Mike Davis tunes up another jointer

[Tim Sherwood]

I just installed a shelix head in a 60 year old Rockwell 8" jointer. I spent the next two weeks loosing the battle to shim it into submission. Sometimes you just need a fresh approach to a problem. So I called Mike Davis for help. In an hour and a half, he had it cutting nicely.
Thanks Mike.

We started by removing all the shims I had been swapping around. Then he alligned the infeed table with the cutters, instead of the outfeed.
Then he shimmed the outfeed table co-planer with the infeed and set the depth versus the outfeed. It's still a fussy process but the results were great.

 

[Leonard]

Good to hear you found a solution. I just happened to buy a new JET, 12" jointer/planer (took me three days to get it off the double high skids by myself) but I've been wondering about how I will be adjusting the in/out-feed tables. I saw a U-tube video where the owner said he used a Starrett 4' straight edge. $450 yikes! So I'm wondering what kind of straightedge tool, if any, Mike used. Let me know if you can please. I suspect a new 4' Stanley level wouldn't be accurate enough.

 

[Mike Davis]

I have a six foot Starrett straight edge but we used a Veritas knock off that Tim bought off Amazon. You need at least a four foot but you are right the level is not adequate. Partly because it is so wide/thick you can’t easily see light under it.

 

[Tim Sherwood]

The 50" aluminum straight edge was $80 on Amazon. I believe Lee Valley has one that looks the same.

 

[Dee2]

I just installed a shelix head in a 60 year old Rockwell 8" jointer. I spent the next two weeks loosing the battle to shim it into submission. Sometimes you just need a fresh approach to a problem. So I called Mike Davis for help. In an hour and a half, he had it cutting nicely.
Thanks Mike.

We started by removing all the shims I had been swapping around. Then he alligned the infeed table with the cutters, instead of the outfeed.
Then he shimmed the outfeed table co-planer with the infeed and set the depth versus the outfeed. It's still a fussy process but the results were great.

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