Dj20 fence adjustment

[cody michael]

I have a new to me DJ-20 the fence is low on one side high on other, is there an adjustment for this?

[Greg Funk]

I don't see any adjustments on mine. Take a picture of the rear of the fence where it attaches to the adjustment mechanism. On mine the only way for the fence to be crooked like yours would be if the holding bolts were loose.

Edit: If it's new to you, the other thing to confirm is whether the tables are flat and co-planer. I never considered it but you could have coplaner tables that cut perfectly but were not flat and level relative to the base the fence is attached to. My fence is in line with the tables.

[Richard Coers]

They DJ-20 I bought 25 years ago came with a twisted fence. Then Delta was a great company and it was replaced immediately by the dealer.

[Mark Gibney]

I'll have a look at mine when I'm next in the shop. As Greg suggests, take a photo of the "caddy" (I'm sure there's a real name for it) that the fence is attached to.

I got a DJ20 three or four years ago. Like it a lot. I think Grizzly make a clone that might actually have some improved features.

[Bill Dufour]

Thats odd. I think my 8" Delta the bottom of the fence is stepped down for the infeed portion.
Bill D.

[Greg Funk]

Check that the 'caddy' or whatever it's called is level with the tables. It's attached with a couple bolts to the base and there may be some play involved when tightening the bolts
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Also, make sure the fence is attached tightly here:
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[Stephen Roth]

I had the same issue and result.

[Bill Dufour]

I had to use a wire brush on the underside of the slot the back and forth nut rides against. It had light rust and saw dust crud. Meaning the cam lock travel was not enough range to clear the crud and sap and lock down solid all the time.
BillD

[cody michael]

Sorry for the delayed response I wanted to check on it and take some pictures. The fence seems flat/straight. The tables seem flat from what I can tell. All the points seem tight. The caddie thing is level with the table, when I got it the one side was low so it didn't slide right. It was after I made caddie even with the table that I noticed issue. Should I just raise caddie above table height to make.fence even?

[Greg Funk]

Should I just raise caddie above table height to make.fence even?That's what I would do. At the end of the day it makes no difference if the fence is at a slight angle like yours as long as it's square to the tables. Adjusting so you have an even gap between the bottom of the fence and the tables is mainly for aesthetics.

[Jim Morgan]

That's what I would do. At the end of the day it makes no difference if the fence is at a slight angle like yours as long as it's square to the tables. Adjusting so you have an even gap between the bottom of the fence and the tables is mainly for aesthetics.


So long as the tilt of the fence does not interfere with adjusting the infeed table, it is merely aesthetics. On the other hand, if the fence is preventing you from raising the infeed beyond a certain point, you can adjust both tables so that they are coplanar but more even with the bottom of the fence. The infeed and outfeed tables both have four adjustment points, one at each corner. A tricky thing is that there are two setscrews at each adjustment point. Fully remove the upper setscrew, perform the adjustments as need, then reinstall the upper setscrew to lock the adjustment in place.

[glenn bradley]

The carriage support or carriage itself may have been bent or simply misaligned. There are two bolts IIRC that hold the support in place. You can also check the gib (the piece of bar stock on the right side that the carriage rides on to stay aligned) to see that it hasn't been removed or damaged at some point.

[andrew whicker]

That is strange. Without a video, it is hard to tell. I would loosen everything I could think of and remove the things that weren't going to be a total PITA to get back together. Clean all the surfaces and re-bolt it all up. Good excuse to lube things up too.

[cody michael]

I adjusted the carriage, the fence is now level. I don't think it will effect anything. So far this jointer is amazing. Can't believe how much of an improvement over my little x5. Only issue is the dust collection seems to suck (at sucking lol) it got jammed up and stopped working after I used it for a little while. It is connected to my Grizzly 2 hp dust collector so should have plenty of suction.

I covered the tray? To try and get more suction to the head but there is a little 1in (ish) wide slot that just plugged up while I was using it.

[David Stone (CT)]

Only issue is the dust collection seems to suck (at sucking lol) it got jammed up and stopped working after I used it for a little while. It is connected to my Grizzly 2 hp dust collector so should have plenty of suction.

I covered the tray? To try and get more suction to the head but there is a little 1in (ish) wide slot that just plugged up while I was using it.

Even with my dirt simple nothing-to-write-home-about dust collection (old school 1.5 HP single stage collector and flex hose with a tight 180 degree bend in between), the DJ20 doesn't get jammed up with chips. I did enclose the top of the interior dust chute, which it sounds like you've done also. It's been a lot of years, but I don't recall having taken any heroic measures to get the chute enclosure super tight up to the head--and certainly I'd guess there's a gap of an inch or more at that point on mine.

It is definitely true that the DJ20 does not do any sort of a good job ejecting chips on its own and will jam almost immediately when I forget to turn on the collector. So I suppose it could be sensitive to a situation where the available collection capacity falls below a certain point due to length of run and/or someone is making very heavy cuts. But again, my experience suggests the bar for acceptable capacity is pretty low. So I bet with some tweaks and tinkering with the enclosure and maybe the fitting that connects to the system, you will achieve good results with what you have.

[cody michael]

Thanks, I think the main problem is there is a little baffle that makes the space for chips cut in half up under cutter. I have a helical head on order, I may try removing that baffle when I swap the head out. I appreciate your input.