, but not yet tight so the knife can be moved. However, they
have to be snug enough to keep the alignment close.

The head-leveling screws on the cutterhead itself are to adjust the
overall height of the cutterhead itself and to level it so it will be
parallel to the tables, left to right. If, once the knives are all set
at the same height with respect to each other, the cut is too much or
too little to achieve a straight edge as described in the manual,
_THEN_ and _ONLY_ then, you can correct that by tweaking the cutterhead
height. This, too, is described in the manual (p 3).

Simply think about what moves relative to what by the various
adjustments and it should be clear what the purpose of each is. The
screws on each knife set individual knife height relative to the cutter
head. The screws on the cutter mount adjust the height of the cutter
head relative to the table.

stryped wrote:
As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?

Maybe they hold the cutterhead in place on the shaft.

The shaft does have two flat spots on it. Is that where these screws
are?

Everything in that online manual looks like my jointer but the
pictorial of the cutterhead does not. Mine only has a blade, wedge, and
4 allen headed bolts for each blade to tighten the blade. It does not
have any of those "fine adjustment" screws.

The manual I have at home does not show them either. These instructions
are identical with the exception of the cutterhwead thought. Any idea
why? Was this an upgrade? My model number I think is 103.2330.

It also has two allen screws on the cutterhead I was asking baout
earlyier. I think someone mentioned on here they might be what holds
the cutterhead on the shaft and that makes sense.
dpb wrote:
stryped wrote:
Ok. My mind is not working right as always.

The two screws I was refering to are on the cutterhead themself. There
are two bolts on the cutter head bracket that controls the up/down
placement of the cutterhead, so I dont think those two allen screws I
was saying I dont know what they go to control that.

My manual shouls how to adjust the cutterhead by adjusting the bolts on
the bracket which i understand, but it also shows that you must adjust
the individual blades level to the outfeed table bu having them touch a
straight edge all equally.

So, why could you not skip that last step and adust the cutterhead
height to place the knife at the height of the outfeed table?

Still not sure what those allen screws are for.
...

If you adjust the whole head and each knife is not at the same
_relative_ height, you can move any particular knife to the correct
height, but the others are _STILL_ off relative to each other.

This is the jointer I had in the days before the 'net...no manual then!


I looked at the manual, it seems quite clear and straightforward to me
if you'll simply follow along in order and not try to make up new
things. I will say (again) that this particular jointer is "touchy" to
get aligned properly, but once it is, it will do excellent work.

I'll go through this one more time...

The flat-headed Allen screw shown in Fig 3 at each end under the knife
is for setting the knife height individually. The easiest way to get
these even w/ each other is to set each one slightly low and then use
the set screw to bring them up to the correct height. I do not recall
if this jointer has them offset sufficiently to allow that, but I think
it does. In doing this, you have to have the locking gibs in place, of
course, but not yet tight so the knife can be moved. However, they
have to be snug enough to keep the alignment close.

The head-leveling screws on the cutterhead itself are to adjust the
overall height of the cutterhead itself and to level it so it will be
parallel to the tables, left to right. If, once the knives are all set
at the same height with respect to each other, the cut is too much or
too little to achieve a straight edge as described in the manual,
_THEN_ and _ONLY_ then, you can correct that by tweaking the cutterhead
height. This, too, is described in the manual (p 3).

Simply think about what moves relative to what by the various
adjustments and it should be clear what the purpose of each is. The
screws on each knife set individual knife height relative to the cutter
head. The screws on the cutter mount adjust the height of the cutter
head relative to the table.

stryped wrote:
Everything in that online manual looks like my jointer but the
pictorial of the cutterhead does not. Mine only has a blade, wedge, and
4 allen headed bolts for each blade to tighten the blade. It does not
have any of those "fine adjustment" screws.
....

Are the holes there but just missing the screws or does the cutterhead
not have provision for them? There were cutterheads w/o them for sure,
I presume that would indicate earlier models or perhaps there were some
other minor niceties as well that made different models, I don't know.
Either way, if the head doesn't have the depth-setting screws, that
makes it more of a pita to align but the same steps are to be
followed--first you have to get the knives all in a concentric circle,
then if necessary, adjust the cutterhead relative to the tables. (Of
course, to get the knives on a concentric circle means the head needs
to be parallel to the tables to start with since the reference point is
the table, so you need to check that first.)

"stryped" wrote in message
ups.com...
Everything in that online manual looks like my jointer but the
pictorial of the cutterhead does not. Mine only has a blade, wedge, and
4 allen headed bolts for each blade to tighten the blade. It does not
have any of those "fine adjustment" screws.

The manual I have at home does not show them either. These instructions
are identical with the exception of the cutterhwead thought. Any idea
why? Was this an upgrade? My model number I think is 103.2330.

It also has two allen screws on the cutterhead I was asking baout
earlyier. I think someone mentioned on here they might be what holds
the cutterhead on the shaft and that makes sense.


Why don't you take some pictures so everyone can see what you are talking
about?

(if this jointer actually exists...)

stryped wrote:

As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter.

Are you sure they're not oil ports?

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA

stryped wrote:
....
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?
....

From the drawings in the manual, virtually certain they're the set
screws to hold the cutterhead on the shaft. That would be Item 38 on
the parts list (p 6), the drawing (p 5) shows them w/ the shaft, not
the cutterhead detail. A better drawing/parts list would have dashed
lines showing the placement on the drawing and the parts list would
spell out quantities for each item, but by elimination of other
pieces/parts, that's pretty much what they have to be. As someone else
noted, the two flats shown on the shaft are also telling--the
cutterhead has to be locked on there somehow, and that's obviously how.

There are no provisions for them. I guess you just have to adjust the
knoves themselves in relation to the table.
dpb wrote:
stryped wrote:
Everything in that online manual looks like my jointer but the
pictorial of the cutterhead does not. Mine only has a blade, wedge, and
4 allen headed bolts for each blade to tighten the blade. It does not
have any of those "fine adjustment" screws.
...

Are the holes there but just missing the screws or does the cutterhead
not have provision for them? There were cutterheads w/o them for sure,
I presume that would indicate earlier models or perhaps there were some
other minor niceties as well that made different models, I don't know.
Either way, if the head doesn't have the depth-setting screws, that
makes it more of a pita to align but the same steps are to be
followed--first you have to get the knives all in a concentric circle,
then if necessary, adjust the cutterhead relative to the tables. (Of
course, to get the knives on a concentric circle means the head needs
to be parallel to the tables to start with since the reference point is
the table, so you need to check that first.)

stryped wrote:
There are no provisions for them. I guess you just have to adjust the
knoves themselves in relation to the table.
....
That's no different--the only difference is the convenience of having
the screw below the knife isn't there and that does make the adjustment
more tricky to get done precisely. If I had a jointer w/ that type of
head, it would quite possibly be the incentive to get one of the
magnetic knife-holding jigs or rig up something similar to ease the
alignment.

The problem/difficulty is that if the gib is too lose so the knife
moves easily, the accuracy isn't very good. If the gib is snug, and
the knife needs to come up (out) some, when it does move, often the
whole gib moves at the same time and if it needs to go down (in), that
doesn't work well because it just tightens the gib by forcing it into
the taper. That's how the adjusting screw really helps, it gives you
that force from behind the knife to start a little low and "sneak up"
on perfection.

That said, it _is_ doable, just takes patience and a little touch. As
noted before, check that the cutter head is parallel to the table
first, then get the knives all even. It's very important that they are
even so that each takes the same cut depth. Otherwise you'll get an
uneven edge as one will take a deeper cut than the others.

After you've got them all the same, take some test cuts and check that
the cut is straight--the manual describes the symptoms with too
high/too low and how to correct it w/ the fine adjustment of the cutter
head quite well. The thing there is to make very small corrections and
do precisely the same on both ends to maintain the knvies parallel to
the bed tables. As I recall, those adjusting screws are a standard
thread which is pretty coarse for this kind of adjustment, so a
fraction of a turn is quite a lot of height travel.

HTH...again, having had one of these beasties, while they are touchy,
it can be set up correctly and will do excellent work once this is done.

stryped wrote:

As you know I have a vintage 50's craftsman jointer. There are 3 knives
in the cutterhead. Each knife is held in with 4 allen screws. But also
on the cutterhead in one spot are two allen screws on on each end og
the cutter. (Fence side and person side). Any idea what these are for?

Set screws

The old manual I downloaded dont mention them. SOmeone on another
newsgroup said maybe they are for angeling the blade? But my manual
does not mention this. I loosened one of them and could not tell
anything. I was afraid to take them out as I had just adjusted the
cutter head height and did not want to mess it up.

If the knives in the cutter head are not all set to the same
height above the cutter head it doesn't matter if you set
the cutter head to the outfeed table.

I also had been thinking about my knive adjustment plight. My
cutterhead has adjustment screws on each side of it to raise and lower
it. Why could I not just install each knife secuely and adjust the
knife height by raising lowering that side of the cutterhead? The
manual makes no reference to that and just says to adjust each
individual knife with a straightedge. The only thing I could think of
is maybe it would be impossible to get each knife the right height
using that method.

If you remove a knife you'll probably find some springs under it.
Have a look at this page and the next one

http://home.comcast.net/~charliebcz/...ructions5.html

charlie b

On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 06:59:43 -0700, stryped wrote:

Ok. My mind is not working right as always.

The two screws I was refering to are on the cutterhead themself. There
are two bolts on the cutter head bracket that controls the up/down
placement of the cutterhead, so I dont think those two allen screws I
was saying I dont know what they go to control that.

Any chance that they are sitting ON TOP of other screws, keeping them from
backing out of the hole? When I worked as a machinist / die-maker, this
was a common way to use one allen screw to set an adjustment and another,
on top of it, to lock the adjusting screw in place. Tou could set the
adjusting screw 'just so' and then lean into the second crew to tighten
things in place without disturbing the first screw.

Might also be plugs, not screws. Any chance they are plugging up a
lubrication channel?

Bill