Jointer Setup and Tolerances I Need Help!!!

[Tom Henry]

OK I really need help here!!! I am setting up my Powermatic 6" long bed jointer and have a couple questions.

1) To what tolerance should the beds be parallel?

2) What to do if the one side is parallel and the other still has a gap?

3) I had the beds parallel to less than .0015" but the gibs were too tight to move the infeed table. Then what?

Am I the only one driving myself crazy to set the tables less than .0015" or should I lower the bar to .002 or .003? AAHHHHH :mad::confused::(

[John Hain]

OK I really need help here!!! I am setting up my Powermatic 6" long bed jointer and have a couple questions.

1) To what tolerance should the beds be parallel?

2) What to do if the one side is parallel and the other still has a gap?

3) I had the beds parallel to less than .0015" but the gibs were too tight to move the infeed table. Then what?

Am I the only one driving myself crazy to set the tables less than .0015" or should I lower the bar to .002 or .003? AAHHHHH :mad::confused::(

Lower the bar. You'll drive yourself nuts.

[Louis Rucci]

I feel your pain.

I have a Powermatic 64A and anytime I touch the gibs everything goes out of whack.

I'm waiting to complete the inside of my workshop when I plan to tackle it again.

My issue is how do I get both tables planer to each other and the knives.

I did find out my knives where NOT ground square at the factory. All three were concave. Checked this with an accurate engineers square.

Friend had a Tormac and sharpened them for me. Presently they're wrapped up till I tackle the alignment again.

I purchased the TS-Aligner and we'll see what that tells me.

[Mike Marcade]

From your Avatar pic I surmise you are too young to be messin' with that jointer. Wait a few years and try again. :D

[Tom Henry]

I need to update that..huh...he is 5 now.

[Mike Cutler]

Tom

Don't drive yourself nuts.

The purpose of the infeed side of the jointer is to support the stock until the material passes onto the outfeed table. Once it's on the outfeed table, as long as the infeed is below the outfeed table, the infeed table is out of the picture as far as the cutting goes.
The outfeed table to cutter head relationship is the more critical element.

[glenn bradley]

This is part of what has steered me to a p-bed jointer. Gibs area a pain. If the jointer isn't to spec out of the box let the manufacturer or dealer handle it. Once set DT ways are fine for quite a while. I prefer to go for the best I can get when it comes to setups. Once I start to drive myself crazy I run a board (face and edge). If the results are within my tolerances, so is the jointer. The real world helps offset to quest for perfect numbers.

[Tom Henry]

Then what does everyone set there jointer up too?

[Jared Cuneo]

.0tillitmakessquareboards :)

JC

[Mike Cutler]

Then what does everyone set there jointer up too?

The truth? I've never worried about it. I have laid a Starrett 6' machine rule along the length of the beds to make sure that they weren't warped, or bowed along the length.

I set the outfeed table a few thou' below the top of the cutting edge, and set the infeed table about 1/64th"-1/32nd" below the height of the outfeed table, and haven't touched it in a few years now.

[Brian Hale]

I got my jointer about 3 years ago and it's seen a lot of use; i've changed knives at least 8 times and twice are with carbide tipped knives. Not once have i checked to see if the tables are in the same plane, just that the knives are a couple thou above the outfeed table. I set them with a 24" steel straight edge and the "tick" method.

Same thing with my 15" planer, never checked anything but the knives.

It's easy to get caught up in precision machine setup and drive yourself bonkers. I suggest you stop where you're at and use it for awhile and see what you think. As long as the knives are parallel with the outfeed table your good to go.

Brian :)

[Dan Barr]

I just set my jointer tables to parallel within .003 and thats more than accurate enough to get nice straight boards for woodworking. as soon as you take the board off the jointer it can change and be out of thos tolerances anyway.

its wood. not metal. :)

v/r

dan

[Gary Keedwell]

The only time I put my straightedge on my jointer is if I can't joint a straight edge on my boards. If my boards are coming out OK...that's good for me.

Gary

[Tom Henry]

True...it's not metal...I guess I am being type A...but I would like to know that I am getting the best result possible out of my machine.

[Brian Dormer]

I just set up a jointer for the first time. Out of the box, I loosened and retighten the "knife hold down screws" (sorry if my terminology is off). I've learned that the factory has an 800 lb gorilla put those type of screws in. If you run the tool for a while - between the screws being initially tight AND the thermal cycling when you run wood..... those screws DO NOT want to come out (on other tools - I've had to drill screws out - not fun). Hence, my "take it out of the box and disassemble" ritual. ANYWAY -

I fiddled around with the printed directions for maybe 3-4 hours trying to get the knives set right - it wasn't going well. Went to Google Video and found an EXCELLENT demo of "how to do it right" done by one of the editors of FWW. Went back at it and had the knives within .002 of each other and the outfeed table in 45 minutes. I called that "good enough" and ran some test pieces - my best precision square says that the wood is coming out flat and square.

[Brian Hale]

True...it's not metal...I guess I am being type A...but I would like to know that I am getting the best result possible out of my machine.

Tom, if that's the route you choose i suggest you loosen up both the infeed and outfeed sides and try to find some middle ground where both sides will still have some adjustment in both directions.

If that's not working, try loosing the main mounting bolts that connect the jointer to the base and put some shim stock under opposite corners and tighten it back up. What you'll be doing is forcing the casting to warp a bit in order to compensate for the lack of adjustment in the ways. Be sure to use an equal amount of shim on each end. I'd start with .002" - .003" and see where that gets you. A little bit goes a long way. Once the beds are right, then set the knives to the outfeed table.

Good luck

Brian :)

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It's been my experience that the out feed table and its relationship to the knives is the place to put your energy.

When you are jointing for square you register of the Fence - AND - the out-feed table

When you are jointing for a flat face you are registering off the out-feed table.

There is no time - that little ol' moi can think of - that the in-feed table establishes a critical relationship to anything other than depth of cut.

That's it. So long as the in-feed table is purdy near, sort of, kind of, maybe, in a marginally sort of uncommitted way co-planar to the out-feed I am happy.

The reason I make this heretical assertion is that the stock is picked up on the out-feed AFTER the knives have done their magic and you then register the work off the freshly cut surface. All of a sudden the in-feed table will be nothing but trouble if you are pushing the stock down firmly against it - - because all the irregularities in the stock are on the in-feed side. And you really want to stock to be reflective of the out-feed side.

So All I do about that in-feed table is to run my indicator around the in-feed table (a few lousy inches) while keeping the indicator base firmly on the out-feed table and if it looks pretty good then I'm happy.

However, the blades don't want to be above the out-feed table by more than half-a-thou. and not beneath it at all.
And the blades all have to be parallel to each other by no less than the same.

Others whom I know will tolerate more run out than I, and they seem to manage to stumble through their lives producing gorgeous & precise woodwork so maybe I'm overly fussy.

[Tom Henry]

This is where I am going to disagree. If you are jointing a face of a board and the infeed table is not co-planer with the outfeed table your board is not going to be flat. Am I wrong??? This is what I read in a few articles...

[Mike Cutler]

This is where I am going to disagree. If you are jointing a face of a board and the infeed table is not co-planer with the outfeed table your board is not going to be flat. Am I wrong??? This is what I read in a few articles...

No you are not wrong. The statement however is not 100% correct. The infeed table can't be really out of whack, or it willl become more difficult to establish the proper relationship between the cutterhead and the outfeed table.
On a face joint operation the infeed table sets up and establishes the "first cut" or reference because no material has yet passed onto the outfeed table as of yet.
Once that material passes onto the outfeed table the pressure is changed. Downward force is applied to the board on the outfeed table,and any downward force on the material on the infeed table needs to be released. You apply enough pressure to keep control though, but the board needs to "float" on the infeed table and pass over the cutterhead.
The closer your jointer beds are to being coplaner, the easier it is to establish this initial relationship.
Somtimes a board will have a slight twist to it causing a rocking motion,and the infeed table can be an aid until there is enough material registered on the outfeed table to proceed as normal.

[Al Willits]

I get mine as close as I can with out machining, my knife's are with in a .001 and the beds are close to the same, I do have about .003 difference in front to back outfeed table height, and I'll correct that to with in .001 this winter, personally I'll spend better part of a day making sure the jointer, planer and Tablesaw are as close as I can get.
But I enjoy making things right.

Some figure if the tool doesn't fall over its close enough, some drag pieces over to the mill, ya just gotta figure where between the two your most comfortable, after all your the one using it.

Al

[Tom Henry]

I get mine as close as I can with out machining, my knife's are with in a .001 and the beds are close to the same, I do have about .003 difference in front to back outfeed table height, and I'll correct that to with in .001 this winter, personally I'll spend better part of a day making sure the jointer, planer and Tablesaw are as close as I can get.
But I enjoy making things right.

Some figure if the tool doesn't fall over its close enough, some drag pieces over to the mill, ya just gotta figure where between the two your most comfortable, after all your the one using it.

Al

I just messed with it again and it is about .002/.003 in now. I had to shim the outfeed table a good bit but it is now in I am going to joint some boards and see what I get.

[Al Willits]

I also think these things have a bit of fine tunning to how you use them, sometimes what works for one won't for someone else.

Like the old timers say, give it a shot and see what happens..:)

Al