Jointer set-up

[Brad Swanson]

I'm preparing to use a Griz 8" jointer I purchased some 18 months ago (ugh). Anyway, once I got the fence as square to the table as possible, I first face jointed a 7.5" wide piece of maple then edge jointed it with the jointed face against the fence. I tested the milled wood for squareness down the length of the board, and it was square the entire length. Is there any reason to go through the process of aligning the tables if this test checks-out? THanks.

Brad

[Eric Shapin]

What was the length of the stock that you jointed? A sufficiently short stock may give you a false "A OK", is it is to simple for downward pressure to be placed almost completely on the outboard table, with little influence from the infeed. Try to joint a board whose length is equal to the combined length of your jointer tables, and see how that goes.

[Art Mann]

I don't understand your description. Are you saying you checked that the edge of the board is square with the flat surface? If that is what you mean then I'm afraid it won't tell you much since the edge is quite narrow. You might get a fair measurement if you got a length of 6 X 6 post and check that after squaring up adjacent sides. The other thing I would do is get 2 test pieces that are 6 or 8 feet long. flatten and joint them as you did before. Then put the pieces edge to edge and check with a feeler gauge to see if there is any space between the two edged pieces. That will tell you a lot about how the machine is cutting.

You really need a true precision straight edge and feeler gauge to do any kind of alignment if you think it is required. That is where I always start when checking infeed and outfeed tables for coplanarity.

[glenn bradley]

You often read the advice that 'if the result is OK, you're good'. This is true to a point. Eric is on target with his question about stock length. If the board was long enough to reflect any irregularity in the tables (as long as the infeed table is probably adequate) and the perpendicular edge was wide enough to give you a decent reading (wider the better I would guess), I would go with it.

There have been at least a half a dozen threads where someone has started adjusting their jointer needlessly only to get themselves in a pickle. Another thing I might do if I did not have tools for alignment checking might be to joint two faces and perpendicular edges, set the faces on a known flat surface and touch the edges together looking for irregularity -and/or- joint four sets of perpendicular edges and hold them together, again, looking for irregularity.

[Brad Swanson]

Stock that was tested was about 5' long (5/4 soft maple). When I fist did the test, the edge was clearly not square. I then remembered I had to move the fence a bit to accommodate the nearly full 8" width due to the width of the stock being milled. I forgot to check for square after moving the fence and Sure enough, it was not square. After squaring it up and re jointing the edge, the board was square.

My concern echoes Glen's comment, that Imwill wind-up doing more harm than good if trying to dial the tables in even further. I have the Veritas aluminum 3' straight edge and will test for coplanarity, I just don't want to tweak things if I don't have to. All input is sincerely appreciated.

[Steve Jenkins]

Square is one thing straight is another. Take two boards about the same length as the one you jointed and joint them then place them edge to edge and see if they are straight

[Myk Rian]

Too many people get OCD about their machines.
Set it to where it cuts good, and leave it.

[Erik Loza]

Too many people get OCD about their machines.
Set it to where it cuts good, and leave it.

+1 ^^^^

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Kent A Bathurst]

Too many people get OCD about their machines.
Set it to where it cuts good, and leave it.

Heh-heh-heh. :D :D

Myk never wastes words, eh? And, as per, he is on-target.