Jointer accessory

[Ron Bible]

I just purchased an 8" jointer. I would like to buy (if available) some kind of spring loaded...roller mechanism to hold the board/material down on the exit bed of the jointer....so that you don't need to stand over it to keep pressure on the piece to get an even cut. This would enable a person to work more from the entry end of the jointer. If anyone knows of anything available on the market, please put on forum or e-mail me at:
ronbo@toast.net
I just recently registered and I think this is a nice website.
Thanks, Ron B.

[J.R. Rutter]

I use a power feeder - the deluxe version of what you describe. It really helps for long, heavy boards. All wheels run on the outfeed table. There are some good posts on this in the archive.

Maybe you could rig some "board buddies" to do the job, but I don't know if they have enough tension to actually hold a long board down.

[Homer Faucett]

Ron,

I posted a similar question a little over a year ago here, and I had some comments that this is not a good idea. I still don't understand why this is not a good idea.

It probably won't work for holding a board to the outfeed table when edge jointing, but you can use magnetic featherboards to do just that when face jointing. You can use the magnetic featherboards to hold the piece tight to the 90 degree fence.

Here is one example of a magnetic featherboard: http://www.grip-tite.com/

[Dan Forman]

Not sure just what you are doing, but if you don't need the board full length, such as for a bed or something, it's best to cut to rough length before jointing. This will not only eliminate the need for such a device, but for bow and twist, much less wood will need to be removed to flatten your stock than would be necessary from a longer board milled full lenghth.

Dan

[Ron Bible]

J.R. Rutter mentioned "power feeders" for my 8" yorkcraft jointer. Can anyone recommend a very good model for this machine. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. Ron B.

[Al Willits]

I have the 8" York jointer and am a newbie also, I found having the tables and cutter adjusted correctly was extremely important in making straight cuts, also where your hands are and what kind of pressure you apply makes a difference too.
I was getting boards that became wedges after a few cuts and lowered the out feed table a hair, just enough so a straight edge would hit the top of the blade and that seems to help.
Bit of a learning curve on these things, good luck :)

Al

[Rick Lizek]

J.R. Rutter mentioned "power feeders" for my 8" yorkcraft jointer. Can anyone recommend a very good model for this machine. All suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. Ron B.

Why do you want a power feed on your jointer???. For best results proper hand feeding is the best. You don't get the proper control with a power feed and will lose a consderable amount of stock unless it's already pretty flat and at that point you could probably just send it through the planer. In the industrial world of woodworking the power fed jointer is called a facer and the power feed unit is a metal chain of sorts with spring loaded fingers.

A power feed on a jointer is a compromise on speed and quality. If the boards are really twisted hand feeding is the only way to get the best yield. This is the answer for Homer on why the power feed is not a good idea. It's frustrating when someone says it's wrong but doesn't say why it's a bad idea.

If one were to go with a power feed I wopuldn't worry so much about the brand although Maggi is the worlds top feeder maker, a Grizzly would do fine as well. I've typically used a three wheel 1 hp over 30 years for all feeder applications so I'm specualting at least 1/2 hp would be best. Possiblly a Comatic baby feeder would do the job on a small jointer like an 8". Putting an angle steel support on the table to hold the feeder is one way to go. I've doen this with one whele on the infeed table and two on the outfeed as well as all three wheels on the outfeed table. There's not always one right answer to many situations. Whatever works!

[Jim Becker]

The compromise with a power feeder or other device that exerts "pressure" on a board is that you don't necessarily want pressure above the minimum necessary to keep the board flat. These devices don't afford you the best situation for that reason. You do not want to distort the board in any way or you will not be shaving off the "high spots"...which is the whole point of face jointing to get a board flat. If you are starting with incredibly good material, you can get away with such a system, but for many boards, hand feeding is the only way to go, IMHO. It's a "feel" skill that just needs to be learned with practice.

One other thing. Other than skimming the surface of a longer board to "see what you got", laying out components on your material and cutting down to smaller, still oversize, pieces avoids a lot of the discomforts that jointing brings no matter what size jointer you are working with. Don't work with long boards when you don't have to. ;)