The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Rockwell 6" Jointer Rebuild
sparky961:
I haven't done a lot of checking, but some preliminary research suggests what I have is a Rockwell 37-220 Jointer from around 1950 -1960.
The tear-down went much quicker than I expected and the machine isn't in as bad of condition as I had feared. Yes, there's heavy surface rust on the tables and cutter head but all of the sliding dovetails were almost free of rust and so far every fastener has come free without complaint.
There are 3 main castings. There's the central body, and the front and rear tables that both slide on the main casting on dovetails with gibs. There's also a very heavy cast iron fence that runs almost the entire length of the machine. All together, it's a lot of old iron!
sparky961:
I started out by removing the cutter head, partly because it was easy to do and more to get it out of the way for safety's sake! Even with heavy rust those blades are still deadly sharp.
As suggested in another thread, I'm using citric acid for rust removal - a first for me. Of course, I'm writing this after having already done the rust removal on the cutting head, and I am definitely a convert to citric acid. It's pretty benign to work with, no harsh fumes and such, and it works pretty quickly on the rust while only slightly dulling most other clean steel.
Pictures show the progression from initial status, about 2-3 hours of citric acid, disassembly, then another 1-2 hours in the acid. There was a bit of scrubbing with an old toothbrush and dishwashing detergent to degrease between steps. Also I used a sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) bath after removal from the acid to neutralize, then lots of rinsing. After rinsed I doused with a bit of methyl alcohol and hit it with a heat gun to quickly drive off all the water. As soon as it was dry I coated with some light oil to keep rust free until later steps.
The final pictures show the cutting head but not the knives or keepers, but I was very pleased with the results there too. Interesting to note is that the citric acid seemed especially hard on one of the bearings. There's a picture showing it next to a shiny one for comparison. I'll be replacing them, so no big deal but good to remember for the future.
PS - The white things in the acid bath are just pieces of plastic I used to displace some liquid and cover the cutter head.
sparky961:
I'd like to remove the badges/labels before dunking in acid for fear they won't survive. Anyone know what the little pins that hold it on are called? Are there standard sizes? Am I going to ruin the badges trying to take them off?
sparky961:
One of the castings had through holes for the "badge pins", so I was able to gently tap those ones out. They have a spiral knurl/thread on them.
sparky961:
Apparently, I was having a slow moment. Turns out they all have through holes... Tapped out quite nicely. :doh:
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