Anyone own or is familiar with a Powermatic model 54 jointer? ( Taiwan )

[Lud martinson]

I bought this used a couple years ago. So far it's been great. I noticed it was slightly out of square the other day. Closer inspection showed one of the knives had come loose. I also realized the in and outfeed tables were not perfectly flat, or coplanar. The manual, such as it is is limited at best. Ok I thought, man's best friend the internet and utube- bound to have the idiot's version of the most basic set up of the 54... not so much. There are hundreds of explanations of how to adjust other jointers and which set screws adjust what. I don't want to break anything although I'm fairly certain of the general design. Does anyone have this particular model and tell me where to start as I'm sure I have all adjustments out of wack.
I called Powermatic's tech support with little help. Thank you in advance.

[Bill Stephenson]

I have a 54 and I changed the cutter to a spiral head. I have the manual which tells you how to adjust anything on the machine. If you go to the Powermatic site you can download the manual, under customer service, I just went to the site & downloaded it for my self. The instructions are pretty good.

[Lud martinson]

Thanks for the info Bill. Checked out the more popular 54A. Seemed fairly clear however, no info seems available for a jointer,any jointer, that is completely out of wack. For example, if same jointer is stripped down in parts and the cutterhead installed, WITHOUT KNIVES, what would be the next step? Install outfeed table(?) And line up with straight edge to same cutterhead... then install infeed table and tune it to extended straightedge to outfeed table? Tune for coplanar (and) sag to both tables and then set knives.
Several things leave me to believe the previous owners ability. The motor pulley is out of align with the cutterhead. There are some serious dents on the infeed table close to the cutterhead (now that I've cleaned it thoroughly),just to name a few. Maybe the set screws to the infeed table are/were frozen. Anyway... all info to knife replacement start with " leave factory installed outfeed table alone.

[Bill Stephenson]

I did not have to remove my tables to install the spiral cutter head so I can't offer any specific advise, but I would start with the tables, get them co planar and aligned and riding properly on their gibs. Normal maintenance does not requier removing the tables to replace the knives. I just moved my tables to their extreme travel & was able to replace the whole cutter head.Once the the cutter was in I readjusted the tables to the cutter head. The motor pulley has a set screw on the shaft & it often becomes loose. There is set screw on the pully shaft, loosen and align the motor pulley with the cuter pulley and re tighten. Sorry I can't help more but the manual certainly will help get you through this. The dent on the table if small should not be a problem.