Ken's New Jointer - She's a Beauty

[jteneyck]

The subtitle to this post could also be "Helping your friend spend his money.". 

If you know Ken Vick you know that he  builds beautiful rocking chairs.  Just beautiful work.  Ken also makes lots of other stuff, cabinets, boxes, a gorgeous dining table I helped a little with last Summer, all kinds of stuff, and all beautiful.  The stationary tools in Ken's shop are all very nice, and almost all them are large; a 20" planer, 24" dual drum sander, 17", 5HP bandsaw with 16" resaw capacity (that I liked so much I had to buy one for myself), etc., etc.  The lone exception in this arsenal of large machines was Ken's dinky little 8" jointer.  It's a nice enough machine, a Jet with segmented head, but it was the odd man out in the shop. 

Last Summer when Ken was building his dining table he brought his 10" wide lumber over to surface joint them on my 14" MiniMax.  It was a simple task, and that was the seed that planted the idea of a larger jointer in his mind I think.  Over the following months we talked about it more.  At one point Ken thought he wanted a J/P like mine, but I knew he'd never be happy giving up that 20" planer.  Then he though he might like a new 12" jointer.  Nothing wrong with that, to be sure, most of us would be more than happy with one, but I floated the idea of looking for an even bigger, used machine.  I was pretty sure he could find a nice one for no more money than a new mid quality 12" one.  I even told Ken I would look for one for him. 

A month or so ago, I found one, in western MI.  Ken, contacted the guy and decided to buy it.  Great, but now we had to figure out how to get this 1620 lb monster from MI to NY.  




Fortunately, the guy Ken bought it from was great to work with.  He built the skid you see, according to the specs. I gave him, and loaded it on the JUPS Freight truck I arranged to pick it up.  I had first thought I could go to MI and pull it home with a trailer, but after we found out it weighed so much I chickened out on that idea.  A Subaru is not a truck.  

The guy who sold it to Ken has the forklift you see, so it was a piece of cake for him to load it onto the truck.  



In preparation for it's arrival I installed an anchor point in my friends garage, a big D-ring bolted to a piece of 5/4 oak, bolted to the floor with 1/2" x 6" Tapcon screws.




The machine was supposed to be delivered via lift gate truck to Ken's house. Yesterday, however, I got a call that said the machine was too long for them to get it onto the lift gate. I was afraid of that. OK, plan B. I rented a 10' U-haul truck and went to the freight terminal this morning to pick up the machine. They drove the machine down a ramp and loaded it at ground level using two forklifts. I'm not sure why they couldn't use a single forklift like when it was loaded, but it all worked out OK.




The skid and machine just about filled the bed of the truck between the wheel wells.   I called another friend and he met me and drove my car back to Ken's house while I drove the truck.   I backed the truck up close to his garage shop, close enough that 8', 4x4's would reach to the floor. Then we built this little ramp from 4x4's screwed together, braced it to the ground at the bumper, and ratchet strapped it to the bumper of the truck. I backed my car up to the front of the truck and ran the winch cable under the truck, thru the ramp, and to a chain attached to my anchor point. I used a snatch block to run the cable back up to the skid.







Then it was just a matter of pulling the skid down the ramps, slowly, readjusting the attachment point of the snatch block on the chain when the cable end got close to jamming into it.  Our friend and fellow woodworker, Metod, took care of the cable and chain arrangement in the garage while I manned the winch.  We make a good team and it went w/o issue.  



It went so smoothly that the entire operation from the time I left home was only a couple of hours. And here is what Ken bought.



It's a 16" Zefam.  It's made in Poland.  Zefam has made machines for Martin and SCMI, too, and some of those look identical to their own brand.  When Ken gets back from FL in the Spring we'll get it pulled off the pallet and into final position. Then it will be time to figure out how to hook up the VFD he bought to power the 3 phase motor that's in this beast. I have to say, it is a beautiful looking machine, and those planed (not ground) tables are gorgeous.

All in all, it was a very simple process. Having the winch is what made it all possible. I suppose I could have used a come-along or chain fall, but that would have been a very slow process. But you use what you have and it's possible for even an amateur like me to move some pretty big stuff safely. So if you see a monster machine, don't shy away just because it's heavy. And in the end, if you can't move it yourself, there are plenty of people you can pay who do it all the time.

I really like helping Ken spend his money.  And his little 8" Jet is feeling like the skinny kid at the beach now.  

John

[gMike]

That really is an aircraft carrier!  Nice job moving that beast.

[Steve N]

Pretty


A really good side to all of this is that you know where to take those 16" wide boards to get them face jointed now


John you are a good friend.

[Sawdustd]

John -    Your engineering background saved Ken's bacon.   Take a Gold Star a go to the head of the class!

[fredhargis]

Nice! The d-ring worked out well. I suppose to get it to the basement you could set it on the living room floor and it would find it's way down there. Does the winch plug into your receiver on the car?

[jteneyck]

Fred, yes, I bought a 2" to 1" receiver adapter at HF, assuming those are the correct numbers.  The 1" end goes into my car's hitch.  On the 2" end I ground off the top flat and then bolted my winch to it.  That allows me to slide it into my car's hitch point easily.  I also bought a 1" to 2" adapter, and with that I can use the hitch on someone else's vehicle with a 2" hitch.  I've used this arrangement frequently to move logs around and onto my mill, as well as for moving equipment. 

John

[Arlin Eastman]

Great job and nice tool/toy

[Dave Diaman]

I've been eyeing a 16" Extream jointer. The one big thing (besides the money) is the thought of moving the beast. Oonce I get past the money issue I will just buy it and figure the rest out like I always do

[Steve N]

Back when I was into everything I'd go to a LOT of auctions, and more than once bought out an entire woodworking shop. Sometimes with all of the equipment at least as big as Ken's new jointer. I would call a local rigging company and have them move everything to a place where I kept everything waiting for it to flip. Those guys can literally move the world. Now I'm not so sure I could afford them, but it sure took the work out of it back then.


"I suppose to get it to the basement you could set it on the living room floor and it would find it's way down there"

Fred you made me laugh at that one.

[atgcpaul]

John you are a good friend.

Yes, we should all be so fortunate.

Good work.  Looking forward to seeing how you get it off the pallet and into its final spot.