Jointer Issue

[Barry W]

I bought my Grizzly jointer with spiral cutters about seven years ago and have never before had the problem pictured below. In addition to the striping, the piece is very ha
rd to feed across the cutters. The species is maple. Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks.

 

[dancam]

I’ve not seen this problem before, so I can’t offer a direct remedy. I would suggest that you give the rubber feed rollers a trough cleaning with mineral spirits and a woven pad. I would also re-wax the feed surface. Bottom line, these 2 suggestions may not directly fix the identified problem but will not hurt anything.

Good luck and please post any progress on a fix.

 

[FredP]

Rotate the cutters and wax the bed. The burning indicates dull cutters IMHO.

 

[J_Graham]

I'm not sure if this is relevant but the burn pattern seems to like up with the ends of the table that surround the cutterhead?

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Rotate the cutters and wax the bed. The burning indicates dull cutters IMHO.

I agree w/ Fred. First, rotate the cutters. After 7 years, it's time. Second, wax or lubricate the bed. I use a spray lubricant w/ either Teflon or PTFE. Do not use silicon.

 

[Barry W]

I turned the cutters about five years ago, guess it's time to get the torque wrench out.

Thanks to all of you.

 

[Mike Davis]

Before you turn the cutters can you post a very closeup photo of the cutters? Maybe then again after you turn? That could help someone else with a similar jointer.

 

[Oka]

This looks like the inserts are worn and were damaged, maybe by someone who thought running pallet wood or the alike through a jointer ...also looks like they over tightened the screws on the cutters. The screws that hold the inserts should be 48-60 inch lbs or 4-5 ft lbs. That Ain't much. If they get over torqued, it causes the inserts to skew and unseat from their pocket/seating location. Also, the outer ones when over torqued when stressed will crack and/or break because of said over torquing. ... Talking from experience.
The seat in many carbide heads do not have (imho) a decent seating pocket, likely because of the added manufacturing cost, you just learn to get the correct fell , then when seating them, 1st just firm the screw lightly, feel the carbide lock in on the detention seat, then tighten to spec.

 

[Mike Davis]

But, it’s been fine for the last 5 years, right?

So, what changed? All of a sudden…

 

[Rwe2156]

I’ve gone way past the due date on mine and never saw burning.

Something else is going on. Maybe if they are way, way way past their due date?

How much is your jointer used?

Ive never used a torque wrench, just the screwdriver supplied by Byrd. Never had an issue.

 

[Charlie]

Have you been surfacing laminated flooring, (which contains carbide in the finish), painted material, etc.
The cutters are definetly dull, "beyond" dull. I have been using my planer and jointer with shelix heads for over 10 years without ever turning the cutters. I surface a lot of dense/hard woods and the finish today is as good as it was when the machines were new.
If you rotate the cutters turn them 180 degrees because the "corners" on the present edge are dull and will leave marks in the new surface.

 

[Barry W]

This looks like the inserts are worn and were damaged, maybe by someone who thought running pallet wood or the alike through a jointer ...also looks like they over tightened the screws on the cutters. The screws that hold the inserts should be 48-60 inch lbs or 4-5 ft lbs. That Ain't much.

"Someone" is me and I have never run pallet wood through any of my equipment, I need pallets to store hay on. I used a torque wrench to tighten the screws to Grizzly specs.

But, it’s been fine for the last 5 years, right?

So, what changed? All of a sudden…

That's correct. I have never had this problem before and I don't know what's changed.

Have you been surfacing laminated flooring, (which contains carbide in the finish), painted material, etc.

No, I've not surfaced laminated flooring on my jointer. I have thought about using my planer to surface some prefinished hardwood flooring scraps, thanks for the advice to not use shelix cutters.

 

[creasman]

Could your belt have slipped or be loose? Seems unlikely to cause what you're seeing, but just thinking of other areas to check. Was this a one-time occurrence or does it happen on every piece you run across it?

 

[Barry W]

I tried another piece this afternoon (ashe??) and it ran through just fine - see below. I am still going to turn the cutters to achieve a little smoother surface. Strange, strange....

 

[JoeW]

I tried another piece this afternoon (ashe??) and it ran through just fine - see below.

That makes me suspicious of the wood then. Very strange that other piece of wood came out OK

 

[chris_goris]

Ive never seen a jointer (or a planer) burn wood like this. It appears to be soft maple, are you feeding it extremely slow? What is your depth of cut? I dont understand how it could not be removing any burn marks as well. It also appears you stopped feeding on both samples ( the vertical burn) .

 

[Barry W]

I ran the original piece with vertical burn marks through the planer and it came out just fine. I will turn the jointer cutters tomorrow.

 

[Mike Davis]

Maybe you were just tired and pushed way too slow…

 

[Willemjm]

Maybe you were just tired and pushed way too slow…

Me thinks so too.

Where the prominent burn mark is, the feed either stopped or had very slow feed. I get that sometimes as well, when it is a long board and I pause momentarily to grab my push stick as the end of the board approaches the cutters.

What is really weird though, is the alternate pattern of the burn marks. Alternating cutters are cutting clean, while adjacent shows burn marks.

First thing I would do, mentioned somewhere above, is check the tension of the belt drive and make sure the cutter pulley with its grub screws and key have zero play on the shaft.