I have an old Hitachi A-1000A jointer-planer combo machine. I am facing a strange issue. The planer bed or table can be raised with reasonable efforts. However, it cannot be lowered unless I give blows by a dead-blow hammer on the table. It can then be lowered by turning a few turns of the handle but then it stops again and needs few more blows before the height adjusting wheel can be turned a few turns to lower it. Once it is lowered halfway down however, it moves down easily by the height adjusting wheel.
The fact that it goes up but binds going down suggests that the pillars need some lubrication. I'd be inclined to try a simple fix. For example, raise the table to the top, loosen the top of the dust boots, push them down one at a time and spray some WD-40, Liquid Wrench, Ballistol, or something similar on the pillars making sure all "sides" receive some lube. Then run the table up and down, adding some penetrating lubricant as needed, until the table moves well. Then reattach the tops of the boots.
Do you really use WD-40 and Liquid Wrench as lubricant? Penetrating oil? I thought that would be the last thing to use, here. I can see using WD-40 or LW (or kerosene, for that matter) to clean the accumulated glop out of the pillars, then a grease to lubricate them. ...something hydrophobic.
For situations like this just getting the crude dissolved and having a light film left on the surfaces has worked wonders for me. There isn't any side load to speak of here, it's a vertical guide and not a rotating surface. In other cases where there are rotating surfaces, or side loads during use, getting the parts moving and then using a heavier lubricant makes sense.
That said, I clean, inspect, and lubricate my tools. The pillars on my planer get a wipe down with WD-40 occasionally to clean them, keep them moving freely, and provide some rust resistance.
If I were to intentionally store a tool for a long period of time, like the tool in this thread, I'd slather it down with cosmoline. I've got some on hand for those rare occasions when I put something away for long term storage. I'm not sure what they slather on new tools today but I'm pretty sure there was cosmoline on my cabinet saw top and side tables, planer table, jointer tables, bandsaw table, etc. when I got them 20-30 years ago. I also recall threads in this group back in the mid 90s and early 2000s on cleaning the cosmoline off new tools.
Grease can cause problems as it attracts and collects wood dust and dries out... I find it often requires maintenance to keep things moving smoothly. A such I use it sparely on my woodworking tools and then it's mostly for gears (e.g., speed adjustment on my planer and power feeder, and tilt racks, for example), axles/casters, and rotating shafts/bearings. I use it for it's film thickness and stickiness.
Worst case scenario when I'm restoring old tools: I've had to soak parts to dissolve caked on dry grease and brush it off with a steel and/or brass brush. During reassembly I use different lubes based on function.
That makes sense but WD40 isn't the greatest lubricant. I'd think a light machine oil would be better. I thought the point of penetrating oil was to penetrate the steel (and, of course, rust) and that it wasn't the best thing for the surface.
Thinking about it, grease would be a dust magnet, just what's _not_ wanted.
I use Boeshield, both on surfaces and things like my DP column. For flat surfaces (saws and lathe) I also use the magnetic covers, similar to the signs real estate agents use on the side of their cars.
Yes, I believe that is cosmoline. The wonderful smell of Harbor Fright.
Yes, I thought about that as soon as I posted. It would be a bad thing on a planer.
What do you soak them in? I'd like something a less flammable that the stuff commonly used.
There's a guy on Youtube (James Condon) who does a lot of small engine repair and he uses the $10/gallon Harbot Freight degreaser liquid about 1:3 with water in an ultrasonic cleaner for carburetors. It gets grease, gum and <whatever> off carburetors and does no damage to aluminum, brass or steel surfaces. That might be a good starting point for cleaning dirty tools - not that any of us are likely to have access to an ultrasonic cleaner that a planer will fit in ;-)
However, the solvent appears to be a good choice for a non-flammable general gunk remover.
I use various things to clean parts... Over the decades I've used gasoline, mineral spirits, Gunk, and 409. Now... I find that Simple Green straight up with a stiff brush does a great job in many cases. If there is heavy dried grease Gunk still sees use. If there is some crud and rust I put parts in my electrolysis set up. I use Arm & Hammer washing soda for the electrolyte which not only facilitates the electrolysis but it cuts the crud... After electrolysis wire and brass brushes and 3M scrub pads are used to remove the residue along with water.
Gasoline is probably the best solvent but using it in the house or leaving things soak isn't going to happen. Kerosene is almost as good but a lot safer. Mineral spirits aren't great for inside use either, though I do use it to wipe down my cast iron surfaces before re coating them with a rust inhibitor.
Thank you for all the helpful info and tips. As it happens, I was working on one side of the machine in a small space. When I turned the machine around, I observed that for the top 4 inches of two of the support tubes, there was rust only on one side. I scrubbed, wire-brushed and then thoroughly cleaned them both above and within the boots. Lubricated with WD 40 and another formula that I use on the steel tool tables. The problem is gone, and the table goes up and down smoothly. I am however, facing another issue. I disassembled and reassembled the central height adjusting threaded rod. However now the gears of the crank that adjust the height are now about half inch below the gears of the threaded rod and do not engage. I looked at the schematic in the manual that I downloaded and the sequence of the fasteners ball bearings etc. look correct. I will be glad to share a link to the picture. Would appreciate any help you can offer. Will also post this as a separate thread.
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