Thread: gilbro jointer

I have a small 4inch Gilbro unit in combo with a 10 inch saw. My father had a similar freestanding 6 inch unit which I think was a Gilbro also.

The blades on my unit are fixed into the head with allen screws from the leading side of the blade, bearing against a semi shim against the blade. The shim is similar in section to a hacksaw blade with the teeth ground off, but slightly thinner and somewhat softer.

Re blades, any tool maker or saw doctor should be able to source appropriate stock and grind blades to suit, provided that you can supply an approximate cross sectional size. Regrinding my set cost about $15 a year ago at my local saw doc, they grind the set in a stacked set, in my case they needed to take about 1mm off to get a matched parallel set. Supplying the material and grinding from scratch would undoubtedly cost more.

If your unit is not drilled and tapped for set screw retainers I would not like your chances of getting the correct retainers. Some years ago there was a Gilbro Engineering trading in the Melbourne northern suburbs, they might have been the source of these machines but I doubt whether they would have parts available at this stage. When we dealt with them, they were grinding metal plates for us in a large factory with a lot of machinery installed but little operating and few staff.

Frank at northern machinery in Preston (03) 9484 6726 is the son of the (now defunct) manufacturer of Gilbro tools, and runs a decent second hand machinery shop. He may be able to help

Cheers

Joel

Originally Posted by malb

semi shim against the blade.

Just noticed a word missing in my reply above when reading Joel's reply. Mine should have read "semi hard shim against the blade"

Interesting to get a definite lead toward someone with a Gilbro background. Thanks Joel.

Thanks for info and ph no I''ll check it out

Originally Posted by bee jay

Thanks for info and ph no I''ll check it out

Did you have any luck with this? I know its an old thread but I finally got around to doing up my Gilbro and am looking for a new return spring for the safety guard.

Its a great little machine. Shame they stopped making them, you just can't find quality like this any more.

Originally Posted by Ausworkshop

Did you have any luck with this? I know its an old thread but I finally got around to doing up my Gilbro and am looking for a new return spring for the safety guard.

Its a great little machine. Shame they stopped making them, you just can't find quality like this any more.

I know that this by now a REALLY old thread, but did you ever get anywhere with your query?

Might be better to try to contact Andrew through his website link in his post as he hasn't been on here since Jan 2021.

I'm still around. I did contact Frank and got a new spring. He was really helpful. You could try that number above, that's the one I have saved in my phone, otherwise try his mobile, I have that too if you need it.

What were you after John?
I don't do as much woodworking as I'd like to now, I started working with Farmers actually. I now work as an automation technician for irrigation systems. What type of farming do you do if you don't mind me asking?

Originally Posted by Ausworkshop

I'm still around. I did contact Frank and got a new spring. He was really helpful. You could try that number above, that's the one I have saved in my phone, otherwise try his mobile, I have that too if you need it.

What were you after John?
I don't do as much woodworking as I'd like to now, I started working with Farmers actually. I now work as an automation technician for irrigation systems. What type of farming do you do if you don't mind me asking?

Google says the business in Preston is 'Permanently Closed' and the 9484 phone number is 'not connected'.
Strikes me that the years have gone by, I can only hope Frank is still amongst us (and not just for selfish reasons).

Farmer?
Nope, not an actual farmer.
That handle came out of User ID assigned by the IT guys where I worked when they applied their normal corporate IT protocol (of selecting a certain number of characters from peoples' surname and christian name).
What youre doing now sounds pretty fascinating!

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Might be better to try to contact Andrew through his website link in his post as he hasn't been on here since Jan 2021.

Thanks - but i'm still learning to negotiate my way around here. Could you possibly point me toward the link you mention?

Hi, Could you please post Franks mobile as the landline, like many, is not connected. I too need a guard spring.

R egards


Tom

...

Sent a PM