Carlos I believe he is talking about these types.
http://www.starrett.com/category/job...&sortBy=wp/asc
Carlos I believe he is talking about these types.
http://www.starrett.com/category/job...&sortBy=wp/asc
I use the Lee Valley 36" straight edge
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...40,45313,56676
regards, Rod.
Somewhere I remember reading an article about creating precision straight edges for aligning jointer beds using three pieces of relatively straight wood/MDF/plywood and a handful of drywall screws.
Basically you would put four or six screws into the edges of the boards at the same locations (1" from both ends, 18" from both ends and 30" from both ends - or to suit the lengths of your infeed/outfeed tables). You then take two of the boards, lay them down and touch the screw heads together and adjust them in or out so that they all touch perfectly. Then reverse one of the board end for end and do it again. Then take one of those boards and adjust the third board to the second. Then go and adjust the first board to the third. If you do this three or four times, you can get the screw heads in the same plane within a few thousandths of an inch. It's a similar process to what machinists do to create perfectly straight or flat surfaces by "scraping."
I haven't done this myself and i will try to find the reference and post a link here if I can find it.
Edit: Of course you will need to do this to the three boards each time you adjust the jointer as, unlike metal straight edges, the wood will move!
Last edited by Brian Backner; 05-20-2018 at 10:22 AM.
Here are a couple of long straight edges. I use a Crane 48" one.
http://www.tools4flooring.com/crain-...-ft-p-533.html
http://www.tools4flooring.com/gundla...SABEgLWJ_D_BwE
I needed a 10'-0" long straight edge and the local machinist suggested keystock (https://www.mcmaster.com/#key-stock/=1cxc44p). It turned out to work very well for what I needed to do. I checked it by running my 36" straight edge along its length using feeler gauges to find high or low spots and it was well within what I could measure with feeler gauges.
What's happening that makes you need to tune up the jointer?
There are other issues that can make a jointer cut unsavory shapes, and they can be easier to solve before getting the tables co-planar. For example, if your outfeed table is too high or low, the wood won't be flat. I like 1/2" of snipe. If you bear weight on the infeed table or use a push block at the tail end of a board, you could be forcing the wood to not be flat. One or both tables could be bowed or twisted, or not lined up with the cutterhead evenly.
A machinist told me to use a taught wire tight to the outfeed bed, and shimmed off the infeed end of the infeed bed with the infeed bed lowered. With feeler gauges, you can check the distance between the infeed bed and wire. This is more appropriate on bigger jointers.
Wlliam Hodge
It's because you need to do more than just confirm alignment of infeed table to outfeed table at the cutterhead. You also need to determine if the two tables are in the same plane. A long straightedge will allow you to assess whether the two tables are pitched down towards each other like a valley, or vice versa like a hill. To do this ideally you would want a straightedge long enough to touch the end of each table so you could go with feeler gauges along the straightedge to see if the gap is consistent. The shorter the straightedge, the harder it is to detect the error.
Jointer alignment can be maddening. It's also possible that one table is in the correct plane and the other is "tilting". Less common, it's also possible that they could be out of alignment from back side to operator side, in relation to each other.
Edwin
Well if you really want to get the jointer as close to perfection as possible get a portable Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) like a Faro or Romer Arm and you’ll be able to measure and map the flatness, parallelism, straightness, twist of the tables, and fence plus perpendicularly. Then you can address the out of tolerances and when done verify the corrections. It’ll only cost you $40,000 to $80,000 and you can then go on to check the rest of the machines in the shop.
Now I’ll take my tongue out of my cheek.
Is the powertec straight edge the same as the veritas straight edge?
You have two choices ,pony up for a straight edge or build the 'Master bars' that Alan suggested from John Whites book. I have this book and it is an excellent reference for all the major shop machines. I bought my straightedge before I found the book otherwise I would have tried out this method. Mike.
Peachtree woodworking has a few reasonably priced aluminum straightedges that I use for my jointer.