Powermatic 60B - Manual (Page 13)

13
Installing Knives
Use care when working with
or around sharp knives. Make sure power to
the machine has been disconnected.
When installing new knives, remove only one
knife at a time. Clean the knife slot and install
the new knife. Adjust and snug new knife in
cutterhead before proceeding to next knife.
1. Disconnect machine from power source.
2. Remove the belt guard so that you can
rotate the cutterhead by turning the motor
pulley or by moving the drive belt. Do not
grab the cutterhead itself to rotate it.
3. Remove the old knives by loosening gib
screws with an 8mm wrench, and allowing
the springs to push the knife upward.
Remove knife and gib. See Figure 15.
4. Clean the gib and the knife slot. Sandwich
new knife and gib together and drop into
slot. Make sure the knife is oriented properly
as shown in Figure 15.
IMPORTANT: To position the knives for rabbet
cuts, take a shop scale with 1/32" graduations
and place it against the end of the cutterhead.
Slide the knife out until it is at the 1/32" mark on
the scale; that is, the knife will now be 1/32"
beyond the edge of the cutterhead. The gib
should remain in normal position, even with the
edge of the cutterhead. See Figure 16. This
adjustment will ensure that the knife clears the
end of the gib and cutterhead, and has good
contact with the workpiece. (See under “Basic
Jointer Operation” for further information on
rabbeting procedures.)
5. The height of the knife in the slot, both for
rabbeting and normal jointer work, must now
be set properly, to ensure correct operation
as well as minimize the hazard of kickback.
Proceed as follows:
6. Rotate the cutterhead (using the pulley) until
the tip of the knife is at the top of the
cutterhead arc. Place the knife setting
gauge (Figure 17) over the cutterhead so
the tip of the knife contacts the center of the
gauge, and all four "feet" of the gauge rest
firmly upon the cutterhead, as the knife is
pushed down into its slot. The gauge will set
the knives at approximately .015" above the
cutterhead. Knife height should not vary
more than .002-.003" across the length of
the cutterhead.
Figure 15
Figure 16
Figure 17