Not an answer to your specific question. If you are glueing up a panel and your jointer fence doesn't hold 90 degrees run one side of the joint against the fence and the other side of the joint away from the fence. This will cancel out any error.
Contributor
Not an answer to your specific question. If you are glueing up a panel and your jointer fence doesn't hold 90 degrees run one side of the joint against the fence and the other side of the joint away from the fence. This will cancel out any error.
Contributor
I've got the Grizzly G0490X, and it's been a very good machine for me. My only complaint was the goofy control panel attachment. I modified mine to remove the arm, and mounted the on/off switch to the side under the bed. This enabled me to put the jointed under a wall bench in the shop, while the panel would stick out.
I've got similar issues with this controls on other Grizzly tools (such as their planers), but it's simple enough to fix, and this is because I have a tight shop where space is at a premium.
[OP]
Member
I hadn’t considered South Bend, don’t know anything about them. Apparently they’ve only been making woodworking machines for a couple of years. Is that a reason for concern? It takes a while to iron out design kinks.
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South Bend as a company was around for about 100+ with a lot of industrial machine tools, but I believe went out of business. Grizzly bought the brand a few years back, and is apparently trying to use it to market upscale versions of their usual products, ala Black and Decker with DeWalt. I have no idea if they're successful or not.Originally Posted by Debbie Battaglia
[OP]
Member
To clarify, the jointer I buy won’t be used heavily, I only make cabinetry for my own home. But that doesn’t mean I want a cheap tool. I want a good quality jointer that will produce square, flat boards, very accurately, and which won’t need me to be tweaking and adjusting it after the initial set up. I’m not mechanically inclined. My current jointer’s fence doesn’t make edges 90• to the face, and that’s what I want. I’m not looking for bells and whistles, just accuracy. If I have to pay more for that I’m happy to.
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All the brands you are considering are decent enough for a homeowner shop. However, given your statements in the post just above this post you need to take a longer look at Powermatic, in my opinion.
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You said that twice now and no one asked why? If the fence is set 90 deg to the table, verified by a square that truly is, then the only other variable is you. A new machine won't suddenly make it all better. If the tables on your current jointer are flat and coplaner, or can be adjusted to be such, I would have another hard look at the fence and why jointed edges aren't coming out square. d
John
Contributor
Or, the square isn't square etc.. but for me I'd assume that chances are technique and pay attention to that.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Contributor
Agreed, and consider the PM 60C. You don't need an insert cutterhead for hobby cabinetry. And I will stir the pot by suggesting that the much more expensive parallelogram jointers offer no real advantages over a wedge bed jointer to hobby woodworkers. Ok, bring it on (but all in fun of course).
Contributor
His edge jointing issue might be specific to his machine. I cant recall ever coming across a Yorkcraft machine in my frequent used tool searches over the years. Jointer fences can be really hit or miss in my experience. Even my 20" euro jointer doesnt have a 10/10 fence. It is OK, and seems to hold its settings well, but it isnt perfectly parallel to the width of the outfeed table. That means if i move it across the face of the jointer, it will ever so slightly be out of square. But, i would encourage the OP to really sit down for 5-10 minutes with his current jointer's fence and see if he can get it dialed in. You will face the same exercise with whatever new machine you purchase.
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I don't have the power feeder on it at the moment but I can get a picture of the plate mounted to the side of the jointer. I can't believe I waited as long as I did to do it.
Contributor
A Powermatic will hold it's resale value better than a Grizzly. South Bend isn't the same company it once was but i believe that Grizzly is keeping it a premium brand to their "Grizzly" line. It's most likely made in the same factory as their other Taiwan made tools (which is the same factory that makes tools for Powermatic. A call to Grizzly could answer the question better than me but I would expect that they spec tighter tolerances and possibly better bearings If the South Bend was the same price as the Powermatic I would go with the Powermatic. But since it's surprisingly not much more than the Grizzly version I would take a chance.
As for if you need a parallelogram vs a cheaper dovetail jointer. I would say it's worth the upgrade. The tables are longer, longer tables makes for a much easier time flattening boards if your skills aren't as good. It's also much easier to set up the jointer. Sorry but you will have to at least check the set it up and occasionally check that the outfeed table is even with the cutter head. It's possible to find a company that will deliver the Powermatic and set it up for you.
I would suggest getting some precision angle blocks. You can buy them cheaply from Amazon or ebay. They are very useful for setting up things like the angle of your fence. They come in a 2 piece set one that has one 90 degree and two 45 degree corners and the other that's 30, 60, and 90 degrees.
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[OP]
Member
More good comments, I appreciate it. I worked for an excellent cabinetmaker for two years and a lot of what I did was square up boards on a 16” SCM jointer. I had no problems there. Maybe someone with better technique could get square boards out of my cheaper home jointer. But the better quality machine made it easy for me to get it right. The square cutters appeal to me because I don’t want to deal with knife changes. As for parallelogram vs dovetailed ways, I keep reading that the // is easier to adjust, but I don’t have any experience with it.
Contributor
Longer tables are only an advantage for jointing longer boards. The OP is building cabinets so long tables are not needed. Also, typical 8" wedgebed jointer table length is plenty long enough for most jobs other than maybe architectural work. Jointer setup is generally only necessary to be performed between zero and one time for a hobby woodworker so ease of table alignment doesn't justify the significant added cost of the parallelogram jointer. Wedgebed jointers aren't actually very difficult to shim anyway, and any jointer that requires frequent realignment should be melted down and turned into razor blades.
I don't know about these two jointers specifically, but if Grizzly and Powermatic machines both look identical.. then they are. There on no 'QC differences' between the brands.
IF they are the same. Sounds like someone above has seen the two machines in this discussion ARE different.
I just wanted to note that I've met an engineer for one of those two companies who actually went to China on the mfg floor as QC and we talked about this stuff over dinner. So I just want to re-iterate... no QC differences.
I also want to say that woodworking equipment is not NASA tech. China can reliably pump out woodworking tools like this with low error rates because they are simple machines and the kinks have mostly been worked out by now. OTH, if you aren't happy with the robust-ness.. well let's all collectively blame capitalism (shaking my fist loud and proud), but don't blame 'China made'. It's casting (simple metals) and straight forward machining after all, not rocket science.
On another note, I rarely (never?) joint long boards with a jointer to finalize the joint. If the crown is bad enough, I will keep flipping the board end to end to get rid of most of the crown on the jointer and then finish w/ the tablesaw - OR - if it is wide enough (5.5" ish) I will use the track saw. Once I have my reference, I either use the TS to finish or use the planer.
Last edited by andrew whicker; 04-04-2022 at 6:12 PM.
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