Yet another Jointer setup question

[Mike Marcade]

Good evening fellas,

Sometimes I really hate getting new tools because in the setup I get so anal about it being exact I spend waaaay too much time getting it there.

On to my question:

I just got a G0490 Jointer from Grizzly. When I checked the beds to make sure they were parallel, of course they weren't. So ... I went through all of the rigamoroe of adjusting the eccentric bushings to get the beds within .0015" (measured with a Suburban tool 4ft precision tool steel straightedge laid across both beds in several directions and a .0015" feeler will not fit underneath)

I just wanted to get some opinions, is this good enough?

[George Bregar]

Be good enough for me. Frankly, the beds may not be that flat.

[Mike Marcade]

Thanks for the response George. Actually the beds are pretty flat, but the longer infeed bed does tail off a little bit towards the end that doesn't figure into my measurement though, because I only have a 4ft straightedge.

[keith ouellette]

.0015. Thats a very tiny number. I think your descriptive phrase was almost as accurate as your jointer beds are. I have the same machine and love it even though I only have a .002 gage and a 5ft fat max level. Good job.

[George Bregar]

Thanks for the response George. Actually the beds are pretty flat, but the longer infeed bed does tail off a little bit towards the end that doesn't figure into my measurement though, because I only have a 4ft straightedge. Just so uou know I wasn't suggesting that there ws something wrong with the beds...just that your adjustment to parallel will only go so far.

[Bart Leetch]

You know I never went beyond just setting a straight edge down on my 6" jointer bed & just a framing square at that & saw no daylight under it. I did that same for the fence & I've been getting good results ever since then. All on a 1997 Craftsman jointer purchased new.

I see you went all out & purchased a real nice Parallelogram Bed
jointer was it very hard to adjust?


:DAre you a graduate of the Adrian Monk school of anal retention?:eek::):D

[Greg Cole]

Hi Mike,
That "good enough" question is one ya kinda need to answer for yourself.
I spend a wee bit too much time tuning in my jointer this week... once I started I had a hard time telling myself it was close enough. In all honesty, once you get a feel for all the different adjustments and how a very small change can be night & day on what comes off the machine I'll say it's worth it be be a little anal. You will be happier with the machine and you won't have to fiddle with it again for a good while.
I dialed my G0586 in when it was delivered and use a level to align beds and framing square to adjust blade heights etc. Bringing home a good dial indicator from the machine shop at work led me to seeing that my first version of close enough wasn't even in the realm of what "close enough is now". My beds are less than .001 out over the 8+ inches and knife heights are within .0005.:D And that's CLOSE enough for me.
Satisfaction in knowing there's a dead flat face and a 90* edge.

Greg

[Mike Marcade]

Thanks for all the replys guys.

I just couldn't stop myself and took another crack at it today. I got the beds parallel within .001 over the entire length and width and now I'm a happy camper.

I wound up taking all the knives out to readjust also. Pretty much all the adjustments were out of whack on this thing. I was telling my wife they should have just sent me a crate full of parts and just let me put it together myself.

BTW, I can't compare adjusting the beds to that on a dovetailed bed jointer because I have never adjusted one of those. If you just take your time and think about what your doing it isn't too difficult. The most frustrating thing seems when you tighten down the setscrews onto the eccentric bushing, the adjustment moves a tiny bit! :mad:

[Gary Keedwell]

Hey Mike...Your as anal as I am.:rolleyes: Congrats on your new tool. I hope to trade my 6" for an 8" before I retire. Now tell me about your suburban straightedge. Don't think I have heard of that one.
Gary

[Don Stutsman]

I, like most. probably spend too much time 'fiddling' with the alignment of all my tools. As long as they produce a square (or round in the case of a lathe) cut and fit whatever I am building - that should be "good enough". I wonder, does .0015 really matter? Visit almost any professional (read commercial) cabinetry or furniture shop and they won't even know what the tolerances of their tool are or care for that matter. . . as long as things fit well. Not a criticism - just an observation. :)

[Gary Keedwell]

I, like most. probably spend too much time 'fiddling' with the alignment of all my tools. As long as they produce a square (or round in the case of a lathe) cut and fit whatever I am building - that should be "good enough". I wonder, does .0015 really matter? Visit almost any professional (read commercial) cabinetry or furniture shop and they won't even know what the tolerances of their tool are or care for that matter. . . as long as things fit well. Not a criticism - just an observation. :)
Yea...well after they go home..I wouldn't be surprised if the owner didn't go around and check things out after they all go home. Alot of maintenance goes on at nite so they won't have production delays the next day. Don't ask me how I know.;)
Gary

[Mike Marcade]

Hey Gary,

Mcmaster-carr and Dixie Tool Crib both sell Suburban stuff. Straightness specs are .0005" per foot. From Mcmaster is was around 180 bucks, I guess I could have spent 20 bucks more for a Starrett, but the specs were the same so I went for it.

All of Suburban's stuff is made in their facility in Auburn Hills, MI (near Detroit) I liked the 4 footer enough, so I just bought a 2 foot one too.

Heres a link to their site:

http://www.subtool.com/index.shtml

Hey Don,

I hear you, but I just have so much trouble getting out of my engineering mindset and getting into a close-enough mindset. Gimme some time. :D