Brendon_t Posted August 1, 2015 Report Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) That is the question. my long 50" straightedge finally got here from lee valley and I went straight to the new to me jointer to employ the setup method Marc outlined in the long jointer setup video. 1) both beds are dead nuts flat ( read as can't get a .001 feeler gauge in anywhere)when measuring the 4 corners of the In feed side, I got. .005. .000 .012. .015 now this is an older jointer and I don't think I have the eccentric cam things that Marc does for adjustment so.. I think that means I need to shim the beds. This is my first big boy jointer so yeah, I just don't know. Take a gander at the pics and see if you notice some obscure adjustment mech I just don't know of. These are front and back. if it does indeed need shimmed, any good resources out there before I hit youtube? Edited August 1, 2015 by Brendon_t Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 That is a dovetail way jointer, and yes you will need to shim if you want to adjust. Grizzly has a good video on how to level a DW jointer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks FP, I'm heading there now. I'm having a weird internal debate, the pieces I am face jointing are coming off totally flat.. To mess with it, or not to, that is the next question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rodger. Posted August 2, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) Thanks FP, I'm heading there now. I'm having a weird internal debate, the pieces I am face jointing are coming off totally flat.. To mess with it, or not to, that is the next question.the dril press I just finished "tuning" is still 5 or 6 thou out. This is acceptable and will not effect my woodworking at all. It's easy to get caught up in caliper readings and such, trying to chase down the last few thousandths of an inch. Look at your results and if the boards come out flat and square, then your machine is working properly and doing its job well.while everyone likes a perfect 0000 reading, we are not NASA and our requirements for excellent woodworking need not be so stringent. Edited August 2, 2015 by franklin pug 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Thanks FP, I'm heading there now. I'm having a weird internal debate, the pieces I am face jointing are coming off totally flat.. To mess with it, or not to, that is the next question.Face jointing is generally more forgiving. Edge joint 2 long boards and see how they mate up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Grizz video shows to shim the outfeed side, others show the infeed.. Any pointers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) You rarely move the outfeed table, so shim where there is less chance of screwing it up later. The outfeed table on my 8" jointer hasn't moved since 1975 when I bought it at a school auction and tuned it. They had taken the locking handle off of it, and I never bothered to replace. Edited August 2, 2015 by Tom King Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 Face jointing is generally more forgiving. Edge joint 2 long boards and see how they mate up. well the truth i in the tape. I'm getting a noticeable "belly" on a 6' edge. 2 6' edges just jointed and clamped on one end are tight about 2feet . end gap on the other side about 1/8". Me no likey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted August 2, 2015 Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 I ran into the same predicament after moving from NC to NM last winter. The jointer (Jet JJ-6) arrived out of whack. Almost ruined $500 worth of maple for a new bench before I realized it. I dreaded tearing into it, but steeled myself with some coffee one Sunday morning and went after it. Loosened the gibs on the infeed and took a reading. Dead nuts. Slowly and carefully tightened it all back up, setting the locking nuts as soon as I met any resistance, and it's been fine since. Hopefully yours will be as easy!Moral for me was to proceed very slowly and meticulously - small adjustments can make a big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2015 You rarely move the outfeed table, so shim where there is less chance of screwing it up later. The outfeed table on my 8" jointer hasn't moved since 1975 when I bought it at a school auction and tuned it. They had taken the locking handle off of it, and I never bothered to replace.so by this logic, I'm essentially tweaking the outfeed table in order to align it co-planar with the infeed side table? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 There has got to be a better way to figure out this bed shimming issue. i have spent the last 4 hours shimming and un shimming and measuring and un shimming and measuring and shimming.. I'm chasing my tail and extremely frustrated.. I ended the day loosing all the bolts and tearing all the shims just to have way different measurements than initially measured. this totally sucks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Moore Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Did you take the table off and clean the slides? If not you probably have dirt in the dovetail and it is rocking on that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 There has got to be a better way to figure out this bed shimming issue. i have spent the last 4 hours shimming and un shimming and measuring and un shimming and measuring and shimming.. I'm chasing my tail and extremely frustrated.. I ended the day loosing all the bolts and tearing all the shims just to have way different measurements than initially measured. this totally suckshttp://www.amazon.com/Care-Repair-Shop-Machines-Troubleshooting/dp/156158424X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438602065&sr=8-1&keywords=Care+repair+shop+machines Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 I did not take the tables off. Looks like that's the next step though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwk5017 Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 I did not take the tables off. Looks like that's the next step thoughThis process sounds like my own personal hell. Best of luck to you, I would have drank myself into an irish stupor by now and started using a hammer on things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 This process sounds like my own personal hell. Best of luck to you, I would have drank myself into an irish stupor by now and started using a hammer on things.I've thought about it. I feel this is just paying my dues. I bought this jointer for a STEAL. It was set up decently, but i just had to go and screw around with it. I'm now paying the balance in frustration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 I've thought about it. I feel this is just paying my dues. I bought this jointer for a STEAL. It was set up decently, but i just had to go and screw around with it. I'm now paying the balance in frustration. Sounds from your earlier post that you're getting a convex cut. If that's the case, it may be caused by either your infeed or outfeed table or both being high on the end(s). I would remove the knives and just work on getting the tables coplaner, then insert the knives and set them to the outfeed table. That way, you're only working on one thing at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 3, 2015 Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 I think when I shimmed mine that I bought a couple of sets of feeler gauges and used leaves out of them. I haven't bought any in a long time, but I'm sure they were a lot cheaper back then. I think I used one at a guess, measured the effect, and added some different ones accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 3, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2015 Sounds from your earlier post that you're getting a convex cut. If that's the case, it may be caused by either your infeed or outfeed table or both being high on the end(s). I would remove the knives and just work on getting the tables coplaner, then insert the knives and set them to the outfeed table. That way, you're only working on one thing at a time.micks I have not been regarding the knives really at all at this point. I'm doing exactly that, just working on the beds, I'll set the knives back after I lock the beds down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 4, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2015 Anybody need some petrified sawdust cakes? I tore both of the beds off to find at least 1/16" of hardened, dust impregnated grease on the slides. I'm soaking it in degreaser during football practice. I'll clean them after and start again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 So to conclude here, I figure I should give the rundown for future search function users.when simply shimming didn't work, I tore the beds completely off. Good thing I did because I found two issues. 1) there was an ungodly amount of caked on crap in both the bed runners and the channels. 2) the jib screw that held the blade side of the outfeed bed had been severely over tightened at some point causing it to tear the threads out of the cast iron.cleaning the channels was easy with some break cleaner and a wire brush. After wiping back all the crud, I applied a very thin coat of white lithium grease to the contact areas to smooth the bed movement. Tapping the threads was another issue. I couldn't get at the original hole with my tap so I moved about an inch down, drilled the pilot and threaded to size. After reassembling everything, the beds moved much smoother but were still outside of my personal tolerance. Out came a $4.39 feeler gauge set from harbor freight. Measuring and inserting shims became MUCH easier and more reliable when I could choose the thickness and location of the shim. It only took two 4 corner measurement and shim rounds, ending with (2) .010 shims on the blade side of the outfeed, and a .006 on the far end of the infeed bed. I tried to not shim the infeed but there just wasn't any way around it. Ending measurements are noted below. Before setting the table heights for good..007. .004.010. .007i believe this to be absolutely within tolerance of a hobby woodworker. After resetting the knives for the eight hundred and forty even thousandth time this month, two 6' long 8/4 cherry boards told the tale. Laying the freshly jointed edges against each other, I could only see light at the last 1/2" or so. Snipe be damned.this was a frustrating but I'd say solid learning experience. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strasberry Posted August 5, 2015 Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 My old Delta jointer is in sad need of some tlc, but after your journey I'm not sure I want to get into it! The cutter head is out of balance at the least, and I'm afraid to put a straight edge on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted August 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 My old Delta jointer is in sad need of some tlc, but after your journey I'm not sure I want to get into it! The cutter head is out of balance at the least, and I'm afraid to put a straight edge on it. i would say, if it's cutting flat and accurately giving you 2 flat faces at 90* to each other.. Let it ride, if you've been ignoring questionable performance from it, might be time for an adjustment.the only reason I really tore into this task was because the jointer was new to me. Now that I've got an efficient baseline, I have something to compare future performance to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom King Posted August 5, 2015 Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 You're now a certified jointer tuning expert. Becoming expert at anything usually doesn't come easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick S Posted August 5, 2015 Report Share Posted August 5, 2015 So to conclude here, I figure I should give the rundown for future search function users.when simply shimming didn't work, I tore the beds completely off. Good thing I did because I found two issues. 1) there was an ungodly amount of caked on crap in both the bed runners and the channels. 2) the jib screw that held the blade side of the outfeed bed had been severely over tightened at some point causing it to tear the threads out of the cast iron.cleaning the channels was easy with some break cleaner and a wire brush. After wiping back all the crud, I applied a very thin coat of white lithium grease to the contact areas to smooth the bed movement. Tapping the threads was another issue. I couldn't get at the original hole with my tap so I moved about an inch down, drilled the pilot and threaded to size. After reassembling everything, the beds moved much smoother but were still outside of my personal tolerance. Out came a $4.39 feeler gauge set from harbor freight. Measuring and inserting shims became MUCH easier and more reliable when I could choose the thickness and location of the shim. It only took two 4 corner measurement and shim rounds, ending with (2) .010 shims on the blade side of the outfeed, and a .006 on the far end of the infeed bed. I tried to not shim the infeed but there just wasn't any way around it. Ending measurements are noted below. Before setting the table heights for good..007. .004.010. .007i believe this to be absolutely within tolerance of a hobby woodworker. After resetting the knives for the eight hundred and forty even thousandth time this month, two 6' long 8/4 cherry boards told the tale. Laying the freshly jointed edges against each other, I could only see light at the last 1/2" or so. Snipe be damned.this was a frustrating but I'd say solid learning experience.Sometimes it pays to just dive in. Glad it worked for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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