Jointer Troubleshooting Question

[Paul Ziegler]

I bought a Grizzly G0490 8" jointer about 2 months ago and have been very pleased with it in general. However, recently I noticed that when I face joint a board it seems to remove more material from the front left side of the boards than the front right side (by front right side I mean the portion closest to the fence). As a result, the board ends up being tapered at the front of the board and if I remove enough material to "unroughen" the right side of the board, it ends up being too thin on the left side.

I don't really want to do any unnecessary adjustments to the infeed or outfeed tables for fear of making things worse. What aspects of the table alignment could be causing this and how should I check it? I haven't changed my technique so I don't think that explains the change in performance (although I'm open to suggestions). Thanks.

[Brett Baldwin]

Have you checked the knives to see if they are protruding higher on the fence side? Also, if the infeed table was tilted down on the fence side of the bed, you'd get that result. Both seem like a strange thing to have developed over time but apparently something has if you didn't have this problem before. Looks like its time to do a thorough tune-up to see what has changed.

[Ed Bamba]

I went through a tune up on my DJ20 a few months ago. It's a painstaking step but it needs to be done. If you have the manual, it should show you how to accomplish this procedure. I had to find the procedure on Delta's web site, but IIRC, Grizz's manual will have it included. You'll need a relaible straight edge and a feeler guage set. Hopefully your machine came with a spanner wrench to adjust the bushings. The first step is to check the alignment of the outfeed bed to the cutter head surface (not to the knife), and make adjustments if neccessary. Then you'll have to align the infeed bed to the outfeed bed. Then you'll need to align the fence to the bed, and lastly the kinves to the outfeed bed.

My machine isn't perfect, but it is close enough. I used a two-foot Stanley aluminum level and an automotive feeler guage set. I do plan on picking up a staight edge from Lee Valley and going back over the machine again. I couldn't turn the adjustment bushings at first until I realized that there are two set screws per hole. I did well enough for my first time, but it did take a few hours to get it done. Hopefully you won't have to go through the entire process. I would check the knives and see if they are equal in height across the cutter head. If they are really out of wack, it should be easily recognizable. Hopefully your knife setting process goes quicker than mine did. This was a first for me; owning, using and adjusting a jointer, which should explain why it took so long to complete the process. HTH

Take care,
Ed

[David Giles]

Maybe one of your knives has slipped slightly. Seems to happen on new equipment sometimes.

Put a dial indicator on your outfeed table. Check each end of your cutterhead surface. They should be about 0.015" below the outfeed table and exactly the same at each end. Devations mean the outfeed table needs adjusting. With a new jointer, this is probably not the problem.

Now find TDC (top dead center) on each knife and check each end. Adjust each knife to be level with the outfeed table and equal at both ends.