Jointer Process Assistance Needed!

[David LaRue]

All,

Just got my 8" jointer and I have been making a mess out of some good boards! :p I need some assistance before I fill my dust collector up with shavings from one board. :eek:

I'm a real nubie at using a jointer, and I think I have the table and knifes adjusted correctly. But I seem to be real good a making a board curved in the middle. Help! How do I correct this board, and quit doing this in the future?

BTW: This board started out as 4s 5/4 piece of maple. I also tried my luck with a rought piece of maple and got similar results.

Dave

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

David
Knives should be level with the outfeed table.
Use two bar magnets - from the outfeed table to hold the knife "up" and tighten the retaining "bolts - "nuts" (whatever)

Initially set the fence at 90 degrees to the outfeed table and the infeed table.

Hold board on infeed table with push sticks (pads) - against fence - and push board though jointer - as (infeed) end board gets near knives - shift hold to outfeed table (board).

Infeed table should be set "no more" than 1/16 inch below outfeed table.
Really 1/32 would be about right.

Well that ought to get you started.
Daniel

[Mac McAtee]

Likey you have a miss alignment between the highth of one or more of the cutterhead blades and the outfeed table.

If your outfeed table is adjustable then do the following.

Take a piece of wood about 2' long that has one edge that you know is flat. Put it on the outfeed table so that about 2" or so hangs over where the cutter head is. With a pencil mark on that piece of wood, where the edge of the table is, that is the opening where the cutter head is, just make a little tick mark. Turn the cutterhead by hand till one blade contacts the piece of wood and watch what happens.

Does the blade lift the wood and move it in the direction you are turning the cutterhead? If it does, then make another tick mark on the wood where the cutterhead sets it down. Move the wood back to the first tick mark. Then turn cutterhead to the next blade in sequince and see if it moves the wood the same distance. Do this will all three or all four blades, depending on the type of cutter head you have. Also do this on both sides of the cutter head. That way you make sure that all blades are adjusted to the same highth on both ends of each blade.

You will confirm that all the blades are the same level or that one or more is different from the other ones. If they are ajusted properly then the wood will move the same distance each time a blade picks it up and moves it. If one blade moves it further or not as far, or if one end of one blade does the same then you need to adjust that blade till you get the same result on all of them

Once that is established then you need to adjust your outfeed table so that it is just a tiny bit lower than the top of the blades. That piece of wood should move about 1" at the most when you turn the cutter head by hand. If it moves furthere than 1" the outfeed table is set too high. If it dosen't move or just barely moves, then you need to lower the out feed till you get about 1" of movement.

If you do not have an ajustable outfeed table then you need to adjust each blade in the cutterhead so you get the same result, about 1" movement of that piece of wood.

That gives you a starting point. Then you run another board across the jointer and check for flatness. If it is still out then you need to check that the infeed and outfeet tables are on the same plane.

You do that with a straight edge. A good 4' level works quite ok for this. Turn the cutterhead so that there is not a blade in the up position. Put the level on the outfeed table, half on it and half extending over the infeed table and get a good light behind the level. Turn your infeed table up or down and look at the gap on each end of the table. It should be uniform all the way the length of the level. If the gap at one end of the infeed table is larger than the gap at the other end then you need to adjust your tables.

If that is necessary you need to look things over and see if you want to change the outfeed table or the infeed table to bring them on to the same plane.

If you have an owners manual for the machine, there should be instructions for that adjustment in it. If you don't you need to get one.

[David LaRue]

Mac & Dan,

Great responses. I have the Yorkcraft 8" (same as Delta's 8" (not DJ8"))
I have the manual. I will go and check the blade height, on each of the three knives. Both tables are ajustable, and I had the outfeed set "exactly" the same height as one blade. I'll report back on my progress.

Thanks again.

David

[Dennis Peacock]

David,

I was getting the same results on one of my jointers at one time. I wrestled with it for quiet a while. I finally went to Lowes and bought me a 4' aluminum straight edge.....a nice piec of 1" angle works good to....

I found out that my infeed and outfeed tables were tilted up at the very end of each of the tables....(end away from the cutters). It wasn't much....about .030" and I finally got them flat and coplanar according to that $8 straight edge.

Results? I have flat and straight boards off the jointer now.

Side to side alignment between the two tables is as important as the end to end alignment.

What Mac and Dan said is right on as well.....sometimes you just have to start "somewhere" and eliminate with it ISN'T before you find out what it IS. ;)

[Brad Schafer]

as a slight aside, what do you think of the Yorkcraft unit?

b

[Mark Singer]

As you run the boards thru apply pressure downward on the infeed but mostly on the outfeed side just past the blades. Make sure your balance is good. This is after you have checked that the 3 blades are at the exact height as the outfeed table. Now that this board is bowed it will rock and be hard to straighten. Take a new piece to make sure it is adjusted correctly. Edge joint ...moving the fence to make sure its is consistent all the way across the 8". The sound of the jointer tells you a lot once you get used to it. Try a 2' to 3' piece until the results are good.

[David LaRue]

Dennis,

I have a couple of long straight edges. As I move the infeed table up the gap between the table and straight edge decreases. As I move it down the gap increases closest to the cutter head, while the staight edge is still in contact with the edge of the infeed side. (See drawing) :mad:

The table seems to be traveling up and down unparallel with the outfeed side. How do you get it to travel in parallel (does it matter if it stays at 1/32" or 1/16"? OR,

Is this what is meant by co-planer? :confused:

How do you fix this? :confused:

David

[Mark Singer]

Your in feed and outfeed tables are not coplaner. There are probably screws to adjust it up since it is new it may be assembled wrong. Remove the table using the instructions...it should be machined to be coplaner. some of the old ones you had to shim with pieces of metal...that should not be the case on a new one. While the infeed adjusts up and down it should remai coplaner

[David LaRue]

Your in feed and outfeed tables are not coplaner. There are probably screws to adjust it up since it is new it may be assembled wrong. Remove the table using the instructions...it should be machined to be coplaner. some of the old ones you had to shim with pieces of metal...that should not be the case on a new one. While the infeed adjusts up and down it should remai coplaner


Mark,

I took the table off on the infeed side. It had a bunch of gunk in the keyway area. After reassemby, the table is now off in the other direction. eek. :( I tired adjusting the gibs, but they do nothing to help with parallelism. If I shim the base of the dovetail way by .016 I can restore co-planer. I didn't find any other way to do this. Any other ideas?

David

[Mark Singer]

I have used tin cans etc....I would contact the Manufacturer on a new one ...it doesn't seem right . My DJ 20 was good right out of the crate.

[David LaRue]

I have used tin cans etc....I would contact the Manufacturer on a new one ...it doesn't seem right . My DJ 20 was good right out of the crate.


Mark,

I ended up shimming the outfeed side .016. I reset up the machine (I'm getting good at this now) (Kind of reminds me of working on old MG's A, B's and Midgets... lot's and lot's of practice fixing those :D )

You are right about getting a new one. I seem to have really bad luck with getting tools that work right the first time (a whole nother thread)
The guard for this one jointer was 1" off the table so wood would slide under the guard. The replacement guard Wilke sent out yesterday was no better.

As far as a new one is concernred, I'm not sure if I can handle getting three guys to load and unload another 8" jointer into my basement. My brother is going to stop answering the phone if I ask him again ! :) I will give Wilke a call on Monday and see what's up.

Thanks again... You all have been a great help. :)

David

[Dennis Peacock]

Mark,
As far as a new one is concernred, I'm not sure if I can handle getting three guys to load and unload another 8" jointer into my basement. My brother is going to stop answering the phone if I ask him again ! :) I will give Wilke a call on Monday and see what's up.

Thanks again... You all have been a great help. :)

David

David,

Get with Wilke and see if you can exchange it for another one. With all the work and tweaking you have done so far to get it corrected and still be off....is not a good sign. One of the key ways could be machined enough different to make it almost impossible to get it corrected.

I seem to have the same problem as you do on new tool purchases and them not being "right" out of the box. :(

[Mark Singer]

Dennis is right...try to get it exchanged. As it gets older you will probably have new problems with this one. The quality control and testing is not that good on many brands. I have had good luck with Jet , Delta and Powermatic. I think the DJ 20 is USA made and so is the PM66 that always seems to help. If you complainand you should you will get another ...have them test it if possible.

[Ron Meadows]

Mark,

The DJ20 has been farmed out to the overseas plants as well. The base and motor are still made here, but the casting sticker on mine says Tiawon (sp).

Oh well, there's always the Unisaw,


Ron

[Steve Roxberg]

I just adjusted, several weeks ago, my Delta unit. This is how I did it, and without shimming. I had previously thought shimming would be required.

1. First loosened the gib screws on the infeed side of the jointer. I then switched one of my Jorgensen Cabinet master clamps to be a spreader, and used it to lift the end of the infeed table up slightly. Then tighten both gib screws and release the clamp. I then ran the table up and down and loosen the screws just enough that the infeed table would move smooth.

2. Now we switch to the outfeed side and do the same thing. Both table are above the knives at this point. Raise the outfeed end and repeat the process, with one exception. The goal on the outfeed table was not to get smooth movement, I rarely move it. But to bring it coplannar with the infeed table. So set your straight edge up with a light behind it, and then loosen either the top or the bottom gib screw based on what is needed. The clamp has now been removed. You are basically locking the tables as high as they can go and then work from there.

To lower the cutter end, loosen the top gib screw. To drop the end of the table, loosen the lower screw.

Make sense? This worked perfect for me on the first time.

[Robert Ducharme]

Thanks for the post and information. I just got my DJ-20 and with the exception of assembling it, have not yet had the opportunity to use it. I plan on taking the information here and really getting it tuned up after I move it to it's working location.

[Mark Singer]

Ron,
Thet must have used a Tiwanese straight edge because mine was aligned great...right out of the box! They can do it!

[Ron Meadows]

My first DJ20 had a big bite, for lack of a better word, out of the outfeed table... a knarled chunk about the size of a golf ball was missing from the outer edge of the table......the second one is still in the shop, but I had the infeed table on it warp by about 0.020" right near the cutterhead. Delta promptly replaced it with a new outfeed table and all is well again. The attached picture shows the gap under the front edge of my Starrett straight edge......

Ron