Fantasizing about hobbyist equipment design

[Brian Runau]

Using my Grizzly straight blade 8" G0586, which I love, I was fantasizing what I could do to it to make it more user friendly/automatic. Found myself changing the thickness of the pass on an individual board to maximize how much thickness I have after flattening one side (I do this every time I use it). But today I would add digital read out of thickness of cut and a servo motor tied into the in feed table to raise and lower the table from a digital input.

Just being lazy and I am sure commercial machines offer this and I certainly wouldn't want to pay the upcharge to get the options... Oh well, I did say I was fantasizing...

Brian

[Aaron Inami]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/in...dout-24-cable/

[Warren Lake]

reality the better the machine the easier it is to raise the table. Ive never had an issue with the SCM as the mechanism is such good quality, its smooth and easy. My past Progress stroke sander was brutal, Now an italian power one a joy but in that case it was brutal as it was so hard to do manually.

[Brian Runau]

reality the better the machine the easier it is to raise the table. Ive never had an issue with the SCM as the mechanism is such good quality, its smooth and easy. My past Progress stroke sander was brutal, Now an italian power one a joy but in that case it was brutal as it was so hard to do manually.

It's is still a good machine and adjustment is easy, just fantasizing. Brian

[Brian Runau]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/in...dout-24-cable/

Fantasizing about servo motor, ball screws and digital readouts. Brian

[Warren Lake]

Yeah get that just pointing out on some better machines stuff works easier.

Likely helps I have some cars with Roll up windows.

[mike stenson]

This is a jointer, not a thicknesser?

[Edward Weber]

This may sound harsh but seriously?
Make something with it before you pimp it out. Are the hand wheels too difficult? How often do you change table height?
I don't get it, I see no point what so ever.

[John Kananis]

I agree with the others that, meh. I don't think I've ever changed the depth of cut after initial setting (on my jointer). If you want to trick it out, get a power feeder... totally unnecessary for most things but nice to have and less work for you.

[Richard Coers]

Thickness of cut on a jointer is almost never a requirement. You are at the jointer to take out twist, bow, and cupping. Once you obtain that, it's on to different machinery. My only adjustment is for light or heavy cut, not a specific amount.

[Bill Dufour]

Meaningless and useless on a jointer. the top surface just goes for a ride. It is not flat or parallel to anything. There would be no flat surface to measure from. Cut a football in half the long way and tell me how thick it is? Any answer from 0 to about 3 inches is correct.
Use a planer with a dro and a PLC to control the table lift motor.
Bill D

[Brian Runau]

Thickness of cut on a jointer is almost never a requirement. You are at the jointer to take out twist, bow, and cupping. Once you obtain that, it's on to different machinery. My only adjustment is for light or heavy cut, not a specific amount.

That's my fantasizing point. I take a single or two heavier passes then adjust based on what's left to take off. Today I jointed over ten pieces for a project and I was just fantasizing about having a digital keypad and servo to adjust it for me. Taking it a step further, why not make it like alexa, where I can tell it to adjust to a specific thickness and not have to even punch it into the keyboard. Brian

[Rod Sheridan]

I don't know of any commercial jointers that have a motorized raise/lower of the infeed table. It just isn't enough movement to justify this.

It might not be worth your while, but you could bolt on a DRO and mount the display up by the power buttons:

https://www.proscale.com/products/in...dout-24-cable/

The Felder Plan51L jointer (20”), has a power drive infeed table with digital height display.

It also has a locking lever under the infeed table so you can make convex, straight or concave workpieces.

I’ve used one, superb machine, and adding a stock feeder to the outfeed table really increases productivity

Regards, Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

I agree with the others that, meh. I don't think I've ever changed the depth of cut after initial setting (on my jointer). If you want to trick it out, get a power feeder... totally unnecessary for most things but nice to have and less work for you.

I change my jointer depth of cut often, deep cut for material that needs a lot of removal, shallow cut for material that doesn’t need a deep cut.

Mine has a lever, simple up/down adjustment to speed up the work

Regards, Rod

[Joe Calhoon]

Most all high end Euro jointers have motorized adjustment of the infeed table. It’s a nice feature and I move mine a lot. A lot of the vintage euro jointers had hydraulic up and down or a simple lever like molders have for infeed adjustment. Some vintage US jointers had large ships wheels for easy adjustment.