Delta DJ-20 questions

[Dustin talbott]

Howdy folks!

So...I gambled and feel like I made a pretty good score. Bid and won on a DJ-20 and Rockwell 46-525 lathe for 780 out the door. I didn't have a chance to pre-inspect the machines and the photos were terrible and hardly showed anything....so I gambled not really knowing what to expect.

The jointer is in fantastic shape, lathe...good shape, but missing some minor items (i.e. motor, tailstock and tool rest) to be discussed in another thread....


Regarding the jointer; beds are flat, no rust and overall the machine is in fantastic shape. The knives even came sharp!

That said, had a few questions:

First question:
The belt that came with it was old and cracking. I took it off and installed a powertwist 1/2" link belt. The one I pulled off was 3/8", which confused me a bit. When I put the link belt on, the darn belt kept turning/turning and not riding correctly in the pulley. I realized the pulleys weren't aligned so I slid the motor over and that seemed to fix it.

However, the belt still seems like it rides high. Can someone take a look at this and tell me if it looks like it is riding high? Or did the previous user change the pulleys out to smaller ones? It seems to run fine, passed the "I don't have a nickel so I used a washer test". So I don't know...

Second question:

Below the infeed side is a "single phase motor starter". When I plug in the machine I hear a pretty loud hum from it. Is this normal? I usually leave my tools plugged in, but I don't think I will for this due to the constant humming. Also, I've never seen one of these starter do-hickys before....

Thanks all!!

[Dustin talbott]

Link Belt:

IMG_20180622_152659.jpgIMG_20180622_152711.jpg


Motor Starter:

IMG_20180622_151335.jpgIMG_20180622_151346.jpg

[Andrew Hughes]

I don’t know if that’s the right pulley,I’m fairly sure the link belt is not fitting that groove looks like it’s sitting too high.
I also think that a regular 3/8 automotive belt will work just fine. Those link belts stretch too much then if they start sliping get burnished. I never use them again I learned my lesson.
One more thing congratulations on the pre tariff jointer.
Thats a nice machine.

[Bill Orbine]

The new belt is riding high. Replace with a 3/8" belt.

I making a guess on the hum. I betting the hum is coming from the transformer????? Make sure it is wired up correctly to the proper volts. That is either on transformer and/or the input power. Refer to the label on motor for proper voltage.

[Dustin talbott]

Thank you Bill and Andrew.

I was also guessing it was the transformer, I’ll do some tinkering and see if I can pinpoint it.

Regarding the belt, I’m going to ditch the link belt and buy a 3/8 cog belt. Looking at it closer, I’m also thinking my motor may me mounted backwards in addition to the pulley? I recall reading this was a problem with these machines in some other threads. If this ends up being the case (I’ll look at it closer tonight after work), is there any benefit to upgrading the pulley if I am “pulleying” it off anyway? Sorry couldn’t resist.

And if there IS a benefit to upgrading the motor pulley, should I look to change out the one on the cutterhead as well and use a 1/2” pulleys so I can use a 4L belt again? Is there a performance difference between 3/8” and 1/2”?

...sorry this is turning into a “if you give a mouse a cookie” scenario...

[Andrew Hughes]

I don’t think you will benefit form a pulley change unless the one on there are messed up and wobbly. Plus it’s not that easy finding the right ones.
My powermatic planer has 3/8 belts and the cutter head is 15inches wide.

[CPeter James]

Many of those had the motor mount frame in backwards. The pulley should be up tight to the motor and the hub on the outside. The opening in the base housing is too small to use a link belt and it will act like a fire truck siren and may even hit the edges of the opening. An AX series belt works just fine. The believe the the size you want is an AX46.
CPeter