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

It's is missing at least one spring off the safety guard as shown in this photo.
$_57-1.jpg
If you compare it to mine (photo 4) I don't have the spring.

Dale

I have had one of those for about 40 years and never had a manual. I believe they were made in Preston.

They are very simple and work on the same principle as the more modern Jointers. If you look at a manual for any jointer, you should be able to work things out.

Hope that helps.

I have just asked Mr Google and it seems that Gilbro Engineering still exists in Railway Place, Preston

40yrs?? I guess you have quite a bit of experience with it then. Is the small 4" very useful? I'm thinking the length of the table is more of a limitation than the width.

Is the safety guard supposed to snap back or just be pivoted out of the way, which does sound like much of a benefit?



There are 4 adjustment knobs, two each side. There are two brass screws that look like they tighten down on the thread of two of those knobs. Do you know what these are for???

The guard spring you are missing is a tightly wound helical spring approx 3.8 turns of 2.4mm wire with right angle end stubs 10mm and 12mm long. Overall diameter is 22mm, so ID would be around 17mm. The end stubs fit into holes in the guard casting and the offset pivot.

Have had a unit for about 10 years as part of a Gilbro combo tablesaw/jointer. I purchased the unit from a neighbour who was moving to a unit. He purchased it new from the factory in the mid 1960's and did not receive a manual with it then, so they probably didn't produce anything. If they did it would only have been typed and duplicated so would not have a lot of detail.

If you have stripped and cleaned your unit, you probably have discovered all its little secrets, the only hidden bits I can think off are the table locking screws tucked away inside the base casting with cast alloy heads similar to the table height adjuster screws. I find that you can make small table adjustments with the locking screws fastened but releasing them slightly is helpfull for initial setting up.

I have the spring out at present to measure, can take photos etc if it helps you.

I have dealt with Gilbro Engineering in Preston in the past, they seem to be a jobbing shop run by decendants these days with little background knowledge of the machinery once produced.

Originally Posted by malb

I have the spring out at present to measure, can take photos etc if it helps you.

That would be great thanks. Do you think this would be something that can be adapted from an off the shelf item??


Never had or used a jointer before so I guess I will have to spend sometime on utube

Originally Posted by DSEL74

40yrs?? I guess you have quite a bit of experience with it then. Is the small 4" very useful? I'm thinking the length of the table is more of a limitation than the width.

Is the safety guard supposed to snap back or just be pivoted out of the way, which does sound like much of a benefit?



There are 4 adjustment knobs, two each side. There are two brass screws that look like they tighten down on the thread of two of those knobs. Do you know what these are for???

I think Mal has answered your queries quite well.
I have not used mine very much in recent times and it has been superseded by a 6 inch jointer. It has been gathering dust and I have been intending to list it here for sale but just have not got round to it.
The table length does limit the length of timber that can be put over it safely with good results.
The safety guard should swing back to cover the blades.
I made a cover to go over the pulley at the back so that fingers were protected from the pulley and belt.

Hope that helps

Will photograph the spring tomorrow and post it here, doubt that it would be easy to modify an existing spring, as you need to form a couple of tight right angle bends and straighten previously wound parts to form the ends, trying this with an existing hard spring would probably fracture the wire.

Are you wanting a worker, or a to fully restore the unit? For a worker you could probably use a helical tension spring running up to the side or base of the rebate guard/support and connecting to a screw in the hole for the genuine spring tang on the underside of the swing guard. A similar arrangement was used with the 6in Gilbro my father had when building when I was a kid.

The guard should swing all the way across the cutter until it meets the fence, regardless of where the fence is positioned. As you feed a board against the fence the outer corner connects to arm of the guard and pushes the guard away from the fence, then runs along the side of the board as it works along the jointer.

From memory, they measure a tad over 4.75 inches across the blade so safely work to about 4.5 inches. Mine has the original rebating blades installed, these are sharpened at the end furthest from the pulley, as well as across the edge. Table length is a limitation, but longer than some 6in benchtop jointers. Longest I have run over it is about 1500, but the original owner and family worked material to 3m with it by using external supports. They seemed more limited by shed space than the table size.

Have attached a series of photos showing the spring with dimmensions, the mounting point for the spring by the guard pivot, and the guard and spring assembled.

Re brass screws. There are two slotted metal plates that fit over a groove in the table height adjustors to transmit motion from the adjustors to the tables. At the other end of these plates, two brass screws per plate fix the plates to the cast webs in the underside of the table. These are the only brass screws I can recall from on the unit.

Feel free to come back with any other queries.

I'll have to see what I can find, thanks for the photos and details. I wonder if any of the current machines would have a matching spring as a spare part??

I want a user machine but if I can get it as original as possible is good.

Originally Posted by malb

Have attached a series of photos showing the spring with dimmensions, the mounting point for the spring by the guard pivot, and the guard and spring assembled.

Re brass screws. There are two slotted metal plates that fit over a groove in the table height adjustors to transmit motion from the adjustors to the tables. At the other end of these plates, two brass screws per plate fix the plates to the cast webs in the underside of the table. These are the only brass screws I can recall from on the unit.

Feel free to come back with any other queries.

Hi I have have also inherited one. When I was cleaning it up, I removed the saw blade to buy a new one and placed the washers and nut on the table,hence I lost it. Could you please inform me the size of the nut. Is it af left hand thread.
All help greatly appreciated.
kaluco

Originally Posted by kaluco

Hi I have have also inherited one. When I was cleaning it up, I removed the saw blade to buy a new one and placed the washers and nut on the table,hence I lost it. Could you please inform me the size of the nut. Is it af left hand thread.
All help greatly appreciated.
kaluco

Hi, I guess that this is addressed to me as I am the one who fessed up to having a combo unit. The saw arbor nut is definitely 5/8" and obviously some form of imperial thread, but not sure which off hand. It's currently nighttime and the middle of a thunder storm here and the shed is 50m away without lights. I will put it on the list for tomorrow to go and remove it and check with thread guages/engineering handbooks to identify the thread for you. Fairly sure it is LH thread but it may not be because it is a non tilt arbor system. I know the DW Radial Arm i bought at the same time from the same person is definitely 5/8" LH so will visually compare with that to confirm.

Hi, getting back to you after some running around and shopping for tools to confirm.

The arbor nut is 5/8" x 18TPI UNF, Right Hand thread. My counting and measuring kept coming up with 17.6 TPI and 5/8 UNF was the closet match in all of my thread charts but I wasn't able to confirm as someone lost my imperial thread gauges when they borrowed the tap and die set a couple of years ago. Tried the local Bunnys, they had three thread test boards, coarse threads to 3/4"/20mm, fines to 1/2" and metric, UN coarse and fine, to 12mm/1/2", so no go there. Had a junky set of imperial taps and dies for $70 that included a gauge, but no gauges seperately. Finally tracked down Total Tools new location and got a decent set of gauges which confirmed 18TPI.

You should be able to get a decent nut at a bolt and nut specialist, or maybe a car parts place that handles parts for American cars.

I have bought the drive flange up to the house and will draw that up for your next. You will probably need to get one made, unless you can find almost identical in size as a spare part for a current model saw. Don't be tempted to use a mudguard washer or flange that is way different in size, the contact areas of the shaft flange and drive flange need to match closely or the blade will either loosen or dish on you. I have attached a PDF file from Sketchup with a dimensioned cross section of the flange so you can try to locate a similar unit, or have one made for you. Material is mild steel.

Well done Malb.

Hi Guys, I'm a metal guy breaking into the wood working thing through necessity as renovating an old house in Tumut, NSW. I have bought quite alot of gear now, all second hand and as I buy it I strip it down and overhaul it so the information you post, especially the pics is awesome and I take my hat off to you all for the info sharing. I recently purchased a Gilbro planer but it is minus the plate guard so was wondering if anyone could mail me an outline drawing that I could use for a pattern and anything else associated with it so I can fabricate one. Many thanks, Gordon