1. Disconnect machine from power source.
2. Remove the belt guard so that you can
rotate the cutterhead by turning the motor
pulley or by moving the drive belt. Do not
grab the cutterhead itself to rotate it.
3. Remove the old knives by loosening gib
screws with an 8mm wrench, and allowing
the springs to push the knife upward.
Remove knife and gib.
4. Clean the gib and the knife slot. Sandwich
new knife and gib together and drop into
slot. Make sure the knife is oriented properly
as shown in Figure 16.
IMPORTANT: To position the knives for rabbet
cuts, take a shop scale with 1/32" graduations
and place it against the end of the cutterhead.
See Figure 17. Slide the knife out until it is at the
1/32" mark on the scale; that is, the knife will
now be 1/32" beyond the edge of the
cutterhead. The gib should remain in normal
position, even with the edge of the cutterhead.
This adjustment will ensure that the knife clears
the end of the gib and cutterhead, and has good
contact with the workpiece. (See under "Basic
Jointer Operation" for further information on
rabbeting procedures.)
5. The height of the knife in the slot, both for
rabbeting and normal jointer work, must now
be set properly, to ensure correct operation
as well as minimize the hazard of kickback.
Proceed as follows:
6. Rotate the cutterhead (using the belt or
pulley) until the tip of the knife is at the top
of the cutterhead arc. Place the knife setting
gauge (Figure 18) over the cutterhead so
the tip of the knife contacts the center of the
gauge, and all four "feet" of the gauge rest
firmly upon the cutterhead, as the knife is
pushed down into its slot. The gauge will
position the knives at approximately .015"
above the cutterhead. Knife height should
not vary more than .002-.003" across the
length of the cutterhead.
7. Tightening the gib screws should be done in
increments, to prevent any distortion to the
cutterhead or buckling of knives. While
holding the gauge down on one knife, snug
down the five gib screws, beginning with the
center screw and working your way to the
ends. Do not fully tighten yet.
8. Rotate the cutterhead to the next slot and
repeat steps #6 and #7, only making the
knives snug.
9. Repeat for the third knife.
Figure 17
(straight cutterhead only)
Figure 18
(straight cutterhead only)
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