Leveling a jointer

[Patrick Kane]

I’m expecting delivery of my 500mm jointer tomorrow, and I’ve read a few times over the years about the importance of leveling the base of wider machines. Since I really only want to move this once, what is a foul proof way of leveling the base? I keep all my heavy machines elevated on wood blocks to allow for a pallet jack to slide under.

[Warren Lake]

im just starting my saw leveling again and one thing was to scrap the shims I was using. For one thing they were large and the floor is uneven so depending on the placement they sat a bit different when they got moved around. Ive now cut shims to about the size of the feet on the machine. Metal are in .019 and Aluminum left over roofing stuff .023. before that I was using laminate and some hard board. I also went to the stabila digital level, the vials are good but antique eyes can read a digial read out easier. I want it bang on this time round.

As im doing this im thinking about vibration feet. I dont want to raise this saw too much more but in the past have had some heavy duty adjustable feet rubber on the bottom, They could be tightened so the machine would not rock or move. Not what im doing but they came to mind.

I temp levelled that jointer and it should not be too hard but the rub is thats if the jointer tables are coplaner. If there is any sag in either table then you are working to that and it would change your level results when its all true.

nother thought is if its the right height for you. sometimes its good to make a machine taller to be more comfortable to work at. Some of my machines are raised raised up at least the thickness of a 2 x 4. I cant remember but think I liked stuff a minimum of 35 1/2 or 3/4", I tried to keep heights fairly consistent.

[Andrew Hughes]

I’m not sure what a 500mm is.
I can share that my jointer was leveled and set without twist from the sashes the beds ride on. Then the tables were adjusted coplane.
Set the machine without any twist is really more important than level. Unless your shops floor is sloped like mine.

[Jamie Buxton]

500 mm?! That's a big jointer. Wouldn't it come with leveling feet? Y'know, feet that screw up or down to get all of them on the floor at the same time.

[Warren Lake]

never seen a machine come with levelling feet

[Bill Dufour]

Level is not a consideration. you only need coplaner. A jointer is short and light weight and leveling will not take out. any twist unlike a lathe. A jointer will not have proper, lathe style, leveling feet and hold down points.
I would just set it level with a carpenters level and call that good enough. No need to spend over $200 on a precision scraped level.
The main thing to watch out for is the common problem of setting the adjusters too high. Get it level then turn each adjuster down the same number of turns until one bottoms then reset them 1/2 turn higher. If you are going to level it wood is not good, use metal pads to spread the weight and prevent seasonal motions.
Bill D.
Bill D

[Rollie Kelly]

Warren, all good advice. In the past, when trying to get multiple tables co-planar, I have found construc

[jim mills]

I prefer 3 points of contact, hence the brilliance of the old 3 toe'd jointers. On a big jointer,a machinists level, along with a good straight edge is really nice to check for twisting of the beds. Get it close enough to get the bubble near center on the level.

[Rollie Kelly]

All good advice.
When I sat my jointer, which has been broken in two twice and put back together by a blind repairman, I had to put Hilti anchors in the floor as jacking and pull points. Fortunately, all machinery comes with anchoring points in the base where the machine was lagged down for shipment. These are excellent jacking points.
While you don't have to pursue the same tolerances, Keith Rucker, Tom Lipton (Oxtoolco), and Brian Block have all posted excellent how to videos on the big video sight.
Warren, having retired from the aluminum industry, I assure you aluminum is a metal.

[glenn bradley]

I level al my stationary machines and actually use some of their surfaces for reference. I do not try to level mobile machines. Just my two cents.

[Patrick Kane]

Perfect, i will check out youtube. I assumed i could lay down three 4x4 oak posts, shim them level, and then be good, but it looks like there is a bit more to it. Im only renting the pallet jack for the day, and i wont have a convenient means of picking the machine up once i return it. Hence why i wanted to ask you all and do it as right as i can the first time.

Is there a real problem with using wood? My floor is so awful that im screwed from the beginning if I need to be concerned about seasonal movement in a climate controlled basement. Parts of my basement floor are a good 2" lower than other parts depending on where the columns are.

Not used to the new interface, and cant figure out where the photo attachment option is. In any case, it is not a three toe base. It is the typical cabinet base seen on machines from the last 30 years, and will ultimately rest on four corners.

[John TenEyck]

For the metrically challenged, 500 mm is nearly 20". That's a big jointer to be sure. I have my 14" MiniMax on a three wheeled mobile base, and am happy for it. The machine has a typical four sided cabinet, but cares not that the mobile base only has three points of contact with the floor. My basement floor isn't flat or level but the machine tables always check flat and coplaner which is all that matters. The cabinet is stiff enough to resist twisting at least within a range that's acceptable to me.

John

[Warren Lake]

four points is fine,

I have machines on 2 x 4's off cuts that have been that way for 35 years of use and fine. The saw was a bitch I did an all nigther on level and start from scratch again. I callibrated the stabila level to be sure and finally was able to get all surfaces to .00. Level was hunting a bit at times. What happens is my floor is ruff and uneven so setting it on the masonite and laminate at first it wasnt sitting well. I cut the shims to the size of the feet on the machine. Id get it almost right put another shim in then other aspects were out or it rocked, when rocked you could not trust your measures. Simple thing but it just wasnt working. yeah on the aluminum not being metal been corrected before, I cut it with some midwest crank head snips those things work excellent. Haviing the two thickness and finer worked much better. .019 and .023 in this case.

With audio in my backgound aspects are wrong, first you want mechanical isolation for the machine so to my mind it should be sitting on some hard rubber isolation system that damps it rather than on concrete. Im going to treat some panels on the machine as well like i used to do on speaker cabinets think metal panels have a sound and I dont want to hear it its minor here. Take my General stuff, thin sheet steel bases they have a sound to them.

Id think some sort of lvelling foot that has rubber on teh bottom then doesnt move at all is ridgid as you pass mateiral and push on the machine. If you do heavier work especially on a jointer you want the biggest heaviest machine you can have. I didnt want to have the machine alot higher did have adjustable feet with rubber on one machine in the past.

On your jointer you wont have points to bolt it down. If you reach inside the base on that machine you will find metal in each corner inside, its not drilled for bolts. The SCM saw inside does have plates in there that are drilled and threaded and easy access to inside. You are just going to shim up your jointer. I would still try and make it level id just level off the outfeed table that would be fine.

If you get into it further and question the set up you can always re level it later. You will need some serious straight edge as you have around 105 inches total of tables there. I have a precision ground straight edge from high grade steel, it originally was a sheer blade before machined. It worked very well on 69"s of table on the SCM but think it would be shy if you really wanted to know on the Griggio. Then you could check the tables seperate first for flat seperately then together reading one off the other and be pretty accurate even if you could not extend major onto each table. I wouldnt worry about that at first. Check your gibs make sure they are tight and fire it up and use it see what is there

John whats metric

[Steve Jenkins]

In 36 years as a custom furniture maker I’ve never put a level on a machine and can’t really see why it would matter as long as it’s not so far out the wood slides off

[Warren Lake]

id rather work on level even for my brain to recognize it. IN this case the slider on the saw is a whole seperate thing to the saw and I was finding set up impossible with too many dynamics. When I know now the saw is dead nuts level then I can set the slider as accurate to that and a hair above. I know that wont be so easy as this bearing system and adjustments is very primitive, then on top it just plain doesnt work well in adjusting upside down little allen screws stuff mushed from past adjustments and and

I was unable to get them to work together at first and the saw was pretty close to level. I tried straight edges and more but still stuff rubbing here and there. Many of my machines are likely not level but I should take the time, the other thing if you have some machines close and at the same table height then level also makes sense if material moves from one to another. Ive had that before where one machine sits 4 feet away and is the support for cross cutting 4 x 8 s stuff like that