AW

A Womack

03/07/2004 2:20 AM

Gloat - 8" jointer up and running

A few weeks ago I took a leap on an ebay auction for a still in the box
craftsman professional 8" jointer from a 0 rated seller.

<http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4301761360
&ssPageName=STRK:MEDW:IT>

I happen to have stores in the area, happened to have a saleman who
lived close by the seller. Same salesman has a pickup and was willing
to be a mule to bring the jointer to the store.

From the store I have a trucker friend who runs from Spokane to
Sacramento every single week and back to Spokane on a dedicated run.

Great, it looked like it would all work out. Seller was moving and
wanted the item gone even though it did not meet the reserve price. I
send a money order to my salesman, who picked up the jointer. I was
advised it was still in the box, but the box would likely not survive
further. I had them place it upon a pallet and keep it at the
dealership.

The first weekend was memorial day, and routing of the truck prevented
pick up as the store was closed. The next weekend the route was changed
and timing on the return trip didn't work out. The third week time was
again wrong and no trip was possible. I was beginning to fear I would
have to pay shipping to Spokane on nearly 500#'s with the pallets. Week
4 was fruitful, my jointer was picked up, my trucker friend got a hell
of a buy on LED lights we had at the store, and the jointer made it home
in one piece. The crate made it off the truck and into my pickup in a
couple of pieces, but mildly intact.

That night I was able to remove the jib, the fence, and a few other
parts to lighten the beds, as they were all bolted to the head assembly
already. The stand, motor, and hardware were in two other boxes. With
the assistance of the neighbor, I was able to lift the jointer out of
the truck and into the garage for the next few days.

A couple of trips to the hardware store, a few peeks at the sears.com
parts website, and a bit of head scratching I got the motor mounted into
the base. The switch had taken a hit from the motor at some point in
it's 10 years of sitting around unopened. However, a bit of superglue
fixed it right up.

Then it was a few trips to the BORG to adapt 240 to the jointer. I
ended up taping off a surface mount arc welder plug with a standard
sidways prong and an outside outlet box for power. Someday I will have
a electrician friend let me know the code way to handle it.

After the motor was up and going, I concentrated on cleaning off all the
sheetmetal with a grill pad, a scumbuster, some polishing powder, some
400 grit wet dry sandpaper, water and lots of elbow grease. It took a
night to clean it all up, and some blood from running my finder right
down the quite sharp blades.

Then I had to wait another week before my HTC2000 stand arrived from
Amazon courtesty free shipping. It took me about 2 hours to assemble
the stand over a couple of nights and bolt the jointer down to it. They
work quite well and make the 300# machine easy to move around. I will
buying one for my bandsaw next month.

Then I borrowed the neighbor again to lift the jointer onto the stand to
try it out. After spending a couple hours looking for the damn 2 nuts I
misplaced I was able to locked down the fence and face joint an 8 1/8"
wide piece of beech wood I had. It was wonderful. The machine is just
a bit noisy, the dust shoot is fine with a box under it. I'm working on
technique to avoid face jointing snipe.

Total cost:

$405 to buy new NOS 8" jointer
$11.00 for fed ex money
$0.90 for money order
$4.57 in bolts
$25.00 steak dinner for the freight from California
$48.46 for a mobile stand to put it on

I think a hell of a deal. A Sunhill is weeks out, $300 more, + sales
tax, + shipping.

a photo of my new/old jointer:

http://alan.firebin.net/images/jointer_8.jpg


This topic has 14 replies

c

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

04/07/2004 12:15 PM

A Womack <[email protected]> wrote:

>A few weeks ago I took a leap on an ebay auction for a still in the box
>craftsman professional 8" jointer from a 0 rated seller.

An excellent aquisition story. You suck!

Wes

--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

LJ

Larry Jaques

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 8:32 AM

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 00:15:57 -0700, Fly-by-Night CC
<[email protected]> calmly ranted:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Larry Jaques <novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:
>
>> Errrrrm, you obviously missed the manufacturer's name, Carl.
>
>Hey Larry wha's shakin' down your way?

I actually got into the shop yesterday and made some concrete
dust and sawdust. I moved my sheet goods, drilled some holes
in some lousy concrete (1 hole already blew out) and anchored
a 4' pipe for my pivoting/wheelie sheet storage bin. I cut the
tuba ate for the upright and started mortising it after installing
the purty blue 3" caster on the bottom of the horizontal tuba ate.
Gosh, I sure love working with pineywood. (where are my tweezers?)
After I get all of that out of the way, I'll have more room and
can finish the (what I thought was simple) cleanup of the mantle
and put it back in my living room. It's a single tubaten redwood
board with an ogee on the front top. Slipping with the scratch
stock reminded me that I should have cleaned it before each and
every stroke. <sigh>

What's up in the middle half of my state?


>In my opinion, A Womack certainly took a chance since the auction showed
>only the cover of the instruction manual - upsidedown at that. Still,
>S&R or not, I sure wish I had an 8"er.

The picture was typical of Crapsman owner mentality. <sigh2>
And Sr. Womack sure put a lot of time and effort into the
purchase of said object. That upped the price by a couple
Benjies, wot? But if he's happy, who are we to complain?
(Don't answer that. It'd make the thread waaaaay too long.)

--
"Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
-=-=-
http://www.diversify.com Wondrous Website Design

AW

A Womack

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 2:55 PM

B a r r y <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 02:20:34 GMT, A Womack <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>
>>From the store I have a trucker friend who runs from Spokane to
>>Sacramento every single week and back to Spokane on a dedicated run.
>
> You suck! There, it's been said.
>
> About the dedicated run: A while back, I found a killer deal on a
> cabinet saw from a web vendor. The only problem was that he wanted
> $250 to ship it to CT. I had access to friend that drove a dedicated
> run that runs empty on the return trip to CT. He was willing to bring
> it up for $50.
>
> The vendor couldn't seem to come up with a saw to sell me. <G>
>
> Enjoy the new tool!
>
> Barry
>

Just yesterday I was in the retail arm of www.northwestpowertools.com,
they were talking with a customer who did one of those deals from an
ebay vendor. Was shocked to learn how much he over paid the idiot! The
saw was at cost, but the shipping was 5x what they would have charged,
and therefore the profit was a ways over their mail order margins.

The bummer is they won't let me pick it up on the doc and ship it to
myself. I will have to check into one of the local freight companies
and see what they would charge for a 4 mile delivery!

Alan

AW

A Womack

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 7:57 AM

Larry Jaques <novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 03:26:17 GMT, "Carl Stigers"
> <[email protected]> calmly ranted:
>
>>AHHHHH yes the obligatory sucking sound eminate from your
>>shop....Congrats
>
> Errrrrm, you obviously missed the manufacturer's name, Carl.
>
> --
> "Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
> -=-=-
> http://www.diversify.com Wondrous Website Design
>

Ah, yes, it was a concern. This jointer was made some 11 to 12 years
ago, never out of the crate. The professional line appears to be a few
notches above, even back then. Certainly the prices they charge are.
It's a very substantial piece of iron. My Starrett, albeight too short,
shows the tables to be flat and true. The fence is a heavy mother,
bolted to a heavier jib. There are mounting holes in the fence for an
auxilary taller to fence to installed, perhaps for large panel beveling.

Being a 240 volt motor, the normal Sears HP manipulations seem absent.
They rated it at 1.5 horse with a 10amp draw on 240 volts according to
the motor label, Doree.

I'm happy, and quite sure when I get to sell it to someday move up to a
david marks size aircraft carrier, I will be able to get at least my
purchase price, if not some appreciation. It also appears the knives
are quite reasonable for a set of 3 being under $30.00.


Alan

cC

[email protected] (Charlie Self)

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 7:57 AM

03/07/2004 8:27 AM

A Womack notes:

>Ah, yes, it was a concern. This jointer was made some 11 to 12 years
>ago, never out of the crate. The professional line appears to be a few
>notches above, even back then. Certainly the prices they charge are.
>It's a very substantial piece of iron. My Starrett, albeight too short,
>shows the tables to be flat and true. The fence is a heavy mother,
>bolted to a heavier jib. There are mounting holes in the fence for an
>auxilary taller to fence to installed, perhaps for large panel beveling.

A friend of mine has a newer version. Actually, it's the same version, about 4
years old instead of 11-12. No differences that I can see from your photo: the
newest model apaprently is a light gray, instead of black, but otherwise the
same. It is an excellent tool.

People who reflexively dismiss Craftsman tools sometimes miss out on some
excellent chances.

>Being a 240 volt motor, the normal Sears HP manipulations seem absent.
>They rated it at 1.5 horse with a 10amp draw on 240 volts according to
>the motor label, Doree

Sears has dropped some of the manipulation in certain tool areas. The new line
of contractor's saws, for instance. There is some sensitivity to criticism
about non-existent horsepower within the marketing department now. That's a
nice reward for my bitching about it to them for a few years, telling them what
many of you guys think. The lab types still defend the ultra HP ratings because
under very special conditions, they can be reached. I think they're wrong to
use them because they will only be reached by the user of the machine as the
motor self-destructs.

Charlie Self
"It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from
man."
H. L. Mencken


UA

Unisaw A100

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 7:57 AM

03/07/2004 10:39 AM

Charlie Self wrote:
>There is some sensitivity to criticism about non-existent horsepower within
>the marketing department now.


And from the ancient text I have learned that Delta was one
of the first to tout non-existent horse power way back in
the late 30's.

UA100

Ba

B a r r y

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 11:05 AM

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 02:20:34 GMT, A Womack <[email protected]>
wrote:


>From the store I have a trucker friend who runs from Spokane to
>Sacramento every single week and back to Spokane on a dedicated run.

You suck! There, it's been said.

About the dedicated run: A while back, I found a killer deal on a
cabinet saw from a web vendor. The only problem was that he wanted
$250 to ship it to CT. I had access to friend that drove a dedicated
run that runs empty on the return trip to CT. He was willing to bring
it up for $50.

The vendor couldn't seem to come up with a saw to sell me. <G>

Enjoy the new tool!

Barry

LJ

Larry Jaques

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

02/07/2004 11:18 PM

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 03:26:17 GMT, "Carl Stigers"
<[email protected]> calmly ranted:

>AHHHHH yes the obligatory sucking sound eminate from your shop....Congrats

Errrrrm, you obviously missed the manufacturer's name, Carl.

--
"Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
-=-=-
http://www.diversify.com Wondrous Website Design

FC

Fly-by-Night CC

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 12:15 AM

In article <[email protected]>,
Larry Jaques <novalidaddress@di\/ersify.com> wrote:

> Errrrrm, you obviously missed the manufacturer's name, Carl.

Hey Larry wha's shakin' down your way?

In my opinion, A Womack certainly took a chance since the auction showed
only the cover of the instruction manual - upsidedown at that. Still,
S&R or not, I sure wish I had an 8"er.

--
Owen Lowe and his Fly-by-Night Copper Company
Offering a shim for the Porter-Cable 557 type 2 fence design.
<http://www.flybynightcoppercompany.com>
<http://www.easystreet.com/~onlnlowe/index.html>

LJ

Larry Jaques

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 8:35 AM

On Sat, 03 Jul 2004 07:57:05 GMT, A Womack <[email protected]>
calmly ranted:

>Ah, yes, it was a concern. This jointer was made some 11 to 12 years
>ago, never out of the crate. The professional line appears to be a few
>notches above, even back then. Certainly the prices they charge are.
>It's a very substantial piece of iron. My Starrett, albeight too short,
>shows the tables to be flat and true. The fence is a heavy mother,
>bolted to a heavier jib. There are mounting holes in the fence for an
>auxilary taller to fence to installed, perhaps for large panel beveling.

Yes, it does look better than most pictures I've seen. I
haven't set foot in the tool section at Searz in well over
double decades; prolly closer to 3.


>Being a 240 volt motor, the normal Sears HP manipulations seem absent.
>They rated it at 1.5 horse with a 10amp draw on 240 volts according to
>the motor label, Doree.

I coulda sworn I saw "84 horsepower" on the front of that beastie
in your picture just yesterday. ;)


>I'm happy, and quite sure when I get to sell it to someday move up to a
>david marks size aircraft carrier, I will be able to get at least my
>purchase price, if not some appreciation. It also appears the knives
>are quite reasonable for a set of 3 being under $30.00.

G'luck!

--
"Not always right, but never uncertain." --Heinlein
-=-=-
http://www.diversify.com Wondrous Website Design

jj

jo4hn

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 2:55 AM

Nice work. Enjoy the toy.
mahalo,
jo4hn

CS

"Carl Stigers"

in reply to A Womack on 03/07/2004 2:20 AM

03/07/2004 3:26 AM

AHHHHH yes the obligatory sucking sound eminate from your shop....Congrats

tT

in reply to "Carl Stigers" on 03/07/2004 3:26 AM

03/07/2004 5:01 AM

Very nice! Maybe try raising the outfeed table incrementally 'til the snipe
disappears? Tom
Work at your leisure!

AW

A Womack

in reply to "Carl Stigers" on 03/07/2004 3:26 AM

03/07/2004 7:50 AM

[email protected] (Tom) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Very nice! Maybe try raising the outfeed table incrementally 'til the
> snipe disappears? Tom
> Work at your leisure!

I did just that a bit ago in the shop, brought it up to a nats ass of the
top of the knives. Definetly made it a bunch easier to face plane a chunk
of beech. My experience with flatsawn beech is it warps quite well in wide
pieces.

Alan


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