Ken Platt
03-02-2003, 3:08 PM
Folks -
I've got a new 8" Yorkcraft jointer that I'm finding has a pretty dished infeed table, and I'm wondering if there is any hope of aligning this unit for use.
I actually got the unit a few months ago, assembled it but didn't use it except to see that it ran. The past week I've been trying to joint workpieces,and have been getting very unstraight edges and unflat surfaces. This led to attempting to tune the unit, and in checking the tables for coplanarity I found the dished infeed table.
As far as exact numbers, the infeed table is dished about .018" along it's length, a nice gentle curve from (right)infeed edge to the cutterhead edge. It's a bit worse along the diagonal from rear right corner to front cutterhead corner, dished .022". The other diagonal is a bit better at .016" dish. Across the width the table is pretty straight, a few spots with a few thousanths dishing. So it appears as though my infeed table is, more or less, a piece of the wall of a giant cylinder.
The outfeed table, OTOH, is essentially dead flat. I can get a few spots with .001-.002 deviation from my straightedge but that's it. The reference edge is a Lee Valley 40", said to be accurate w/in +/- .005" total. It's probably better than that, though, as I have a 24" also from LV and the two of them match edges nearly perfectly.
Just to add to my consternation, the fence also appears to have a gentle curve to it, being dished about .014" along it's length, but straight across it's width.
I will be calling Wilke in the morning, but thought I'd post to see what folks thought. I don't even know how to try to align the table with this much dishing - would I align (make coplanar) the right and left edges of the infeed table with the outfeed table? Can anyone offer any alignment strategy to make this geometry allow production of flat edges/surfaces? I know the most important reference surface is the outfeed, but the boards still have to ride on the infeed, and with the dishing, seems like they are essentially having shifting in the angle of the board as it moves over the cutterhead, which would seem to preclude any hope of getting flat stock from this machine - or am I wrong here, and it could be made to work?
Thanks for all thoughts -
Ken
PS I also posted this at WC. I prefer avoiding cross-posting but really needed the broadest possible answers for this problem. My apologies.
I've got a new 8" Yorkcraft jointer that I'm finding has a pretty dished infeed table, and I'm wondering if there is any hope of aligning this unit for use.
I actually got the unit a few months ago, assembled it but didn't use it except to see that it ran. The past week I've been trying to joint workpieces,and have been getting very unstraight edges and unflat surfaces. This led to attempting to tune the unit, and in checking the tables for coplanarity I found the dished infeed table.
As far as exact numbers, the infeed table is dished about .018" along it's length, a nice gentle curve from (right)infeed edge to the cutterhead edge. It's a bit worse along the diagonal from rear right corner to front cutterhead corner, dished .022". The other diagonal is a bit better at .016" dish. Across the width the table is pretty straight, a few spots with a few thousanths dishing. So it appears as though my infeed table is, more or less, a piece of the wall of a giant cylinder.
The outfeed table, OTOH, is essentially dead flat. I can get a few spots with .001-.002 deviation from my straightedge but that's it. The reference edge is a Lee Valley 40", said to be accurate w/in +/- .005" total. It's probably better than that, though, as I have a 24" also from LV and the two of them match edges nearly perfectly.
Just to add to my consternation, the fence also appears to have a gentle curve to it, being dished about .014" along it's length, but straight across it's width.
I will be calling Wilke in the morning, but thought I'd post to see what folks thought. I don't even know how to try to align the table with this much dishing - would I align (make coplanar) the right and left edges of the infeed table with the outfeed table? Can anyone offer any alignment strategy to make this geometry allow production of flat edges/surfaces? I know the most important reference surface is the outfeed, but the boards still have to ride on the infeed, and with the dishing, seems like they are essentially having shifting in the angle of the board as it moves over the cutterhead, which would seem to preclude any hope of getting flat stock from this machine - or am I wrong here, and it could be made to work?
Thanks for all thoughts -
Ken
PS I also posted this at WC. I prefer avoiding cross-posting but really needed the broadest possible answers for this problem. My apologies.