Gordon Eyre
08-31-2010, 5:55 PM
My old Craftsman Jointer had a problem and while it seemed to work fine the jointed edges of the wood were not square. In other words it took more off one side than it did the other. I tried to do some research on the Internet in order to help me with this project but could not find anything detailed enough. Now that I have finished this project and my jointer is working great I thought it might be helpful if I wrote up the process.
First the failure and what I learned from it. I laid down on my back and examined the underside of the jointer and noticed that the outfeed table was solid cast iron with no adjustments. The infeed table had four adjustment bolts and what looked like a locking nut on each. Not knowing which was the locking and which the adjusting I tried a lot of trial and error and was getting nowhere but frustrated.
This is where I made my decision to take the unit off of the stand. I would have done this earlier but I have a dust collection unit fitted under the jointer and so it is a little more complex. In any event I undid the three bolts that hold the unit to the stand and disconnected the DC, motor belt, fence and a couple of pieces of hardware. I then turned the unit over and the first thing I noticed was that it was dirty (duh). I removed the four adjusting bolts that held the infeed table onto the jointer. These were actually a large headed bolt with a 1/2 inch hole through the center. This hole is where the second bolt fits. The inner bolt is the one that holds the infeed table onto the body of the jointer and was apparent that this was the locking bolt. The large headed bolt with the hole in the center was the adjusting bolt and caused the adjustment sled to slide up and down an incline. I cleaned it all up, oiled it and put it back together.
Once I learned which bolt was for adjustment and which for locking it my task became easier. I placed the jointer on two sawhorses so that I cold easily see under it. Using a large square I spanned across from the outfeed table to the infeed table. I then moved the depth of cut adjustment until the front of the infeed table was the same as my outfeed table. I then adjusted the two rear adjustment bolts until the infeed table was flat. Note: Just loosen the locking bolt by turning counter clockwise then turn the adjusting nut clockwise to raise the table and counter clockwise to lower it. Next, using a digital setup gauge I adjusted it side to side until it was equal to the outfeed table. I then held the adjusting nut and cinched down the locking bolt. This was fairly easy and on the second try it seemed perfect.
I reassembled the jointer, bolted it to the stand, attached the peripheral equipment (fence, belt, etc.) and checked that the fence was square. I ran a few pieces of wood through the jointer and all was well. Just to double check I put squiggly lines across the width of the board and adjusted the infeed table for a minimal cut. It removed all the squiggly lines with the first pass. I then put a square across the board and it was perfect.
Time from start to finish was 2 1/2 hours not counting the time wasted on my back trying to fix it while on the stand. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone.
First the failure and what I learned from it. I laid down on my back and examined the underside of the jointer and noticed that the outfeed table was solid cast iron with no adjustments. The infeed table had four adjustment bolts and what looked like a locking nut on each. Not knowing which was the locking and which the adjusting I tried a lot of trial and error and was getting nowhere but frustrated.
This is where I made my decision to take the unit off of the stand. I would have done this earlier but I have a dust collection unit fitted under the jointer and so it is a little more complex. In any event I undid the three bolts that hold the unit to the stand and disconnected the DC, motor belt, fence and a couple of pieces of hardware. I then turned the unit over and the first thing I noticed was that it was dirty (duh). I removed the four adjusting bolts that held the infeed table onto the jointer. These were actually a large headed bolt with a 1/2 inch hole through the center. This hole is where the second bolt fits. The inner bolt is the one that holds the infeed table onto the body of the jointer and was apparent that this was the locking bolt. The large headed bolt with the hole in the center was the adjusting bolt and caused the adjustment sled to slide up and down an incline. I cleaned it all up, oiled it and put it back together.
Once I learned which bolt was for adjustment and which for locking it my task became easier. I placed the jointer on two sawhorses so that I cold easily see under it. Using a large square I spanned across from the outfeed table to the infeed table. I then moved the depth of cut adjustment until the front of the infeed table was the same as my outfeed table. I then adjusted the two rear adjustment bolts until the infeed table was flat. Note: Just loosen the locking bolt by turning counter clockwise then turn the adjusting nut clockwise to raise the table and counter clockwise to lower it. Next, using a digital setup gauge I adjusted it side to side until it was equal to the outfeed table. I then held the adjusting nut and cinched down the locking bolt. This was fairly easy and on the second try it seemed perfect.
I reassembled the jointer, bolted it to the stand, attached the peripheral equipment (fence, belt, etc.) and checked that the fence was square. I ran a few pieces of wood through the jointer and all was well. Just to double check I put squiggly lines across the width of the board and adjusted the infeed table for a minimal cut. It removed all the squiggly lines with the first pass. I then put a square across the board and it was perfect.
Time from start to finish was 2 1/2 hours not counting the time wasted on my back trying to fix it while on the stand. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone.