I've been saving up to replace my old 36" short bed 6" antique craftsman jointer with a longer bed 8" jointer for a while now thinking I was going to purchase the grizzly copy of the DJ20 and even had my heart set on that because I wasn't having any luck finding used 8" jointers in my area. The only thing we ever get it seems are the benchtop jointers or someone wanting $500 for a used Ridgid 6" jointer which is crazy. Yesterday I came across this Delta DJ20 jointer in decent shape. I got to see it run before I bought it. The guy had bought it when he got into woodworking about 20 years and made a couple pieces for his house and then it sat in the corner of his shop for a long time unused. He also had a unisaw and a heavy duty delta planer in the shop, but unfortunately he wasn't selling those yet, although I would have loved to take them off his hands. I started cleaning up and waxing the top and then I checked for coplaner, and from what I could tell, seemed dead on, no twist from the winding sticks at all. I checked the tables for flatness and the outfeed table has a .0025" sag right in the middle,which isn't perfect, but I believe very tolerable over a 24" span or whatever the outfeed table is. The infeed table has a slight sag in the middle, but less than .002". The machine still has the original knives which are knicked up and need replaced, but he provided me with a brand new set. I'll get them changed out this week and get some 220V wire to change the extension cord so I can plug it in. I have an outlet that I was using for a welder in the garage using a NEMA 6-50P plug, so I was going to see if I could just switch out the machine cord for like 20-25' 220V cord with that plug on it so I don't have to change the outlet too. Is that doable? The only other thing I'd like to do in time is ad the byrd shelix head and I'd have a great jointer setup for less than $1000 total. I paid $500 for this machine.
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BerBer5985
Just picked up a Delta DJ-20
I've been saving up to replace my old 36" short bed 6" antique craftsman jointer with a longer bed 8" jointer for a while now thinking I was going to purchase the grizzly copy of the DJ20 and even had my heart set on that because I wasn't having any luck finding used 8" jointers in my area. The only thing we ever get it seems are the benchtop jointers or someone wanting $500 for a used Ridgid 6" jointer which is crazy. Yesterday I came across this Delta DJ20 jointer in decent shape. I got to see it run before I bought it. The guy had bought it when he got into woodworking about 20 years and made a couple pieces for his house and then it sat in the corner of his shop for a long time unused. He also had a unisaw and a heavy duty delta planer in the shop, but unfortunately he wasn't selling those yet, although I would have loved to take them off his hands. I started cleaning up and waxing the top and then I checked for coplaner, and from what I could tell, seemed dead on, no twist from the winding sticks at all. I checked the tables for flatness and the outfeed table has a .0025" sag right in the middle,which isn't perfect, but I believe very tolerable over a 24" span or whatever the outfeed table is. The infeed table has a slight sag in the middle, but less than .002". The machine still has the original knives which are knicked up and need replaced, but he provided me with a brand new set. I'll get them changed out this week and get some 220V wire to change the extension cord so I can plug it in. I have an outlet that I was using for a welder in the garage using a NEMA 6-50P plug, so I was going to see if I could just switch out the machine cord for like 20-25' 220V cord with that plug on it so I don't have to change the outlet too. Is that doable? The only other thing I'd like to do in time is ad the byrd shelix head and I'd have a great jointer setup for less than $1000 total. I paid $500 for this machine.
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i have the same one
a real joy to use
you are in luck
for years they didn't have a helix cutter for this
but in the last year they finally came out with one
(i still dream of one)
got myself a little toy 4" one too
for smaller pieces
the tables are closer together in it
great price
enjoy
a real joy to use
you are in luck
for years they didn't have a helix cutter for this
but in the last year they finally came out with one
(i still dream of one)
got myself a little toy 4" one too
for smaller pieces
the tables are closer together in it
great price
enjoy
Congrats, that is one heck of a jointer, byrd shelix head you will love it…. I have one on my PM60 and it is great. Get a chip change a edge and move on….. A lot quieter as well…..
Wow! A very nice machine. You'll luv it. I see that Ryobi planer in the background is the same one I have
Curious if anyone knows about the wiring. I was going to put a new cord on and currently I have a nema 6-50p outlet that I had for a welder and I wanted to use that outlet to plug into, so I'm at lowes right now looking to put a 25' cord wired into the machine, but is it standard 3 wire, white, black, green on this motor? Might be a dumb question but I didn't look before I left. I was going to go with 10/3 or 12/3 wire. Is that correct?
Ok, perfect. I bought 25 feet of 10/3 wire and will hopefully have it all hooked up by tonight so I can get the blades changed out and set and tune it up, although I don't believe it needs much. Should I be worried about the slight dip in both the infeed and outfeed tables? It's just in the middle of both and it's only .0035" on one and .002" on the other? It doesn't sound like much to me, but with a straight edge, there's slight light under each middle section. My old craftsman jointer had completely flat tables with absolutely no light. I'm sure with the delta being moved from different places over time and people picking up on the long end that it might have caused that to slightly get out of flat. Is it big enough to worry about?
Infeed:
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Outfeed:
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Infeed:
Outfeed:
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Nice job getting the jointer! That was a great deal, looks like it will be a nice machine. My jointer infeed, and outfeed tables aren't flat either. I'm not sure if it's a big deal, hopefully not because if it's a big deal, you and I will be in trouble!
I'm guessing as long as the they are coplanar on the 4 corners, it should be as good as it's going to get. I'm going to double check it tonight and then change the blades with my OneWay guage which is the best tool ever for changing blades. When I save up a little more, I'm going to jump on the Byrd head. I already ordered the bearings to have for when i do. haha!
I have one of these and it's excellent. I would just mention these things:
1. When I got mine years ago, the fence was warped and I had to ask for another one. It came right away with no discussion, so this must have been a known problem.
2. The only change I made in mine was to install a magnetic starter instead of the regular switch, so that the machine would not start by itself if the power failed and came back on. I think a quality jointer should have come with one but they don't.
3. I don't see the guard in your photos.
1. When I got mine years ago, the fence was warped and I had to ask for another one. It came right away with no discussion, so this must have been a known problem.
2. The only change I made in mine was to install a magnetic starter instead of the regular switch, so that the machine would not start by itself if the power failed and came back on. I think a quality jointer should have come with one but they don't.
3. I don't see the guard in your photos.
I checked a few sites (http://www.happywoodworking.com/DJ20adjustments.html) and anything below .008" of in inch is within spec for that jointer in regards to table flatness. The largest gap I had between the straight edge and the largest gap in the either table was .0025" so we are more than good on that. That made me feel better. I haven't checked the fence just yet, but it seemed pretty flat to me.
I spent a couple hours last night getting the tables back in order and coplanar to each other. The one end on the infeed table was higher on the furthest end from I'm sure where it's been lifted to move, so I adjusted that using the methods on that website and I think I got it pretty good. We shall see, but it seemed that i was able to get it within less than .001" within coplanar which is good enough for me. I got my first new blade set this morning with the 15 minutes I had before work, and just two more to go.
Right now it has a 5" dust chute on it which is tough to find reducers for, so I think I'm going to take that off and bolt a 4" connection to it that came with dust collector starter kit.I also changed the current plug in wire on it to a 10/3 gauge wire and made it 25' long so I can move to a different area of the garage without having to worry about the distance.
I do have the guard, I had just taken it off to do table adjustments and change the blades. All in all, I'm very pleased so far. I'm anxious to use it and see how it does once it's all tuned up with new blades. It should be a world of difference from my 36" in total length 6" Wide 1/2 HP old craftsman jointer that I have. Served me well to get me started, but it was far from great.
I spent a couple hours last night getting the tables back in order and coplanar to each other. The one end on the infeed table was higher on the furthest end from I'm sure where it's been lifted to move, so I adjusted that using the methods on that website and I think I got it pretty good. We shall see, but it seemed that i was able to get it within less than .001" within coplanar which is good enough for me. I got my first new blade set this morning with the 15 minutes I had before work, and just two more to go.
Right now it has a 5" dust chute on it which is tough to find reducers for, so I think I'm going to take that off and bolt a 4" connection to it that came with dust collector starter kit.I also changed the current plug in wire on it to a 10/3 gauge wire and made it 25' long so I can move to a different area of the garage without having to worry about the distance.
I do have the guard, I had just taken it off to do table adjustments and change the blades. All in all, I'm very pleased so far. I'm anxious to use it and see how it does once it's all tuned up with new blades. It should be a world of difference from my 36" in total length 6" Wide 1/2 HP old craftsman jointer that I have. Served me well to get me started, but it was far from great.
I also just purchased the Byrd head so I'll install that as soon as it comes! I'm excited! Is installing the bearings something that Holbren will do for you? Does anyone know?
I just picked up one of these too. My tables were perfectly coplanar (even after being loaded into my trailer with a forklift!). On my first couple test passes, I felt a mild vibration in the workpiece. I checked the outfeed table height, and it was even with the cutterhead. I reset that distance to the recommended .015" spec. Then I put a set of fresh blades on it. Man, what a difference. Cuts smooth now.
I had to laugh yesterday, the infeed table is so long I could rest a 5' board on it. That is a little easier than wrestling long boards over my old 6" jointer.
Did you ever get the Shelix head installed? You'll have to do a review.
I had to laugh yesterday, the infeed table is so long I could rest a 5' board on it. That is a little easier than wrestling long boards over my old 6" jointer.
Did you ever get the Shelix head installed? You'll have to do a review.
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