Some of you may remember I asked for help with removing a set screw in my new grizzly jointer. The setscrew is one of a pair that holds against the infeed table.
I haven't been able to do much the last few weeks, too busy with other things, but today I finally had the time to fix this thing.
The hard way to do it: First I tried to figure out how the infeed table comes off. From what I could see, it looked like I had the take off the pillow block for the handwheel shaft, take off the screw in the end of the shaft so I could take it out, then slide out this huge pin so I could slide the table off. That screw on the end of the shaft is very hard to get at, you need to unbolt the jointer assembly from the base, turn it on its side, and fit a wrench over the bolt head and make a very small turn. Repeat turn, several times! Finally got that out, pulled out the adjustment shaft, pushed the pin out, and proceeded to slide the table DOWN with a deadblow hammer. its about 2/3-3/4 the way down, when it stops. Turns out theres a cast in lip of sorts in the center portion of the jointer, the one that holds the cutter head and all.
So, I have to lower the OUTFEED table, remove nuts at the bottom that hold the cutter head to the body, remove the cutter head, and start sliding the infeed table UP, with persuasion with the deadblow. After the table is about halfway up, it becomes easier to slide, and I can just slide it up by lifting.
Now I can get at that setscrew. Hey, this thing is LOOSE! That means the person at the factory had horsed this thing down when tightening it, breaking this pretty hard screw without tearing it completely off.
Now, since a 4mm allen wrech fits in these set screws perfectly, I assumed it was a metric setscrew, so I go to the hardware store. No 8mm set screws long enough, so I look for a bolt. Problem is, the nut won't fit on the standard 8x1.25 screw. Dang, it must be some custom thing to ensure customer only uses factory parts. The pitch of the screws don't match. Guess I'll have to get one from grizzly.
So after I got home, I got to thinking...well, why not check the pitch of the broken screw with that pitch gauge set in the tap and die set? Even though its a standard tap and die set, not metric.
So I check. 18 pitch. Turns out the "metric" screw is 5/16-18. $^(#. Go back to the hardware store, get a setscrew of the right size.
Now having seen the "insides" of the jointer, I knew how it really was supposed to go together. I put the adjustment shaft, large pin, and the shaft retaining screw back in the infeed table, THEN put the infeed table back on the slides. When the table is far down enough, put the bolts back through the pillow block. Its these 2 bolts and the pillow block that support most of the wieght of the infeed table.
I put the cutter head back in, bolt everything together, and proceed to shim the infeed table. needed .015 to get it square. I used the leaves from a cheapo feeler guage set for shims.
Now my jointer is nice and square, and all I have to do is set the knives.
Now I now the easy way to remove the tables (lower both tables, remove cutter head, unbolt pillow block, and slide the table up and off), its unlikely I'll need to do it again!
Whew!
And a heck of a lot more satisfying than sending it back to grizzly for replacement or repair.
John