Jointer Fence Slightly Out of Square

[Gabriel Billings]

I bought a 6" Jet short bed jointer a few weeks ago. I finally got several free hours this last weekend and was able to get it completely set up. As best I can tell, everything is aligned perfectly except for the fence being off just a hair.

The infeed half of the fence is great. Approaching the end of the outfeed side, though, the upper part of the fence is tilted outwards just a hair. With an engineering square flat on the bed, I can just squeeze a piece of paper between the square and the fence, which I understand is around 0.003"-0.004". Is that within the realm of acceptability? Or should I call them up and tell them to send me a new fence?

[David DeCristoforo]

I'll bet a dollar to a donut that half of the replies will be "Yes! That's a disaster! Get a new fence!" and the other half will be like "What...? 3 thousandths??? Makes no difference at all". Actually, with the dollar being worth what it is I better make that ten dollars to a donut....

BTW, I'm in the "don't worry about a couple of thousandths" camp....

[Peter Quinn]

I've seen some beautiful things made on jointers with fences that were out worse than that, and I've seen few jointers whose fences remained dead square over their entire length over their entire life. I'd be most concerned about the square reference where you use it, just before and beyond the cutter head. If that area squares up I'd move on to working wood.

That would be one more vote for don't worry about it, and one vote for double chocolate glazed!

[Paul Simmel]

Know what? It only matters where you put your finger pressure anyway! Just hold the piece against the square part of the fence, and right over the cutter or just a hair past it means you're good to go. I can't remember that last time I put pressure all the way down the fence. Not an issue.

[Kim Spence]

My 8" longbed jointer has about 1/10 degree of twist in the fence according to a Wixey digital angle gauge. I've never had a problem with the results. I'm in the don't worry about it camp.

[Tom Esh]

I wouldn't worry about it. When edge jointing for panels the most important thing you can do is alternate your boards (which side faces fence) so any error is offset.

[David DeCristoforo]

Oooo... I'm losing. Come on, where are all the "precision freaks" when you need them....

[Joe Jensen]

I wouldn't worry about it. When edge jointing for panels the most important thing you can do is alternate your boards (which side faces fence) so any error is offset.

As long as the error isn't too great. If it is, the boards will creep when clamped. I didn't realize that my jointer fence had moved out of square and when I did a glueup I quickly realized the jointer was out...joe

[Tom Esh]

As long as the error isn't too great. If it is, the boards will creep when clamped. I didn't realize that my jointer fence had moved out of square and when I did a glueup I quickly realized the jointer was out...joe

Not sure I follow. Are you talking about a panel glueup without anything to maintain alignment? No way the gods of WW would ever let me off that easy.:)

[Joe Jensen]

Not sure I follow. Are you talking about a panel glueup without anything to maintain alignment? No way the gods of WW would ever let me off that easy.:)

I don't use any joints or biscuits for glue ups. Put some C-Clamps along the joints with plastic blocks on both sides of the clamp. I never had much luck with biscuits holding tight tolerances for clamping. I may try now with the Domino...joe

[Mike Cutler]

Oooo... I'm losing. Come on, where are all the "precision freaks" when you need them....

Okay. We're all of the measuring devices traceable to NIST standards, with QA cert's and pedigree's?:eek:,:p,;)

Gabriel
You won't have a problem. I have the same jointer and my fence is out a little more than that, and has not been an issue. Wood won't maintain it's dimension within that value overnite anyway.;)

[Todd Bin]

I can't believe they sent you a fence 0.003 out. I though machine shops were better than that. Send it back and get a full refund.

That was really for David. I wouldn't want him to lose a dough-nut.

Couldn't you just shim the fence if you thought 0.003 was a big deal. A piece of paper (or playing card) is about 0.004 and tissue paper is about 0.001. or if you want someting a little more substantial (and expensive) you could use a feeler gauge.

ONe last option. You could always take one swipe with the Lie-Nielson No. 95 bronze edge plane. It would square the edge and get rid of all those little planer ridges. I know (gasp) we are talking about a hand tool (gasp).

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I'm in the precision camp here.

However, I will bet you a whole dollar (that's what - an ear of corn ?) that if you (1) verify the measurement of the imperfection of the twist in the fence as .003" to .004" and (2) called Jet and complained. That they would probably offer to replace it (as a good faith gesture) while telling you that the amount of run out you have is well within their manufacturing tolerance specs.

[Jeff Duncan]

OK I'll take a different route completely, you say the infeed side of the fence is perfect (or close enough anyway) and on the outfeed side it's off by .003-.004? Are you sure your outfeed table isn't the real culprit?
I'm guessing your outfeed table is off of being perfectly aligned to your infeed table by about a thousandth of an inch causing your discrepancy.
Not a big deal, I believe, IIRC, the Jet manual gives an overall tolerance of .005 for the tables, still making you well within the limits. If you've established that your jointers tables are flat, then you can take the fence lay it down on one table and you should see any twist if it's there.
As far as replacing it, I agree with Cliff, just remember your dealing with a budget line of imported machines, the next one you get may be worse than the one you have now.
good luck,
JeffD

[Steve Clardy]

I sure wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

[Mike Gabbay]

Sell every tool you have and take up golf! With a fence like that you'll never be able to produce anything! :eek:

David - that will be a Dunkin Doughnut jelly filled please! :D

[Willy James]

If you just bought it then why wouldn't you send it back to Jet and get a new one. My first Jointer was a Jet. The outfeed table dipped about .002" at the end.

I called the store and they said bring it back. They replaced the entire machine.

I think they will make it right for you.

[Chris Padilla]

Junk it and get a whole new jointer. The fence is fine...it is the rest of the jointer! ;)

[Craig Summers]

Here is the manual (slow) way to fix it:

Take a spare block of 5"x5" x 12" aluminum thats milled at a perfect 90 degrees (we all have a few of those laying around the shop).
Attach a piece of 220 or finer paper to the vertical side of the aluminum block. Place the completed block on the outfeed table and push down and rub the block against the area of fence up to 43,000 times, checking for square after every 8 strokes. Stop when you achieve perfection.

It will work, but you'll be eating alot of donuts before your done :cool: and then you won't lose more sleep after this 22 hour operation (thats 12 hours of sanding and 8 hours of checking square, and 2 hours to eat David's donuts)

.02

[Rob Bois]

My jointer has the same problem, although I think the twist is even more. When square at the cutter, the outfeed table is probably about 91 or 92*. I could easily slip probably two playing cards through the gap. This is definitely causing me some problems - I'm about to start face jointing 3" boards for a workbench top, and along the 6' length I'm worried that twist will translate to the faces and I'll have trouble with the lamination. I agree you can help the situation by registering your stock against the part of the fence that is square, but I'm probably going to call the manufacturer to see if I can get a new fence. I like the idea of pulling the fence off and laying it down on the bed to see if there is a noticable twist there, or if somehow the fence adjustment assembly is causing my problem (but I doubt it).

So put me in the camp of "just give me a completely flat fence, I shouldn't have to deal with compensating for poor machining".

[Bill White]

can expand or contract because of relative humidity. I can sneeze on a board and cause .003 change in dimensions.
FUGGETABOUTIT.
Bill...ACHOO! ('scuse me)

[Bill White]

Here is the manual (slow) way to fix it:

Take a spare block of 5"x5" x 12" aluminum thats milled at a perfect 90 degrees (we all have a few of those laying around the shop).
Attach a piece of 220 or finer paper to the vertical side of the aluminum block. Place the completed block on the outfeed table and push down and rub the block against the area of fence up to 43,000 times, checking for square after every 8 strokes. Stop when you achieve perfection.

It will work, but you'll be eating alot of donuts before your done :cool: and then you won't lose more sleep after this 22 hour operation (thats 12 hours of sanding and 8 hours of checking square, and 2 hours to eat David's donuts)

.02


Now I know where "vegetarian" originated..
Bill

[Larry Browning]

OK I'll take a different route completely, you say the infeed side of the fence is perfect (or close enough anyway) and on the outfeed side it's off by .003-.004? Are you sure your outfeed table isn't the real culprit?
JeffD
Jeff,
I did not interpret his post this way at all.
He said:"The infeed half of the fence is great. Approaching the end of the outfeed side....." To me this says that close to the cutter head of the outfeed is fine, but as he moves the square away for the cutter head on the outfeed side, the fence begins to twist away for the square, until it is about .003-.004 at the end of the fence. There can only be 2 causes of this. either the fence is twisted or the table is.
However, I have to agree with others, this doesn't sound to me like it is anythig to worry about. Why not run a few boards through the thing and see if they are square?

[Brent Smith]

Hi Gabriel,

The dimensions on your lumber are going to change that much between the infeed and the outfeed tables just through your shop climate. Don't worry about it!!!!

[Peter Quadarella]

That is a very tiny amount. Do you even have a ruler that can see 1/333rd or 1/250th of an inch? Picture the 1/64" spaces cut into 5 smaller spaces each. We are talking small. If you have a metric rule, this is roughly .08 mm. Yes, the millimeter space divided into 12 smaller spaces.

I wouldn't worry about it.

[Curt Harms]

Norm Abram, but if it were me I'd face joint, edge joint and plane some (not too expensive but stable) stock. Hold two pieces edge to edge and check for gaps on either end. Clamp several narrow pieces up like a panel. Use very little clamping pressure. If the resulting panel was flat, not twisted and there were no gaps I'd not worry too much about it. The proof is indeed in the pudding (or panel;)). My thinking on doing a panel is that you should have cumulative error though some may be offsetting. In other words, you might have 12 or more jointed edges butted up against one another. If there's no noticeable problem with that many edges next to one another, quit fussin' and make somethin':D.

Curt

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Curt although I returned a fence for tiny casting flaw (it was brand new, why should I have to deal with it?). If the tool works OK for you, no problem. I would face joint two board at least 5 - 6" wide. Reference the jointed face against the fence and edge joint them. Hold the edges together and see if it looks OK for a table in the middle of your dining room; if it does, you're good. If not, send it back.

[Bruce Benjamin]

I had the same problem with my Sunhill 8" jointer fence only it was twisted a lot more than yours. I don't remember the exact amount but it was probably close to 1/8" over the length of the fence. I never did try it to see if it would work or not. I just called them and I had a new one in about 3 days. Of course the new one was a slightly different color and was for a slightly different model so one of the holes didn't line up.:mad: But That metal is really soft and easy to drill so I just marked the new hole, drilled and counter bored it. I also just couldn't live with that color being off just enough to be noticeable so instead of trying to match the Sunhill blue I just painted it black. The drilling, painting, and installing took me a couple of hours including drying time and it's been dead straight ever since. I'm sure they would've sent me another fence but I just wanted to get it installed and be done with it.

Now the only problem I have is deciding what to do with that old warped fence. It's been sitting in the corner or my shop ever since then and I just can't bring myself to throw it out. There MUST be some practical use for it, (I don't have a boat) where the warp won't be an issue but I haven't found it yet.:rolleyes:;)

Bruce

[Wilbur Pan]

Oooo... I'm losing. Come on, where are all the "precision freaks" when you need them....

This is what I do with edge jointing.

For larger pieces of wood, I run it over the power jointer first, using the fence.

Then I go over it again with a hand plane, that I know I can set to a 0.001-0.002" shaving.

Since I know I'll be hand planing the edge, I don't worry so much about how exact the fence is.

Does that count as a vote in the precision freak category? ;)