Jointer Fence

[Jerry Thompson]

I have an older Rockwell/Delta 37-315 jointer. The fence will not completely square to the tables. I can square to the infeed but not the outfeed and vise versa. My straight edge shows a high spot in the middle of the fence about .019. The high spot is toward the bottom of the fence.
I have been advised repeatedly to have a machine shop true it up. I have been to three and have called two and they cannot do it. I took it to a saw shop that grinds huge paper cutting blades and they can't put a magnent to it to hold it.
It seems that it would be an large task to hand lap it and I am not sure what the results would be.
Any advice will be appreciated.
Jerry

[keith ouellette]

I know you have a high spot on the fence but are you sure that is all the problem. One of the tables may be tilted.

Put the fence flat against the table, maybe your table saw and see if its twisted. I once had one that was. I sent it back and it was replaced. The new was was very flat but I had the same problem you described. It was the tables.

If it is the tables you are going to have to shim it unless you have a parallel table.

If it isn't the table you may be able to fasten an mdf fence to the main fence and use shims. Maybe even drill holes in the jointer fence and epoxy in threaded inserts.

[Chris Bruno]

Hi Jerry,

You should try to find a machine repair shop - which are different than a machine shop. Machine repair shops generally have the capability of grinding large machine surfaces. Not sure where you are located, but I know a fellow here in MA that could at the very least give you better guidance if not do it himself.

-Chris