118 - Jointer Setup

Setting up and calibrating a jointer as well as a quick review of several knife-setting jigs.
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  Howto & Style

[Sean Yonts]

Marc, lets say that your in-feed table is not co-planer with the out-feed table, but your knives are in line with the out-feed table and you do a jointing operation. Wouldn't any irregularities in the board be be fixed at the planer when milling stock? Whats your take on that?

[The Wood Whisperer]

Nope. Any irregularities in the surface will simply be copied or made worse at the planer.

[pepegirolas]

I think there is a problem with your infeed table measurings, you can't make a plane with 16,12 at the front edges and 25 in both back edges, that's only possible when there is a twist in the middle, i'm missing something?

[The Wood Whisperer]

most likely a bit of a twist.

[MrBorisKGB]

Marc,

Thank you very much for this video! I have a Craftsman Professional 6" Jointer and was getting horrible results ever since I bought it (used). You were right, I really was starting to think that I was doing something wrong.

Didn't have a "one way" gauge but a $12 dial indicator from Harbor Freight, a Combination square and a c-clamp worked fairly well. The only problem was having to hold the square down to the table since the weight of the c-clamp would topple it. Jointer works great now!

[The Wood Whisperer]

That's the kind of success stories I like to hear!! Thanks for the feedback and glad to hear you are enjoying your new old jointer. :)

[CustomBuiltFurn]

Marc;

One thing you need to add to the narration is the importance of remaining within manufacturer's specs on the maximum elevation of the knives above the cutterhead. This is critical when raising the height of the outfeed table as you advocate in this video. Over time, raising the outfeed table and then setting the knives to this height will result in the knife protruding too far from the cutterhead. In turn, this can cause the knives striking the underside of the outfeed table.

[Paul Stewart]

Marc, great video! I purchased the Oneway Multi Gauge and couldn’t be happier. One of the greatest advantages of this tool I see is not having to spend any time finding TDC (top dead center) of the jointer knives during setup. Because this unit has a larger flat foot at the end of the dial indicator shaft instead of a pointed end all you have to do is place it in the general vicinity of the blade’s TDC and then rock the blade back and forth. Blade height can be checked in seconds accurately.

[Wendy Sullivan]

BTW, a quick warning to other jointer owners. The adjusters for the infeed and outfeed tables on my jointer are secured from going out of adjustment by grub screws. After some frustrating efforts trying to turn the adjusters, I realised that each grub screw has a 2nd grub screw holding it in place so you need to completely remove the top grub screw to loosen the bottom one. Makes the adjustment so much easier :-P

[Wendy Sullivan]

Hi Marc, I have been very frustrated with the unsatisfactory results from my jointer. I had been sold the MLCS 9327 blade setting tool by the shop that sold the jointer I own. I just couldn't get an even setting for the blades. Being my first jointer, I assumed the problem was me. Having watched your video, the Oneway seemed a logical solution. It's not available in Australia so I ordered it from Oneway and having tuned the infeed table and set the blades, everything now is perfect! Rgds Doug

[toastydeath]

I know this is way late to the party, but the jacking forces involved in an over-constrained surface (a 4-point plane) can and will warp a casting more than the twist seen in the video's measurement. The inverse is also true; it can correct warp in a casting within reason.

The only way to actually judge twist in a casting of that size is to take it off the table. From there, you can pick your method of geometric measurement. Two or three different methods for verification isn't uncommon.

[sirgreggins8824]

google: lee valley veritas straight edge. 1st link