Fantasizing about hobbyist equipment design

[Brian Runau]

Using my Grizzly straight blade 8" G0586, which I love, I was fantasizing what I could do to it to make it more user friendly/automatic. Found myself changing the thickness of the pass on an individual board to maximize how much thickness I have after flattening one side (I do this every time I use it). But today I would add digital read out of thickness of cut and a servo motor tied into the in feed table to raise and lower the table from a digital input.

Just being lazy and I am sure commercial machines offer this and I certainly wouldn't want to pay the upcharge to get the options... Oh well, I did say I was fantasizing...

Brian

[Aaron Inami]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/industry-applications/woodworking-cabinets/proscale-190-10-basic-lcd-readout-24-cable/

[Warren Lake]

reality the better the machine the easier it is to raise the table. Ive never had an issue with the SCM as the mechanism is such good quality, its smooth and easy. My past Progress stroke sander was brutal, Now an italian power one a joy but in that case it was brutal as it was so hard to do manually.

[Brian Runau]

reality the better the machine the easier it is to raise the table. Ive never had an issue with the SCM as the mechanism is such good quality, its smooth and easy. My past Progress stroke sander was brutal, Now an italian power one a joy but in that case it was brutal as it was so hard to do manually.

It's is still a good machine and adjustment is easy, just fantasizing. Brian

[Brian Runau]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/industry-applications/woodworking-cabinets/proscale-190-10-basic-lcd-readout-24-cable/

Fantasizing about servo motor, ball screws and digital readouts. Brian

[Warren Lake]

Yeah get that just pointing out on some better machines stuff works easier.

Likely helps I have some cars with Roll up windows.

[mike stenson]

This is a jointer, not a thicknesser?

[Edward Weber]

This may sound harsh but seriously?
Make something with it before you pimp it out. Are the hand wheels too difficult? How often do you change table height?
I don't get it, I see no point what so ever.

[John Kananis]

I agree with the others that, meh. I don't think I've ever changed the depth of cut after initial setting (on my jointer). If you want to trick it out, get a power feeder... totally unnecessary for most things but nice to have and less work for you.

[Richard Coers]

Thickness of cut on a jointer is almost never a requirement. You are at the jointer to take out twist, bow, and cupping. Once you obtain that, it's on to different machinery. My only adjustment is for light or heavy cut, not a specific amount.

[Bill Dufour]

Meaningless and useless on a jointer. the top surface just goes for a ride. It is not flat or parallel to anything. There would be no flat surface to measure from. Cut a football in half the long way and tell me how thick it is? Any answer from 0 to about 3 inches is correct.
Use a planer with a dro and a PLC to control the table lift motor.
Bill D

[Brian Runau]

Thickness of cut on a jointer is almost never a requirement. You are at the jointer to take out twist, bow, and cupping. Once you obtain that, it's on to different machinery. My only adjustment is for light or heavy cut, not a specific amount.

That's my fantasizing point. I take a single or two heavier passes then adjust based on what's left to take off. Today I jointed over ten pieces for a project and I was just fantasizing about having a digital keypad and servo to adjust it for me. Taking it a step further, why not make it like alexa, where I can tell it to adjust to a specific thickness and not have to even punch it into the keyboard. Brian

[Rod Sheridan]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/industry-applications/woodworking-cabinets/proscale-190-10-basic-lcd-readout-24-cable/

The Felder Plan51L jointer (20”), has a power drive infeed table with digital height display.

It also has a locking lever under the infeed table so you can make convex, straight or concave workpieces.

I’ve used one, superb machine, and adding a stock feeder to the outfeed table really increases productivity

Regards, Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

I agree with the others that, meh. I don't think I've ever changed the depth of cut after initial setting (on my jointer). If you want to trick it out, get a power feeder... totally unnecessary for most things but nice to have and less work for you.

I change my jointer depth of cut often, deep cut for material that needs a lot of removal, shallow cut for material that doesn’t need a deep cut.

Mine has a lever, simple up/down adjustment to speed up the work

Regards, Rod

[Joe Calhoon]

Most all high end Euro jointers have motorized adjustment of the infeed table. It’s a nice feature and I move mine a lot. A lot of the vintage euro jointers had hydraulic up and down or a simple lever like molders have for infeed adjustment. Some vintage US jointers had large ships wheels for easy adjustment.

[Brian Runau]

Most all high end Euro jointers have motorized adjustment of the infeed table. It’s a nice feature and I move mine a lot. A lot of the vintage euro jointers had hydraulic up and down or a simple lever like molders have for infeed adjustment. Some vintage US jointers had large ships wheels for easy adjustment.

Ta-da! Thanks Joe. Brian

[Jim Becker]

Hah! I have not changed the depth setting on my jointer/thicknesser for the jointer since, oh...2005 or so when I bought it. :) The same old, same old slightly less than 1mm / 1/32" since it came off the trailer.

Note, I'm not saying that an automated depth adjustment is a bad idea. It's interesting, especially for folks who actually do want/need to change the setting frequently, both for functional and creative reasons.

[Joe Calhoon]

Jim, early on I had a SCM combo that was difficult to adjust the height on and it pretty well stayed at 1mm removal and just make a few passes with crooked material. I said I move mine a lot but in reality it probably stays at 1mm 80 percent of the time. I find it’s handy when straightening crooked boards. I do a lot of door beveling and chamfers on the jointer and nice to just go to a depth for door bevels depending on the thickness being beveled. For example a 2 1/4” thick door gets a depth setting of 3 mm to produce a 3 degree bevel on the edge.

[Jared Sankovich]

Some vintage US jointers had large ships wheels for easy adjustment.

My newman is 0.010" per revolution of the "ships wheel"

I also move my infeed height a lot between roughing and finishing/cleanup passes.

[Bernie Kopfer]

As long as we are fantasizing….. I would like a motorized lift/lower mechanism for my bandsaw upper guide.

[Richard Coers]

I adjust my height adjustment all the time too. But an extreme adjustment would be 1/8". Even that adjustment take less than a full rotation of adjustment. By the time I pushed a button, my adjustment would have been made by hand.

[Warren Lake]

seems the last of the machines that need it, the old stroke sander yes it was brutal.

[William Hodge]

I worked in a milling room at a window and door shop. They had an old babbet bearing 20" jointer with a ships wheel height adjustment. It was great for wood that had a lot to remove, it was easy to make a 1/4" pass and go right back to skimming passes. The idea was to make fewer passes, just do it on one.

[James Jayko]

This feels like a solution looking for a problem...

[mike stenson]

Levers are faster and easier than wheels are.. and also, like manual window cranks, one less thing to break. I do adjust my depth of cut regularly, takes less than a second to go from 0 - 4mm and everything in between. My powermatic could do the same thing, because lever.. although the dovetailed tables were harder to move in general.

[Brian Runau]

The Felder Plan51L jointer (20”), has a power drive infeed table with digital height display.

It also has a locking lever under the infeed table so you can make convex, straight or concave workpieces.

I’ve used one, superb machine, and adding a stock feeder to the outfeed table really increases productivity

Regards, Rod

That sounds cool. Brian

[Brian Runau]

As long as we are fantasizing….. I would like a motorized lift/lower mechanism for my bandsaw upper guide.

Thanks for playing along. Brian

[Joe Calhoon]

As long as we are fantasizing….. I would like a motorized lift/lower mechanism for my bandsaw upper guide.

Zimmermann is one Bandsaw manufacturer that has electric lift of the upper guides. Rare to find here and expensive.
My Agazzani 36” band saw had a horrible lifting system with plastic gears that was a bear to use and out of alignment at different heights.
Yet my 20” Hema saw has a beautiful lifting system that is effortless to use and aligns perfectly.

I think in regards to both jointers and bandsaws you will see much variation in the quality and ease of movement with the higher end machines working better as they should be.

[Warren Lake]

its one thing to wind a stroke sander table by hand that has big resistance up 30 inches, much lesser a planer table on a good machine up and down 8" This scm planer has no need for a power table it moves that nicely. A jointer table, are you kidding, we are moving some fraction of an inch.

[Wes Grass]

My ... uh ... 741 ... has a lever adjustment. I make light passes jointing, using a thumb as a guide based on roughly half the twist. Yes, so far at least, I've raised it above the table before getting to the cutterhead.

And I'm a PAB when it comes to the thickness planning aspect of it. A 16th ... excuse me, 1.5mm, and then less sneaking up on the final thickness. Or is it 'inch' decimal? Obviously it's been sitting idle for far too long.

The saw has inch scales ...

Something ... maybe my Fadal VMC, has metric screws but configured in inches for program input ...

??????

!!!!!!

LOL.

Years back, '83?', I was programming wire EDM with an HP pocket calculator and a notebook. A few test cuts, and I decided it left a better finish in 'metric'. Also only required 3 digits right of the decimal...

And now I'm back there with the Fadal ... since my perpetual license of Surfcam no longer is.

A 'useful skill' ... in desperation ...

[Wes Grass]

Euro machines...

It's not a 'jointer', it's a 'surface planer'.

And then you move it to the 'thickness planer'.

[Robert Hazelwood]

The lever on an 8" parallelogram style jointer works fine. ~1/32" is what its set on most of the time but I can quickly bump that up to an 1/8" or whatever and then back down. The little scale next to the infeed table seems accurate enough - not sure what the benefit would be to a DRO there since when jointing you don't have a known exact amount to remove. Maybe you could set depth of cut to .047" but how would you know if that's enough or too much? If you can set it to "about 1/64", "About 1/32" and so on that's all you need, the way I see it. Perhaps it would be useful for rabbeting and oddball tasks, but I can't see it for regular face and edge jointing.

The lever is also very fast. I bet a motorized mechanism would be slower. Not needed on an 8" jointer at least.

What I do have an issue with is the lever on the outfeed table. The lever is fast but not too precise, and on the outfeed table I have no need for speed but I do want precision to 0.001". It's tricky to get right with a lever. A slow handwheel would be a lot nicer.

[Ron Selzer]

its one thing to wind a stroke sander table by hand that has big resistance up 30 inches, much lesser a planer table on a good machine up and down 8" This scm planer has no need for a power table it moves that nicely. A jointer table, are you kidding, we are moving some fraction of an inch.


You convinced me Warren. Have a Woodmaster Stroke "Sander that was given to me. Had to disassemble it to get it in the basement. Have it reassembled, dust collector connected need to extend the electric cord or make a short extension cord. Has a hand crank to move table up and down. Have been debating about cutting the crank, grinding three flats on it and chucking it up in a drill. Now I will cut it before even firing up. I have a Woodmaster 12" planer with same hand crank. This way I can power both up and down and then switch to hand crank for small adjustments while using.
Ron

[Rick Potter]

Like Robert said.

I have a Delta DJ20 8" parallelogram lever jointer. It has a lock for up and down on the infeed table, and it is set for about 1/32 on the shallow cut, and about 3/32 on the deep. I can cycle back an forth in about 5 seconds. I set it that way when new in the 90's and never had reason to change it.

My fantasy is that the table saw would adjust so easy. (Fantasy Alert .... just kidding)

[Warren Lake]

didnt even know they made a stroke sander but see they do. Looks on the light side like the moulder but they still work. Hopefully its not as difficult as the Progress one was to raise.