10-17-2015, 02:39 PM
It was a project to haul the beast from Albany to Lewiston (Niagara Falls), disassemble it almost completely, get it down into my basement shop and reassemble it, but it was well worth it.
The thing is built like a tank as evidenced by the nearly 750 lb weight. I used a chainfall to remove and reinstall the two tables, which each weigh around 100 lbs. The machine was purchased in 1988 but, as you can see, it looks like new. I was very happy to see that the two tables were in perfect alignment when I got it all back together, and as flat as flat can be with no stains or scratches in them. Hard to imagine. The only casualties in the project were the end of my middle finger which I put a pretty good slice in on one of the blades as I was tightening one of the table bolts. Lordy, blood dripped all over the place. That slowed me down for a few minutes till I got it bandaged up. The other was the electrical cord. I noticed when I took it apart that the wires at the junction box looked brittle. So when I put it back together I thought it would be fine if I just cut it back a few inches. Uh uh. The wires were brittle a foot back and further, so I threw it out. Fortunately, I had a piece of SO cord (I think that's the correct term) so I avoided a trip to the store.
I think the former owner might have been hard of hearing. When I ran the machine before I brought it home I could hear an almost imperceptible clicking sound. It was easy to see that one of the gibs in the cutter head was right over where it was barely rubbing on the bearing block. So I recentered it before starting up the machine. That gave me a chance to see how the knife setting jig works. Sweet. The knives are spring loaded. All you do is push the setting jig down on the knives and they are automatically set at the right projection from the head. Easy, peasy; took about a minute.
Here's a photo with the Mini Max and my Inca behind it. The Mini Max is twice as long. I really didn't have much trouble jointing long boards straight on the Inca. I gotta believe it's going to be truly easy on this monster.
I'm never going to need another jointer, or planer. I might put a spiral head in this one down the road, but I'm going to use it like this for a while. The machine also has a mortising table. I haven't put that back on yet. I would have bought it w/o the mortising table, since you all know how much I like my shop built horizontal router mortiser, but this thing can handle large, long bits and will be very helpful for mortising entry way door stiles, for example.
Thanks for looking.
John
The thing is built like a tank as evidenced by the nearly 750 lb weight. I used a chainfall to remove and reinstall the two tables, which each weigh around 100 lbs. The machine was purchased in 1988 but, as you can see, it looks like new. I was very happy to see that the two tables were in perfect alignment when I got it all back together, and as flat as flat can be with no stains or scratches in them. Hard to imagine. The only casualties in the project were the end of my middle finger which I put a pretty good slice in on one of the blades as I was tightening one of the table bolts. Lordy, blood dripped all over the place. That slowed me down for a few minutes till I got it bandaged up. The other was the electrical cord. I noticed when I took it apart that the wires at the junction box looked brittle. So when I put it back together I thought it would be fine if I just cut it back a few inches. Uh uh. The wires were brittle a foot back and further, so I threw it out. Fortunately, I had a piece of SO cord (I think that's the correct term) so I avoided a trip to the store.
I think the former owner might have been hard of hearing. When I ran the machine before I brought it home I could hear an almost imperceptible clicking sound. It was easy to see that one of the gibs in the cutter head was right over where it was barely rubbing on the bearing block. So I recentered it before starting up the machine. That gave me a chance to see how the knife setting jig works. Sweet. The knives are spring loaded. All you do is push the setting jig down on the knives and they are automatically set at the right projection from the head. Easy, peasy; took about a minute.
Here's a photo with the Mini Max and my Inca behind it. The Mini Max is twice as long. I really didn't have much trouble jointing long boards straight on the Inca. I gotta believe it's going to be truly easy on this monster.
I'm never going to need another jointer, or planer. I might put a spiral head in this one down the road, but I'm going to use it like this for a while. The machine also has a mortising table. I haven't put that back on yet. I would have bought it w/o the mortising table, since you all know how much I like my shop built horizontal router mortiser, but this thing can handle large, long bits and will be very helpful for mortising entry way door stiles, for example.
Thanks for looking.
John