Delta DJ-20 8" Jointer Refurb

 

A local materials salvage yard had put a rusted and busted DJ-20 long bed 8" jointer out in front where they put things they want people to haul away. For free. I am obviously not one to turn down free cast iron (or other junk). The jointer did not look that bad and the fence was all there. I quickly pulled together tools and set to work on moving it. Had to do some planning first...

A DJ-20 is close to 400 lbs if intact, which this one was not. Missing was a beefy 3-phase motor and the fence knee had been broken off during a fall or something. One of the base panels was also missing, but overall it was still plenty heavy. 

The move:
So, getting it into my pickup. Solo. I knew that I would be unable to lift the jointer if it was ever placed on the ground or a pallet by itself, so I planned to separate the jointer from the base at the truck and never lower the jointer. The jointer was bolted to the base and that all was sitting on pallet 1. There was an empty pallet nearby, so I put pallet 2 next to the loaded pallet (1) and walked the jointer slowly onto the 2nd pallet. Then moved pallet 1 (avoiding the scorpions) beyond pallet 2, walked the jointer on to it, and so on until I reached the truck tailgate. 

Once at the truck, I unbolted the jointer from the base and was able to slide it onto a 3/4" sheet of plywood in the truck bed. Base was no problem to lift alone, and the heavy fence was already separated. 

At home I reversed the process but used a heavy duty dolly in place of the pallets. I slid the jointer back onto the base on the dolly and re-bolted it. Then down a step (using a plywood ramp), up a ramp into the shop, slowly. Carefully. With gloves and steel-toe boots on. 

The fix-up:
Good thing about the DJ-20 is that there are a lot of them out there and Grizzly continues to make and stock parts for a direct clone, the G0490X. Now that has a nice helical cutter head, but the old rusted on on the DJ-20 was OK with me. Anyway, the knee was a $40 Grizzly part, plus a $10 new handle. Biggest issue? It was Grizzly green. Fixed that with flat black Rustoleum that matches the original fence paint. 

Here are the parts I replaced. Bill came to about $500:
1. Motor 1.5HP 120V 5/8" shaft. Cheap from Amazon. Hope it does not burn up. 
2. Motor pulley. Orig belt was OK. 5/8" bore, 5" OD. Amazon
3. Switch (non-magnetic push button) Powertec. Amazon
4. Power cord - round, heavy duty. Amazon,
5. 3-prong plug 
6. Grizzly knee and handle (P0490013   FENCE SUPPORT)
7. New bearings (pair) - ebay
8. New HSS jointer blades (3) - Amazon
9. 4" dust port/plate and sheet metal screws to attach it. Powertec. Amazon

I pulled out the old motor control box and wiring, sanded the worst rust out of the beds and disassembled and wire-wheeled all parts. Things cleaned up well and once lubed the mechanicals worked reasonably well. The beds were waxed to keep the rust from forming. Humid here, all the time. New switch and cables went together well and fit like the originals, so no added external boxes, etc.  I did not repaint the jointer, only the knee and remaining base panel that was all scarred and rusted in spots. I had black paint already, so that is what I used. Protecting against rust was the most important aim.  

The cutter head came apart and took some time to clean up but everything was there, no stripped set screws or other damage. Only light rust, which is surprising since it sat out in rain and sun near the coastline for untold months. Bearings pulled readily, new ones went in fine. Cutter head then spun smoothly. The original carbide edged jointer blades needed a resharpen but I opted for just a new HSS set to start with. Some day I will get the carbide set sharpened but nobody does that out here, so everything has to ship out and back- $$$. 

<< Before the cutter head assembly was pulled.

After cutter head was pulled but before front panel repaint and electrical.

The knee. Besides the paint job, I think the Grizzly knee is not so square and I had to deburr it a bit. But it is now OK and holds the heavy fence assembly firmly. Here is the fence assembly before teardown and cleaning. Busted original knee to the left:

I only had a 4' straight-edge to adjust the beds but I do have a good 12" machinists' level, feeler gauges, and a shorter precision straight-edge to adjust things. There are plenty of videos out there on setting the blades - I watched a bunch and was able to get an even depth of cut across the bed and all blades set to same height. There are ample adjustment points to fix most issues so long as the beds are flat. 

While awaiting some parts...

Only other thing I did was to cut a piece of 1/4" plywood to cover the top of the shavings chute and add a 4" dust port so I could attach my dust collector hose to the jointer and pull out the high volume of shavings that are generated. Works great now. The original open chute just using gravity to clear it onto the shop floor was not OK. 

The jointer works well now. I set it on a mobile base (Bora plywood type - see above pic). Need stiffer 3/4" plywood but otherwise it rolls well enough on the shop floor. Frankly, for this heavy kind of tool, I think you should find a better mobile base. Power is adequate if cut is light and feed rate is not aggressive. Beats hand jointing for speed, but not for finish. Nice to have the long bed to straighten curved boards, too. Now I just need another project to put it to good use. 

Ready to run.