i have posted a little about some old woodworking equipment i recently inherited.
right now dealing with a early 1960's Craftsman jointer ok, so now i have dismanteled, cleaned and reasembled the motor. also took the jointer apart except for the infeed table and the rotor head (i just didnt see the need since those parts look rather complicated and it appeared to be in fairly good shape)
polished the table beds, used rotary wire brush and naval jelly to remove rust on all other parts, painted and reassembled. this is one handsome little antique jointer now.. ;-) using 2 different high-quality levels, one cast aluminum and one wood with brass trim, and flipping each every which way, i find the two tables to match up perfectly all over - so no warping has occured and the height indicator is "spot on". i have read that these jointers can warp and i am pleased to say this one appears very true.
now i am down to installing new knives, and have read how to do it for this type of jointer with a non-adjusting outfeed table and find there are several variations so i am not sure who to believe. so my question is - once i set a knife and holder in place loosely, and adjust the little hex screws to raise the knife to the level i want (.002" above the outfeed table, i have heard .001 to .003 so i am going to the middle), can i screw the adjustment screws all the way in and count the number of turns (say to the 1/8 turn) it takes to reach bottom, then back out this exact number of turns, and apply this same factor to the other knives to save time and make it easier? seems like it could be just as accurate as going through the arduous process of minute adjustments, but since i have never done it i may be way off the mark......