Installing Knives

Use care when working with or around sharp knives. Make sure power to the machine has been disconnected.

When installing new knives, remove only one knife at a time. Clean the knife slot and install the new knife. Adjust and snug new knife in cutterhead before proceeding to next knife.

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. See Figure 15.

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 15.

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. 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. See Figure 16. 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 pulley) until the tip of the knife is at the top of the cutterhead arc. Place the knife setting gauge (Figure 17) 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 set the knives at approximately .070" above the cutterhead. Knife height should not vary more than .002-.003" across the length of the cutterhead.

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17