Nathan Mitchell
11-29-2020, 1:15 PM
I have had a Jet JJP-8BT planer jointer combo machine for a few years now and for the most part has worked rather well for what I use it for. However, the past few times I have tried to face joint boards I end up with a wedge shaped board along the width. Previously it was while doing small parts and I figured it was my technique causing the problem. It has since happened again on a much bigger board (8" wide x 3' long) and I made sure not to put any pressure down on the board when pushing it through the machine. This caused me to investigate what was going on and from what I can tell when adjusting the infeed table for my depth of cut, it doesn't slide equally on both sides causing the table to turn sideways thus making the gap on one side of the cutter larger than the other by 1/64 or 1/128 or so. Not a huge amount but enough that it adds up pretty quick after a couple of passes.
From my research, I gather most jointers use dovetail slots for the table to slide in; however, this one just has some slots cut in the frame for the table bolts to slide in and when it moves they bind and cause the table to skew. Has anyone who has this machine, or one that has a similar infeed adjustment design, had this problem? If so, how have you fixed it/compensated for it? As of right now the only thing I can think to do is measure the gap on both sides of the table to make sure they are the same, but that is pretty tedious. Unfortunately, I never really face jointed with it much in the past so I can't honestly say if this has always been an issue or if something is messed up and it has just started doing it. It isn't an issue when edge jointing.
Follow on question, does anyone know how the infeed table slides on the Rikon 8" bench top jointer? If I can't get my Jet to perform reliably, I am going to upgrade to a dedicated jointer but not if all bench top jointers are designed the same way. While I would love a full-sized jointer, space is a premium in my shop so that is a no-go.
Thank you.
From my research, I gather most jointers use dovetail slots for the table to slide in; however, this one just has some slots cut in the frame for the table bolts to slide in and when it moves they bind and cause the table to skew. Has anyone who has this machine, or one that has a similar infeed adjustment design, had this problem? If so, how have you fixed it/compensated for it? As of right now the only thing I can think to do is measure the gap on both sides of the table to make sure they are the same, but that is pretty tedious. Unfortunately, I never really face jointed with it much in the past so I can't honestly say if this has always been an issue or if something is messed up and it has just started doing it. It isn't an issue when edge jointing.
Follow on question, does anyone know how the infeed table slides on the Rikon 8" bench top jointer? If I can't get my Jet to perform reliably, I am going to upgrade to a dedicated jointer but not if all bench top jointers are designed the same way. While I would love a full-sized jointer, space is a premium in my shop so that is a no-go.
Thank you.