In search of a cheap straight edge

[John Loftis]

Happy (almost) New Year's, folks. I've got an old Delta Jointer and I'm pretty sure the infeed and outfeed tables are out of plane with each other. Knife heights are right, feed table heights next to the cutter heads are right... but I'm still getting a tapered cut.

My understanding is the best way to check the in-plane-ness (planarity?? planalness??) of the infeed and outfeed tables is with a good straight edge. Rather than forking over a bunch of cash for this, I was wondering if anybody had some ideas for a cheap, readily available item that could be used for this purpose. Length would need to be roughly 4-5 feet.

I can already guess that my next post will be, "Ok, now how do I shim this derned jointer?"

Appreciate the help!

Best,
John

[Robert Chapman]

If you really want a "straight edge" don't go cheap. A good one will last you all your life and always be straight. Bite the bullet and get a good one. Happy New Year!

[Bill Houghton]

that are a little cheaper than the steel ones.

Tradeoffs, always, of course - cheaper is slightly less precise.

[Chip Lindley]

Cheapest that comes to mind is a 48" aluminum drywall square. Remove the *T* by drilling out the rivets. This should be straight enough to show you how much your jointer is out of whack.

I have shimmed the outfeed ways of a 6" jointer with thicknesses of .005 shim brass. The gib screws of the outfeed table are loosened to allow it to be lifted. The shim is slipped in at one end of the sliding dovetail where you think it is needed.

Shimming the outfeed table is best because it will not be moved frequently. It is all trial and error. If you can attach the straight edge to the infeed with a wood block or other holddown, both hands are free to try to make the adjustment to the outfeed. Good Luck!

[John Loftis]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I should have given a couple caveats. The main reason I wanted to go cheap is because the jointer itself isn't worth much... maybe $200. I'm a one-weekend-a-month hobbyist woodworker (my one-year-old is a fierce negotiator for my time). And I'm not looking to get things within .001". How precise do I want to be? Crud, I don't know... close enough but definitely not OCD close.

I'm really not dying to buy a new jointer. I'd prefer it if the one I've got works. But tuning stuff is very intimidating to me and frankly about as much fun as a barium enema. If it's a competition between spending another 12 hours trying to get the thing tuned/shimmed or forking out $500 for the best jointer I can find on Craigslist, I'll probably go with the latter of the two.

With all that said, would a drywall square give me 'close enough' accuracy? And I'm guessing brass shims are probably a specialty item ordered online?

[Bruce Wrenn]

Get hold of a copy of John White's book "Care and Repair of Shop Machines." Costs about $20. He shows how to make a "Master Bar" that will do the work of the straight edge. He uses MDF, and drywall screws, stuff you probably already have lying around the shop.

[John Loftis]

That's a great idea if you think that will get me 'close enough.' My wife gave me the FWW CD for Christmas and I noticed the test bar write-up (May/June 2000, p.41). I bet that's similar to the one you are referencing in the book.

That CD was a great gift, and she came up with it all on her own. What a gal!

John

[Brian Kent]

You could just get a 4-5' piece of wood and run it through the joint…
Oh, wait, never mind.

[harry strasil]

I have an 8 1/2 foot straight edge left from a job, Its a piece of 1/4 by 3, 6061 T6 extruded aluminum flat, its dead on, and its harder than steel.

[Chip Lindley]

K&S brass shim stock can be had at many neighborhood hardware or hobby stores. If memory serves, it comes in .002" .005" and .010 sheets, easily cut with a scissors.

I do believe an aluminum straightedge like the drywall square would be accurate enough for your purpose! Your jointer may indeed require you to spend some time fiddling with it. If time is money, then buying another jointer may be your way out. Hopefully the owner can guarantee that the tables are co-planar enough to produce a flat board, or straight edge for your purposes.

This all begs the question: How do you know your tables are out of whack if you do not have a straightedge at present? Sometimes jointers are not at fault, but the technique of the operator. Hmmm...

[Ray Newman]

Look here:

http://www.installertools.com/cgi-bin/INTstore.pl

Do a search using "straight edge".

[Lloyd James]

What I do if I need a good straight edge is to just use a 8-10" wide 4/4 oak board that I get at a local hardwood store or mill that I had one side planned and one side given a straight side by the power feed saw. There is not much added cost to have boards milled. If you don't want the board to tip just clamp 2 boards or some blocks together. I have a cabinet saw and check flatness all the time on the table saw top. When I set a good board on edge, I can't get any feeler gage to slip underneath, at least along the length of the saw table. I hope this may help.

[Mark Rios]

If you want a REALLY cheap straight edge, you can go to Home Depot and by a really straight 2 x 4 for about two bucks. For a GOOD straight edge, go with the Lee Valley (or better) suggestions.

[Steve Clardy]

I just use a alum. 4' level.

Works for me.

[John Loftis]

This all begs the question: How do you know your tables are out of whack if you do not have a straightedge at present? Sometimes jointers are not at fault, but the technique of the operator. Hmmm...

Sorry to respond in a circular way, but I don't know if they are out of whack... that's why I need the straight edge. :rolleyes:

And if the tables are fine, then it's certainly possible that it's me. I've crammed a solid month's worth of woodworking know-how into the last 20 years, so most folks on this forum have forgotten more than I know. All I can do is read-up when I can and learn the hard way.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!

[David Keller NC]

"Thanks for the feedback. I guess I should have given a couple caveats. The main reason I wanted to go cheap is because the jointer itself isn't worth much... maybe $200. I'm a one-weekend-a-month hobbyist woodworker (my one-year-old is a fierce negotiator for my time). And I'm not looking to get things within .001". How precise do I want to be? Crud, I don't know... close enough but definitely not OCD close."

With due respect, this is the wrong way to think about this. Your jointer may only be worth $200, but I'm guessing you're going to pass that much money's worth of wood over it in one afternoon. There are many things in a wood shop that don't need to be within a thousandths of an inch - a micrometer is not a woodworking tool.

However, a jointer whose tables are out of parallel by a couple of thousandths can make a significant, noticeable difference that can be easily measured by a tape measure after a few passes. And if the outfeed table is higher than the knife edges by even one thousandth of an inch, it's likely that you won't be able to get the jointer to work at all - the workpiece will jam against the outfeed table edge.

If you really must go the dirt-cheap route, you can use a piece of extruded aluminum angle to guesstimate your jointer into alignment, then test it by running a workpiece with clear, straight grain over it, measure the results, and tweak the settings. It's an iterative process, as you're essentially adjusting the machine "blind". It does work, however, though you'll need to know how to interpret the results correctly. For example, if the feed end of your board winds up narrower than the tail end after a few passes (and it started out parallel), it's likely that your outfeed table is lower than the knive's cutting arc. Unfortunately, almost every major magazine re-runs a "jointer tune-up" article every year, so you should be able to lay your hands on one pretty easily (or you could pick up a book with the procedure in it at your local library).

[Ryan Baker]

I agree that a good level is probably the cheapest option, since you probably already have one available. Some of them are actually pretty straight. But like anything in this "approximately straight" category, some will be very good and some will not. The only way to really know is to have a good, accurate straightedge to check it with. The same applies to a drywall square. If you have a good flat surface, like a plate of glass, you can work at flattening your straight edge with some sandpaper and some effort.

Other than that, there are places out there selling straight edges for at least some savings over the Starretts and such. Garrett Wade is another store with some options.

[Matt Benton]

I'm with Steve. I needed a 4' level and a straightedge. Killed 2 birds with one stone...

[Larry Edgerton]

For a quick and easy check find a larger clear glass bowl with a nice flat base. Fill it with water to any point. Throw some ice in to stabilize, set it on the infeed and let it settle, mark the point that the water hits the glass on the long axis of the jointer. Move it to the outfeed without spinning it and check to see if the water is off the marks. Adjust accordingly. Oh ya, to avoid tension in the water put in a drop or two of dish soap.

This was shown to me by an old machinist and is how I adjusted my Porter before I had so many options. It worked then, and I think water is still the same. I still use a water level on construction jobs, cheaper and more accurate than a laser, and goes around corners.

[Eric Franklin]

I bought this set from GarrettWade a while ago.

http://www.garrettwade.com/woodworkers-precision-steel-straightedges/p/05S11ddd01/

$82.60 for a 12", 24" & 36" is a pretty good deal.

[Eddie Darby]

You don't need a straight edge to do the job.

If you get a couple of boards that are long enough for the jointers beds, and you then put screws ( 4 in each ) in them, that are proud of the wood surface:

-2 screws in the infeed side, one close to the cutter, and one near the starting edge, on each board.
-2 screws in the outfeed as well, one near the cutter and the other at the far end, on each board as well.

Set the screw locations so that all 4 screws are *symmetrically* placed about the middle of the board.
This is so you can flip one of the boards 'end to end' and have it line-up with the other boards screws.

If you have 2 boards set-up so that all the four screws in each of the boards touches the jointers surface, then all you need to do is flip one of the boards 'end to end' to see if there are any gaps between the screws. If the two tables of the jointer are level, then the screws will all touch each other.
A feeler guage can then be used if the screws don't touch to measure the gap.

It takes a little bit more visualization to grasp what's going on, but it's cheaper than a straight edge, and since it is not based on the accuracy of the straight edge manufacteurer, it is far more precise.

[John Schreiber]

I've always wanted to try this process (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ejaswensen/machines/straight_edge/straight_edge.html)to make my own straight edges. I think the process Eddie describes above is the same as the "Master Bar" concept where you don't need an entire straight edge, you just need a set of points all in a row.

[Lee Koepke]

For a quick and easy check find a larger clear glass bowl with a nice flat base. Fill it with water to any point. Throw some ice in to stabilize, set it on the infeed and let it settle, mark the point that the water hits the glass on the long axis of the jointer. Move it to the outfeed without spinning it and check to see if the water is off the marks. Adjust accordingly. Oh ya, to avoid tension in the water put in a drop or two of dish soap.

This was shown to me by an old machinist and is how I adjusted my Porter before I had so many options. It worked then, and I think water is still the same. I still use a water level on construction jobs, cheaper and more accurate than a laser, and goes around corners.
the best and least expensive option I have seen thus far.

[Mark Boyette]

I got a nice 48" aluminum straight edge from Lowe's for about $20. They are yellow.. might help you find it in the store. It's just like a drywall square with out the tee. Nice item to have around the shop. have this photo of my shop.. you can see it hanging on the post.
Mark.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/rockyrivermark/shop006.jpg

[John Sanford]

Another option, that may work even better for your purposes, is a wallpaper level. Generally 3' in length, they can be found at any big box and many hardware stores. Mine is gold like the 4' straightedge above. A good thing about the wallpaper level is they have a wide flat base, so they don't need to be held on edge.

Do the "draw a line, flip the tool over, draw a second line parallel to the first" to check if the level is straight enough for your purposes before purchasing it. Sneaking over to the stacks of drywall and drawing on them may be convenient, although I'm not sure how the Local Head of the Borg Collective will feel about that!

[Paul Demetropoulos]

I got a nice 48" aluminum straight edge from Lowe's for about $20. They are yellow.. might help you find it in the store. It's just like a drywall square with out the tee. Nice item to have around the shop. have this photo of my shop.. you can see it hanging on the post.
Mark.
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r295/rockyrivermark/shop006.jpg

Is what does Mark use for dust collection, I wanna get me one of those!

[Larry Browning]

I have an 8 1/2 foot straight edge left from a job, Its a piece of 1/4 by 3, 6061 T6 extruded aluminum flat, its dead on, and its harder than steel.
I'm sorry, but how does this help John? How is he supposed to get his hands on something like what you have? What is "6061 T6 extruded aluminum" and how can it be obtained CHEAPLY? Or is this just a nanna nanna boo boo, I got one and you don't kinda post?

[Doug Shepard]

I bit the bullet about a year ago a went with the 3 ft steel one from LV
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=56676&cat=1,240,45313
It's not exactly cheap but compared to other options with the same accuracy, LV's prices are very decent. Plus if you act today you'll get the free shipping.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Cold rolled steel is usually within .002" of true and square. I have a 2 1/2" X 5/16" piece 26" long I use for my TS set up to check my blade.
But when I set my jointer up (had the same problem) I went about it totally different than most.
I use a Smart Tool (http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=smart+tool&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=2388221489&ref=pd_sl_78gtjozin3_e). I only bought the module itself, then added magnetic strip to mine later on. Lots of folks like it for finding angles as well as making surfaces co-planer like in-feed and out-feed tables.
I had to get my out-feed table right with the world first, then the rest was easy. I use my smart tool for any angle I need in my shop.
Think about the angles we all try and hit with fences or tables. Then think about setting them at less than 1/10th of a degree of the angle you want.
Smart Tool can do that for you.
The price for the module is about the same as back when I got mine. But the housings seem to have climbed for a machined piece of aluminum. :p
The magnetic holder for it is cool! Glad to see they finally got smart-er.
Like I said in my review (http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ZDF9UYHKRU8W/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm), I just tape mine to a longer straight edge when I need a long plane for it. Then zero it and Wa-La!
See all the reviews (http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B0000225AL/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_5?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addFiveStar).

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I'm sorry, but how does this help John? How is he supposed to get his hands on something like what you have? What is "6061 T6 extruded aluminum" and how can it be obtained CHEAPLY? Or is this just a nanna nanna boo boo, I got one and you don't kinda post?

Larry, to be fair to Harry, I do think his post illustrates a point that being creative may turn up something useful. That particular item sounds a little exotic, but I can think of several places that may have something similar, for fairly cheap.

[Tom Adger]

You can throw money at a (supposedly) super accurate straight edge, or you can go down to Home Depot and buy a 4' straight edge for a little money that is plenty accurate for your needs.

[Larry Browning]

Larry, to be fair to Harry, I do think his post illustrates a point that being creative may turn up something useful. That particular item sounds a little exotic, but I can think of several places that may have something similar, for fairly cheap.

After I posted that, I had a thought that I was being a little rough on Harry. Sorry about that Harry. I guess I was in a grumpy mood at the time.

I know that if we were all in a room or even on the phone having this discussion, I would have never said anything like that. There is just something about the internet that seems to cause us to forget our social skills and manners all together.
Plus, SWMBO chewed my butt about my post as well!

[david kramer]

The factory edges of plywood or melamine are usually fairly straight. Not the greatest straight edge in the world, but it'll get your jointer to within however straight the board already is, which might be good enough. If you already have a sheet lying around then it's free, can't get cheaper than that!

David

[Bill Neely]

Another vote for John White's book. He takes you through setting up shop machinery with absolutely no need for expensive alignment equipment.

Unless, of course, you can't live without it. :)

[Dave Redlin]

Stumbled across this website.....prices seem reasonable.


http://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-drafting---drawing-equipment-straight-edges-stainless-steel-cutting-straightedge.html

Dave

[Tim Sgrazzutti]

I use an extruded aluminum I-beam level. Most are within a few thou of straight, and I've never needed anything better. However, I didn't see anyone post this link yet, so I'll add to the discussion:

http://home.comcast.net/~jaswensen/machines/straight_edge/straight_edge.html

[Jason White]

I just got a catalog that has these on sale....

http://www.garrettwade.com/woodworkers-precision-steel-straightedges/p/05S11ddd01/



Happy (almost) New Year's, folks. I've got an old Delta Jointer and I'm pretty sure the infeed and outfeed tables are out of plane with each other. Knife heights are right, feed table heights next to the cutter heads are right... but I'm still getting a tapered cut.

My understanding is the best way to check the in-plane-ness (planarity?? planalness??) of the infeed and outfeed tables is with a good straight edge. Rather than forking over a bunch of cash for this, I was wondering if anybody had some ideas for a cheap, readily available item that could be used for this purpose. Length would need to be roughly 4-5 feet.

I can already guess that my next post will be, "Ok, now how do I shim this derned jointer?"

Appreciate the help!

Best,
John

[Paul Demetropoulos]

Here's a 50" all-in-one clamp guide for $30. Even has a scale and t slot on top. How's that for cheap and straight?

As to how "straight" this thing is, I'll leave it to someone else to answer, but my guess, pretty dern straight!

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=16448&filter=all%20in%20one%20clamp

[Clifford Mescher]

You can throw money at a (supposedly) super accurate straight edge, or you can go down to Home Depot and buy a 4' straight edge for a little money that is plenty accurate for your needs.
If the super accurate straight edge is supposedly accurate.
Wouldn't the Home Depot straight edge be supposedly accurate, too? Clifford.

[Barry Vabeach]

John, don't know if you are still looking, but I just went looking and found this http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?searchtext=straight+edge&Submit=Quick+Search&NameProdHeader=Straight+Edges

In a email to the owner, they said the .001 is per foot, which would mean .0015 for the length of the 18 inch one and .0025 for the 30 inch one. The Lee valley aluminum ones are .003 over the entire length, but are more expensive. I don't know whether aluminum or polycarbonate is better as a straight edge. I previously looked at Garrett Wade, but they are .0005 per inch ( .006 per foot) and for the 36 inch one, that would be .018 over the 36 inch length. I know we are talking woodworking, not machining metal, but it seems to me that .018 is pretty far off when it comes to setting up woodworking machines, especially when the Lee Valley of the same length is .003. Garrett also sells an aluminum straight edge which they say is .001, but they don't say whether that is per inch, per foot, or length. I am about ready to pull the trigger on the polycarbonate unless I hear that polycarbonate is not a good choice for a straight edge. The little checking on did on the net says that it has excellent dimensional stability, but they weren't talking about straight edges so I don't know how that would apply to a straight edges.

[Michael Panis]

I've never tried it, but I have heard you can make a very straight edge over a long distance using piano wire. Picture the string on a bow (as in bow and arrow) and you'll get the idea.

I'd be interested to know if others have tried this, and if it has been successful.

---Mike

[Bill Blevins]

John,
I just had the same issue. I solved it by checking the 4'x1"x0.25" aluminum at Lowes. I found the straightest piece there and took it to the 4' levels and checked it against the most accurate/expensive one there and it looked good.

I took it to work today and checked it to the calibrated straight-edge and I was not able to get a 0.001" shim between them.

The best part is the aluminum was marked down from $23 to $8.50.

Bill

[John Schreiber]

I've never tried it, but I have heard you can make a very straight edge over a long distance using piano wire. Picture the string on a bow (as in bow and arrow) and you'll get the idea.

I'd be interested to know if others have tried this, and if it has been successful.

---Mike
I've used this trick with fishing line and as far as I can tell, it is as accurate as any other reference I have.

I'm not an engineer, but I did try to do the math to figure out the sag. I assumed a 5 lb clamp hanging from each end of the line with eight feet of line unsupported, the sag was small enough to be insignificant.

If there's somebody out there who can check my math, I'd love it.

[John Loftis]

You folks are really great! It's so much fun to see the different creative ideas, and I'm a little humbled by all the help.

As an update, I finally waved the white flag. My wife decided that the best way to get her honey-do's done was to get me a new jointer for our 10 year anniversary. Maybe she thinks that keeping me in the garage as much as possible will be a marriage preserver for the next 10 years, I dunno.

Anyway, after reading up on a bunch of SC postings, I found a local dealer for the Shop Fox W1741, which I'm pretty sure is the white-painted version of the Grizzly GO490. (In case anyone is in the market in the DFW area, I got it at Elliot's Hardware in Dallas. Their prices were lower than any I found on the internet and they delivered it into my garage for free. Tools Manager there was either 'James' or 'Jay' Holden, can't remember.)

There are at least two ironies in all of this. First, my search for a 'cheap' straight edge culminated in buying a very not-cheap new jointer, with the extra fun of wiring the garage for 220. Second, I probably still need a straight edge to make sure that the new puppy is lined up right. I read that the parallelogram beds are supposed to stay in plane with each other, but I'm not sure they start out that way out of the box. So I'll probably start by trying to make a test bar/ master bar as has been suggested by a couple of you. If that doesn't seem to work, then I'll go with one of your other suggestions.

Or... if there's anybody in my neck of woods who has the patience, know-how, AND straight edge to help me get this new beast dialed in, I've got a new bottle of MaCallan 12 Year with your name on it. ;) Or I can just name my second-born after you, whichever you prefer.

Best,
John

[Mark Boyette]

yes... it works well. Until I get a unit I've been using my freinds 14 year old son for a dust collector :D broom and a dustpan.
Mark.

[Curt Harms]

Accurate machine setups are important but how accurate is needed? I used a 4' Mahogany level and a light behind it. Little if any light coming between the jointer beds & level. Jointed 2 5' pieces of poplar. Butted the edges against one another hand pressure only and held 'em up to the light. No rocking at all and very little light coming through. Moved the two pieces relative to one another to see if any gaps opened up. Nope. Swapped ends and did the same thing. Still no gaps. Close enough for me.

Curt

[Clifford Mescher]

Accurate machine setups are important but how accurate is needed? I used a 4' Mahogany level and a light behind it. Little if any light coming between the jointer beds & level. Jointed 2 5' pieces of poplar. Butted the edges against one another hand pressure only and held 'em up to the light. No rocking at all and very little light coming through. Moved the two pieces relative to one another to see if any gaps opened up. Nope. Swapped ends and did the same thing. Still no gaps. Close enough for me.

Curt
That's funny, as it was the same level that got me in trouble and I finally had to order a real straightedge to get my jointer running proper. Clifford.

[Joe Pack]

The Lee Valley aluminum straight edge is all most woodworkers will ever need. If it IS out, it will only be 1 or 2 thousandths (mine was spot on). For a woodworker working with wood that moves that much in a day, anything more is overkill. It ain't brain surgery. Spending $100 will buy you a spot on straight edge, but it will be no more useful in woodworking applications than the $35 or less Lee Valley models. Spending $125,000 will also buy you the best and fastest BMW on the market, but the speed limit is still 55 mph. :)

[Paul Demetropoulos]

The Lee Valley aluminum straight edge is all most woodworkers will ever need. anything more is overkill. It ain't brain surgery. Spending $100 will buy you a spot on straight edge, but it will be no more useful in woodworking applications than the $35 or less Lee Valley models. Spending $125,000 will also buy you the best and fastest BMW on the market, but the speed limit is still 55 mph. :)

Yes, but some people like to get there faster.

[Barry Vabeach]

John, I am no where near you, but if the Elliots you are talking about is the same chain as the Elliots in Plano, you don't know how lucky you are. I go to Plano to visit by parents now and again and what a store - every size fastener you can possibly imagine, a full aisle of Mohawk finishing supplies - I could spend hours and $$ in that store. Good luck with the jointer, most come pretty well set it so just try it and see if it is working before spending a lot of time on straight edges, test bars etc. Joint 2 pieces and if they fit together over their lenght, you should be good to go. I did pick up an inexpensive straightedge the other day and will start a post once I have had time to check it out.