Jointer Setup

[Brant Foltman]

Hello,

I have been struggling to get my jointer dialed in. It is an older harbor freight 6" I purchased from craigslist. There are dovetail slots that the tables slide on. I just sent the jointer knives in to get sharpened, and I am trying to get the tables coplanar before I set the knives. I am going to try to explain my best here. There are three bolts that thread and push against a shim to take up the slack in the slots. I am placing a straight edge on the infeed table which is a hair higher than the outfeed table. I measure the gap between the straight edge and the outfeed table on the far ends of the outfeed table. I have gone back and forth for days now using aluminum foil as shims in the dovetail slots. I am able to get w/in .002" on both sides, but not on all four corners. For example, on one side I have a gap of .006" and .004" - on the other side I have gaps of .012 and .014.

Any advice or tips on this? I know I will not be able to get too precise with a lower quality jointer, but I'd rather get the best setup now and not deal with it again until I can afford a better quality jointer.
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[Andrew Hughes]

That's going to be a tough one.Have you checked the table separately look for twist or take note how flat they are.Write these measurements down on paper so you can see what's happening.
Im sure you have already noticed when you adjust one corner it affects the opposite side.
Thats all I got.
Looks like you have a woodpecker straight edge so that's good.

[larry senen]

i've typed this till i'm blue in the keyboard,,, the tables don't have to be"coplaner" all you need is for the knives to be aligned with the out feed table. it just doesn't matter, try it.

[Matt Day]

the tables don't have to be"coplaner".

That's the first I've ever heard that.

[Frank Pratt]

I just don't agree with that at all. I've been down that road.


i've typed this till i'm blue in the keyboard,,, the tables don't have to be"coplaner" all you need is for the knives to be aligned with the out feed table. it just doesn't matter, try it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Within reason, Larry is right.

The object of a jointer is to put a flat surface on a board. As long as the outfeed table is parallel or coplanar with the blades/bits on the cutting head, the flat surface should be attained.

However, if one side of the infeed table is say, 1/4" lower than the other side of the infeed table, you could waste a lot of wood getting your flat surface.

[Mike Kees]

Hi Brant,i have played with and adjusted two dovetail way jointers. My advice is to first purchase a book called "Care and repair of shop machines" by David White. It is a excellent resource. He describes in great detail how to adjust and shim the beds. On both of my jointers I disassembled them and cleaned the dovetail ways, they were both loaded up with crud . It seems the grease used in the factories collects sawdust and turns hard, gumming up the movement. Anyway after they were clean and reassembled one of the jointers was perfectly flat, the other only required slight shimming to bring it into alignment. Hope this helps,Mike.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Ken...while the "best practice" is absolutely co-planer for both tables and the blades, a slight variation on the infeed side can be tolerated as long as the knives and the outfeed table are perfectly in-sync. The reason for this is that the outfeed table is ultimately what's guiding the material once any initial twists and bows, etc., are knocked off on the first or second pass. I personally would still strive for totally co-planer, however... ;)

[glenn bradley]

You're already fighting it. Most people who know tend to recommend the same basic thing so when you hear one from left field . . .

While perfectly coplaner tables will work faster and remove less stock to achieve the goal, a slightly wonky infeed will not kill you nearly as quick as a non-true outfeed or misaligned knives.

Your tin foil shims will not retain any integrity under the load being presented. Brass shim stock or even a cut-up beer can would fare better. Aligning another dovetail way jointer was one of the things that led me to a parallelogram jointer when I upgraded. I never wanted to go through that again ;-)

I would step back, make sure your outfeed is relatively flat and true, align the outfeed with the cutterhead and then align your knives with the outfeed. Give it a whirl and see if it is good enough. If not, then you can start in on the infeed, aligning it to the outfeed. Given the original level of the machine I would not kill yourself trying to make a silk purse. You should be able to get a reasonably functional machine though.

BTW, your bandsaw's wheels don't have to be coplaner either :D:D:D (<-- read sarcasm)

[Brant Foltman]

Thank you everyone for the advice and insight in to this. It is well appreciated.

[larry senen]

thanks for the confirmation. it comes down to technique, put pressure on the out feed side once you get a couple inches started and keep it there. repeat as needed. works better with the bow side up but you can knock off the "tips" of the other side then flip it over.

[Rick Potter]

There is a nice how to video on the Grizzly site.