Sam Chambers
06-22-2003, 8:03 PM
Hey, y'all....(standard Southern greeting, adopted by this transplanted Buckeye)
About a year and a half ago, I bought a brand new Powermatic Model 54 jointer. It's not the new 54a with the long bed, but that's OK with me. After assembling the new toy, I quickly realized that it was possessed by a demon, as it liked to turn on all by itself! One quick call to Powermatic and I had a new switch.
Without going into all the details about my lack of shop time since then, suffice it to say that I finally got around to installing the new switch yesterday. It would have been a whole lot easier if the jointer itself weren't on the stand, but nonethless, the switch is replaced and all is well - or so I thought.
When I first assembled the jointer, I had some trouble getting a good square corner. So, I decided to go through the setup process again. An hour or so later, I had reset all the knives and the outfeed table, and set the fence at 90 degrees (according to both my engineer's square and my Starrett combo square) and started doing some test cuts on a length of 2" x 4" pine about 24 inches long.
I first face jointed one side, then placed that side firmly against the fence and jointed the adjacent edge. Checking the cut, I found it was not square. So, I kept adjusting the fence, hoping to sneak up an an accurate 90-degree corner. No dice. It's close, but I can still see light between the wood and the square.
I tried to measure the gap, and here's where it gets interesting. My thinnest feeler gauge is .002", and it wouldn't fit through the gap. But I can still see light.
So, here's my question...Am I being too much of a perfectionist? If the gap is less than .002", should that be good enough, or should I keep futzing around with it?
Another question, while I'm thinking about it. The fence has a slight cup, top to bottom. It's about .008", and Powermatic told me their tolerance is .010". Can I (or should that be "should I") flatten the fence to get rid of the cup? I'd plan on attaching sandpaper to my table saw table and slowly, carefully sand the fence until it was flat, realizing there's a chance I could end up with a worse problem that the one I started with.
Hopefully some of you more experienced folks can give me the benefit of your wisdom on these issues.
About a year and a half ago, I bought a brand new Powermatic Model 54 jointer. It's not the new 54a with the long bed, but that's OK with me. After assembling the new toy, I quickly realized that it was possessed by a demon, as it liked to turn on all by itself! One quick call to Powermatic and I had a new switch.
Without going into all the details about my lack of shop time since then, suffice it to say that I finally got around to installing the new switch yesterday. It would have been a whole lot easier if the jointer itself weren't on the stand, but nonethless, the switch is replaced and all is well - or so I thought.
When I first assembled the jointer, I had some trouble getting a good square corner. So, I decided to go through the setup process again. An hour or so later, I had reset all the knives and the outfeed table, and set the fence at 90 degrees (according to both my engineer's square and my Starrett combo square) and started doing some test cuts on a length of 2" x 4" pine about 24 inches long.
I first face jointed one side, then placed that side firmly against the fence and jointed the adjacent edge. Checking the cut, I found it was not square. So, I kept adjusting the fence, hoping to sneak up an an accurate 90-degree corner. No dice. It's close, but I can still see light between the wood and the square.
I tried to measure the gap, and here's where it gets interesting. My thinnest feeler gauge is .002", and it wouldn't fit through the gap. But I can still see light.
So, here's my question...Am I being too much of a perfectionist? If the gap is less than .002", should that be good enough, or should I keep futzing around with it?
Another question, while I'm thinking about it. The fence has a slight cup, top to bottom. It's about .008", and Powermatic told me their tolerance is .010". Can I (or should that be "should I") flatten the fence to get rid of the cup? I'd plan on attaching sandpaper to my table saw table and slowly, carefully sand the fence until it was flat, realizing there's a chance I could end up with a worse problem that the one I started with.
Hopefully some of you more experienced folks can give me the benefit of your wisdom on these issues.