Should I check the bolts periodically?

[Frederick Skelly]

Hi folks.
I’ve had a 6” JET jointer and a 12 inch Delta lunchbox planer for about 20 years. I don’t use either very much, and the blades are still giving good cuts. So I have never touched the blades or the bolts that hold them in place. Should I check them for tightness, just to be safe?

I realize that this sounds like a really dopey question. But I woke up last night thinking about what horrible shrapnel a blade would be if it came loose.

I’ve never worked on these machines and I’m reluctant to do so unnecessarily. On one hand, I’m concerned that I could goof up a machine that’s working fine. Or worse yet, overtighten/undertighten something and cause the shrapnel I’m worried about.

What does your experience say? Should I put a wrench on this to check that all the bolts holding the blades are still tight?

Thank you.
Fred

[Lee Schierer]

It won't hurt anything to take a look or even put the appropriate wrench on them to check tightness.

[Patrick Kane]

Fred, bolts aside those blades absolutely need sharpened/replaced. I think your first board over the jointer will amaze you if you swap to sharp knives. 20 years is a long time to remember how amazing sharp tooling is.

[Cameron Wood]

As Patrick Kane says above, sharpening the knives is a good idea. I'm not aware of those kind of bolts ever working loose, & I've had ones go several years, but not twenty between attention.

Much more common is the motor pulley coming loose- I'd check that & not worry about the cutterhead bolts.

[Brian Runau]

Trust and listen to the voice in your head. Brian

[George Yetka]

Fred. Definately worth a look. Find out the torque spec and get a screwdriver preset to that number. Mine was $10 on amazon for my jointer planer. I had a screw back out on dewalt 735 when I had it. It didnt do anything but destroy the piece but I still didnt want that happening again. I would do it the day you wax your table tops should only take a minute or two

[Jimmy Harris]

If nothing else, it's a good idea to break the bolts and retighten them from time to time. Mostly to make sure they haven't worked loose or are starting to rust solid. Maybe not all of the bolts, but definitely the ones that would see some regular use through routine maintenance. The last thing you want is to need to replace the blade, only to find out the bolt won't come loose, and it becomes a huge hassle just to replace the blade.

[Ronald Blue]

I'm going to go against the grain here. No if the bolts were properly tightened the first time they don't need retorqued. You should as was suggested look into replacing the blades.

[Richard Coers]

In today's machinery, they use what at one time was called a safety head. Those came right after the square heads that could have a blade fly out. No worries now. Besides, if the bolts have stayed tight of 20 years, they won't suddenly loosen now. You are the master of understatement! Not sharpening knives for 20 years is in a way different category than "I don’t use either very much"

[Bill Dufour]

Boeing should have checked those bolts. My 1974 Plymouth had four big bolts holding the main front suspension K member to the frame. One of the four was missing when I looked after owning the car of a few years. I had to buy a bigger socket to install it. It was like a 1+1/4 head bolt.
Bill D

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks folks! I appreciate your help.
Fred

[Kent A Bathurst]

Not fer nuttin, but….

After that long, I’d consider checking the bolts/fasteners on all the drive components. There aren’t many - couple sheaves, belt tension, bearing fasteners to machine (thinking of pillow block) stuff like that. Never had hands on your models, but there aren’t a lot of ways to design them Maybe the sprockets and chain tensioner in the planer height adjustment

[Dave Zellers]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you have forgotten what a wood surface looks like when it comes off a sharp jointer or planer.

You can kill two birds with one stone by loosening the bolts, replacing the knives, and then making sure all the bolts are tight.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I have a very expensive trip to the gunsmith coming up because I ignored checking the status of the screws on a Winchester .44 magnum Trapper.
The screw on the front band came loose - then sheared off.

Don't be lazy fat and stupid - like me. It's probably a simple thing to just check to see if they are snug.

Once you do that, you can come back to this thread and jump around pointing a finger at me and chant "Rich is fat and stupid, Rich is fat and stupid, that's no way to go through life, being fat and stupid'.