John,
First of all don’t give up. You will eventually resolve the issue.
Jack’s advice is rock solid. Set the outfeed table slightly lower than the blade tips at their apex and lock the setting there. The reason to do this is because the scallops caused by each blade cut leaves a little protrusion that points downward and the exit table must be lowered slightly to allow the workpiece to slide perfectly along it. I only came to understand this due to Jack’s comment above.
Next, verify that your infeed table is indeed coplaner with the outfeed table. Actually you may have to do this first, before finally setting the final position of the outfeed table.
Imagine that your infeed table were low on the input side(the end farthest from the cutting head). As you start to joint the piece, it will tend to pass the cutters and rise above the outfeed table. Then when you push down on the portion that is above the outfeed table, it will tend to pivot and raise the tail end off the infeed table to a point where the cutters may no longer take a bite. So you can get little or almost no material removed off the tail end. If this were the case, the solution would be to raise the end of the infeed table somewhat.
In my particular case I have noticed a situation similar to yours, where more material is removed on the leading edge. For me this has not been an issue as with 4/4 stock I can still joint one face and have enough material left to easily produce 3/4+ material. But I too want to correct this issue.
Some have claimed that tapering on the jointer is inherent to the tool, but I don’t subscribe to this idea... One workaround I have seen suggested is to alternate feed directions of the workpiece, so that you take more off each end on alternate passes. This may work but does not feel right, at least to me.
Anyway, don’t give up. Take a break and come back to the issue with a fresh mind in a few days. There are many people getting satisfactory results from their jointers, which is proof that you can too.
Edit: In my mind an infeed table that is high on the far end will result in the same issue, but the geometry is different. Solution is the same though, make the infeed table coplaner with the outfeed table.
Bill
Last edited by Bill Space; 05-09-2018 at 10:36 AM.
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