Setting up an old Jet 20" four post planer

[Steven Wayne]

I bought an Jet 20" planer 4-5 years ago with the intention of getting it setup for my hobby wood working. I have a rather well equipped wood shop for my custom upholstery business. When I have time, I enjoy making boxes, furniture and such. A few years ago I installed a Byrd Shelix head. Since then I've tried to feed a board or two and something wasn't quite right. I have a small box I want to make for a Christmas gift, so I got to sorting out the planer adjustments. After doing some reading I ordered Grizzly's Rotacator. It was the tool I needed to get things going. I now have the infeed roller at 0.040 below dead center and the outfeed at 0.020 below. It's feeding much better. I also ordered an infeed and outfeed table from Grizzly to replace the single rollers the planer came with. I expected a bit of work ahead of me because the bed casting doesn't have the needed holes.

One of the tables got here a couple days ago. After I had the first mounting hole drilled and tapped I realized the bed casting vertical wasn't a right angle to the bed.

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The angle measured right about 3 degrees. This morning I made a 3 degree shim out of 1/8" sheet aluminum on my router. I used a "shield" that is common in interior/car audio fabrication. I set the shield to 3 degrees, at attached the aluminum to a sacrificial piece of 1/4" acrylic and that to the shield. I use Kent Automotive's blue tape. This stuff isn't affected by WD-40 (which I use as a lubricant) and it doesn't let go.

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I raised the flush trim bit 3/16" at a time as I started to cut the angle.

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This method works well and creates a very nice finish. This is the completed shim:

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I bought a 50" straight edge from Taylor Tool on Amazon. They advertise 0.003" over 50". Good enough to get this table adjusted. I think it turned out well. All told I'm still under half of what a new planer would have cost.

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I have no idea why my photos are rotated 90, or how to fix.. [edit] fixed.

[Steven Wayne]

Finished the dust collection connection this morning. Planer is working really well. I am not seeing any snipe. I have the bed rollers set to ~0.002" above the bed and that seems to be the recommended setting.

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This is fresh out of the planer. Ready for a last minute xmas gift.

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[Kim Gibbens]

I have an older Jet 15" that has the crappy one roller infeed/outfeed tables, and would love to have ones like you put on. Do you by chance have a link or description to help me navigate the Grizzly site to find them? You set up looks nice. I have a problem with snipe so it doesn't get used like it should, thinking these might help some.

[Steven Wayne]

I dialed the snipe out before I installed the infeed table for the last time. Grizzyly has a great video on how to adjust these four post planers. I used Grizzly's Rotocator and am very happy with it. I tried the Bob Vaughn video that is often linked in these conversations and never got it dialed in. My indicator mounts never turned out right. The other thing I did was buy a 50" precision straight edge (Taylor Toolworks on Amazon for about $50).

As far as the tables go, my planer's bed is not tapped for these. If your's isn't you'll need to be prepared to handle this - accurately locate and tap the holes (easy with a transfer punch set), and make an alignment shim or something similar. To find the tables, I went to the parts list for Grizzly's current 20" planers of similar design to mine. I ordered two different tables because they only had one of each in stock. I also bought the adjustment set screws from Grizzly so I didn't have to source them locally. I had mounting hardware on hand. I have one more table to mount along with a Wixey DRO.

Grizzly has a parts list link on each product's web page and you can get the part number from there. They call them "extension wing" in the parts lists I used.

[Steven Wayne]

Cleaned the bed. I use a 3" velcro disc in my right angle drill to hold onto grey scotchbrite with WD-40 as a lubricant/cleaner. This has worked well for me for years on cast iron surfaces.

Degrease with Acrysol and apply Top Coat. Works great and the surfaces is super smooth and slippery.

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[Steven Wayne]

The second extension wing arrived today. The first one (green, already installed) is for the 1033X planer. Shipping weight was 26 lbs, shipped in a cardboard box, in a cardboard box. Second (white in color) is for the G0454. Shipping weight was 52 pounds, shipped in a cardboard box, in a wood box, in a cardboard box. Both are nice parts. The second cost about $30 more. Grizzly's shipping prices for these was super low. All in all, very nice upgrade. I hope to have time to get the second installed soon, along with the Wixey DRO.

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