Thread: Gilbro Super Smoother - 4" Jointer - Manual Wanted

G'day, Frank Gill at Northern Machinery in Preston is the son of one of the GILBRO brothers, and runs a secondhand machinery sales buisness at plenty rd in Preston, and if anyone had a manual for your machine, it would be him. Stop in or give him a call, he's a nice bloke and very helpfull. Cheers Greg

Hi team, I've just purchased a Gilbro jointer and have an issue. When stripping to service and inspect for hidden issues I've had a problem getting the cutting wheel off and now it's stuck.
How can I replace bearings and re-fit the cutting wheel?
I don't know how to attach pics sorry. I'm located in Wallan Vic, if anyone knows where I can take it for repairs I'd appreciate it.

Hello and welcome Woodamateur.

I am not sure where your issue is. Were you trying to remove the cutter head from the shaft? My unit has been in storage for 4 years now and my memory of the shaft and cutter head is not great as although I have removed, replaced, and aligned blades in the cutter head, I have never had a need to separate the head from the shaft to allow the bearings to be removed.

I seem to remember that the cutter head has at least one allen set screw going into the bulk of the head between the blade slots. I doubt that this bearing directly on the shaft would be the only connection between head and shaft. To my way of thinking, there would either be a key and keyways, with the screw probably clamping onto the back of the key, or a substantial flat milled onto the shaft for the end of the screw to grip on.

I assume that you are trying to drive the shaft out of the head with a drift, as I expect that the head would be a tight fit on the shaft and would not come easily after 50 years. Did you perchance get to completely remove the setscrew and sight down the hole before trying to move the shaft? A lot of penetrating spray down this hole might have helped free the shaft/ key etc, but if you have moved the shaft and it has jammed, it may be too late now.

Hi Malb, Yep, thanks for your reply. I continued to persevere and had to angle grinf one of the bearings off, after that I gade to file the shaft so the new bearings would fit.
I've got it back together with new bearings but now need to dismantle again so I can get the locking pin aligned with the small indent on the shaft.
I had sprayed heaps of WD40 in the hole to loosen up the cutting wheel from the shaft so it shouldnt take much to fix. Then sharpen/replace the blades and good to go.
Just beed to find 4 1/2 inch blades in Melbourne or online.

I would not be removing bearings with a grinder, or filing shafts to get bearings to accept them. The cutter head revolves at 5000+RPM, and everything needs to be very well balanced, any slight imbalance will cause vibration, which will produce poor surface finish, and may ultimately allow the blades to move in the head or propagate a crack in the shaft if there are nicks or file grooves on the shaft.

With regard to new blades, saw doctors are generally equipped to grind the edge on them, and most can source HSS blanks that can be cut to length and ground. My unit had a set of chipped blades and I had Specialty Saws in Croydon regrind grind them for me. Their rig can accommodate blades to at least 0.5m long and can use either a grinding stone or diamond wheel to handle HSS or Carbide tipped blades.

With regard to cleaning the shaft and head bore, I would be giving them a good work out with fine steel wool or scotchbrite pads dampened with WD40 to clean them both up. This should be able to remove mild rust and accumulated debris without removing metal.