Jointer Problem

[Jason Victory]

Hey guys I am having problems edge jointing lumber on my delta x5 jointer. No matter what I do it won't edge joint a board, it will always leave about a 16th to a 32nd of an inch gap without clamping it. I can clamp most gaps closed but never like to force the wood in glue ups.

So when I put pressure on the infeed table, it takes stock the whole way; unless theres a pretty serious bow. And when I put pressure on the outfeed table it will take stock off the first half of the board.

Now when looking at the stock as it passes through...

When I put pressure on the infeed its flat all the way on the outfeed, all the way through. When I put pressure on the outfeed, theres whatever gap i have the jointer set to from the board to the infeed (1/32 or 1/16) after the board is about halfway through.

They tables seem pretty dang parallel. Can someone help me with this? Thanks guys

[Andrew Hughes]

Try lowering your outfeed table a very small amount .002-.003. Use a dial indicator so you can keep track. If you get snipe on the end of a pass it means your outfeed is too low.

[glenn bradley]

So when I put pressure on the infeed table, it takes stock the whole way; unless theres a pretty serious bow. And when I put pressure on the outfeed table it will take stock off the first half of the board.

I'm not quite getting this. Things that can cause an arch to be jointed into your board could be (but not limited to):

- The board is longer than the tables and you are not providing external support that is even with the tables (fouled feed path).
- One or both of the tables are not co-planer (also a fouled feed path. A long straight edge can show this or eliminate it as a suspect).
- Technique. It doesn't seem like it should be possible but, eh way you handle the material as it passes over the cutterhead can influence the cut.

Typical method for me is to have the material well supported by the infeed table or by the infeed table and additional external support if the stock is longer than the infeed table.
Apply downward and forward pressure on the material (on the infeed side) guiding the first few inches past the cutterhead.
Apply pressure to the material on the outfeed side pressing the newly jointed surface onto the outfeed table as a reference surface.
Continue to apply pressure down and forward on the outfeed side basically dragging the un-jointed material across the cutterhead onto the outfeed table surface.

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There are subtle variations based on material condition, weight and so forth. The focus being that once part of the material is jointed, the outfeed table and that jointed surface reference each other to assure a valid feed path.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I think your technique is the problem. You want to put more pressure on the outfeed side, plus you may be putting enough pressure after the cutterhead that you tilting the rear half up.

[Wayne Lomman]

What Andrew says. If that doesn't work, try the other alternatives. Cheers

[Mel Fulks]

I think Andrew 's way is what I would try first. The out feed table adjustment gets to be wrong ....through no action of its
own . As the knives dull (lose height thru wear) they leave more wood. And that wood bumps into the table then rides onto it. One and a half thousandths is all it takes to start ,and like everything ,it gets even worse. It's a difficult adjustment on most of the smaller machines.

[Barry Block]

I'm with Glen on this. Your tables would have to be pretty far out to be getting a 1/16 bow and you said they were pretty dang coplanar. It sounds as though your putting to much pressure on the infeed table. You should not be attempting to flatten the board on the infeed table. You should be allowing the board to ride on the bottom point of the board where it is contacting the infeed table and feeding it into the cutter. Once the cutter has started cutting material away from the board and is now riding on the outfeed table you are good to apply pressure to the board on the outfeed table and essentially pull the board across the rest of the way.

[Mel Fulks]

Many of us here were taught the tecnique of raising the outfeed table just a hair to intentially make a "sprung " (slightly open in the middle) glue joint. "It's a good thing" when it's intended ......but vexing when caused by dulling or knicked knife. If you see any sign on your board of a knife nick move the fence to a spot with no nick. If that does not help your problem will persist until outfeed table is adjusted.

[Jason Victory]

Thanks guys, to be honest...unfortunately; it may very well be operator error. I'll give it a shot again tomorrow with some of your tips!

[Matt Day]

They tables seem pretty dang parallel.

Does that mean they appear by eye to be parallel or is each corner within 3-4 thou of being coplaner ? How are you measuring this?

The Woodwhisperer has a good video on setting up a jointer.

Technique will only get you so far if your jointer isn’t setup properly to begin with.

[Jeff Heath]

As stated, there are a number of issues that could be going wrong. If I were you, I wouldn't jump around and try to randomly fix a bunch of different potential issues without knowing what the problem is.

Jointers are pretty simple devices, and so is their setup. They may seem complicated when you're doing it for the first time, but believe me, a few simple tools will help you greatly with setting up all your woodworking tools. It really is necessary, in my opinion, if you're going to be working with power tools, to know how they should be set up and tuned, and once a year, or so, depending on use, to go through a maintenance regimen that keeps them running accurately and smoothly.

You are going to want a dial indicator that measures in thousandth's.....that's .001 increments. It also is a huge help to have a few different bases to put an indicator in for setting your jointer knives and planer knives on a cutterhead. Here's the one I use

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It is shown with the base for round cutterheads, but also has a base for spanning infeed and outfeed rollers, etc....on planers.

You want to verify that your tables are coplaner with each other. The outfeed table needs to be coplaner with the cutterhead, as well. That way, when you set your knives to all have a TDC (top dead center) of cutting arc to all be within a few thousandths of each other, you will know that your outfeed table will not "twist" the lumber you are trying to joint as it feeds out.

You also want to make sure that your outfeed table is set at the same height as TDC of your knives. From your description, it sounds like your outfeed table is a little too high, causing the timber to lift as you progress, which is making the timber lose contact and be above TDC of the cutting knives.

Once you get familiar with checking these settings, you will quickly learn how easy and smart it is to periodically go through your machine (all of them, actually) and give them a quick maintenance tune up to ensure good service. Like any mechanical device we own, from cars to furnaces in our homes, routine maintenance and tuning goes a long way towards enhancing your usage, and also prevents major malfunctions that are costly from occurring.

[glenn bradley]

This image is actually meant to demonstrate grain direction but, it gives a good idea of the purpose of the infeed versus the outfeed table's function. Picture the material's surface that is past the cutterhead as your new 'material' references surface. This freshly cut surface pressed against the outfeed table defines your feed path.

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