Jointer Tuning help

[woodwrx]

Hey folks, I haven't tried it yet since I moved, still need to set it up and give it a try. However in my recent house moves, my Delta 6in jointer is giving me fits, I'm guessing I have some table sag and need some adjustments outside my expertise. It was moved set up versus boxed and packed so no doubt it saw some stress. I have reset the blades and fence w/ precision equipment and did all the easy table adjustments but I still get the center of the board edge with less material than the ends.

So I'll give it a try and hope this last move bumped it back in place, pending that failure, I was wondering if there was somebody who considers themselves a Jointer expert who can visit my shop in the Raleigh/Wakeforest area and give me some help.

Thanks in advance, Bryan

 

[LeftyTom]

Paging Dr. Ferone...Dr. Ferone....

 

[adowden]

Bryan,

I am definitely not a jointer expert, but it could be that the infeed and outfeed tables are not exactly parallel to each other. I had the same problem years ago with a grizzly 6" jointer. My ends would touch, but there was an annoying gap in the middle. I shimmed the infeed (I think?) with a piece of folded over sandpaper, and it worked great for years after that. I'm sure there are better shims to use than folded over sandpaper, but I think that could be your problem. If you shim the infeed, that still allows you to adjust the outfeed to change your depth of cut. Good Luck.

AMy

 

[tom hintz]

Before you start adjusting tables please make sure that you go through the basics, including using another board if you have not already. It is actually pretty hard to knock a good jointer out of whack. This could be a good time to take a break and come back to it tomorrow.

It is easy to get the table heights a bit wrong or to be applying pressure in the wrong place when making the cuts. We get lots of questions like this through my site and VERY few really have to do any serious adjusting of the jointer. We see manhy more jointers that are adjusted out of whack than actually needed adjusting in the first place.

 

[DavidF]

Bryan,

I am definitely not a jointer expert, but it could be that the infeed and outfeed tables are not exactly parallel to each other. I had the same problem years ago with a grizzly 6" jointer. My ends would touch, but there was an annoying gap in the middle. I shimmed the infeed (I think?) with a piece of folded over sandpaper, and it worked great for years after that. I'm sure there are better shims to use than folded over sandpaper, but I think that could be your problem. If you shim the infeed, that still allows you to adjust the outfeed to change your depth of cut. Good Luck.

AMy

One normally adjusts the infeed for depth of cut Amy, perhaps you shimmed the outfeed instead.

Sounds as though the blades might be a little high compared with the outfeed table?? or as Tom said, could be a technique?? or a bit of both?

 

[woodwrx]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I haven't yet gone at it, but was simply anticpating the worse since my last experience on trying to get it set up. I will be doing so this weekend as I'm taking on a project and I need to plane the edge of my stock. I did an extensive amount of work on ensuring my knives were at height of the table w/ dial indicator, so I think thats right. I'm going to subscribe to the "pressure on the lumber" philosophy and see how that does. I'll go back w/ the 4 foot level and ensure the infeed and out feed tables are true. I will go back on the dial indicator w/ the outfeed table. I will ensure fence is square.

Will report my findings. If anybody has any other suggestions let me know.

Thanks, bryan