Edge joint tolerance

[charly hedger]

I have been trying to get my delta 360 jointer tuned so that I can go on to edge gluing projects. After many hours of labor, it seems the best I can achieve is about .002 -.004" of gap in my stock.
Question is what are the tolerances I should shoot for before too much stress it applied to the edge glued project and causing stability/seperation problems later to the finished project?

Thanks,
charly

[Steve Jenkins]

If the ends of the boards are touching and the gap is in the center that is fine. It is called a spring or sprung joint and many people feel it is necessary to keep the ends from opening if the boards shrink due to changes in humidity.

[charly hedger]

Thanks for the reply, Steve.
Man, I have messed w/ this jointer off and on for awhile. DOn't get me wrong it seems to be a decent low end jointer. Which will suit my needs since thats all I could afford at the time and I'm a rank amature when it comes to cabinet grade wood working and don't know whats good enough and what will not work. My wife comes out in the shop a few minutes ago while I was adjusting the knives and checking the bed and I was generaly pissed off...and she says "your just trying to make everything too perfect". SO I figured maybe she's right...probably why it takes so long to make anything, no to mention the agravation!

Thanks again Steve.

[Brian Kent]

Is that .004" over a length of 1" or 10'?

Are you making a violin, a piece of furniture, or a deck?

For most of my work - any size furniture - that much would be fine.

[charly hedger]

SOrry Brian, I forgot to say, that .004 is in a 40" test piece of pine. I know the pieces can be squeezed together but as said earlier if material movement/climatechange would cause it to crack open later.

charly

[pat warner]

Not much of a problem unless the low point of the crook is in the same place on both boards, an 8 mill gap.
I would continue refining your technique and set up variables (blade height, fence squareness and table parallelism).

[Steve Jenkins]

Charley, you might also put your city on your posts. There are a lot of us (most?) that enjoy helping out in person.