sheperd80 Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 After months of debating budget jointers, discussing them here and browsing craigslist i stumbled across a deal. Powermatic 54a, 6" with long beds, not too shabby for $400! It doesnt have the quick-set knives but i plan to throw a helix on here eventually so i can live with that. Now for my issue... . I cleaned and waxed everything and got to inspecting the setup. My infeed table is reading almost 3 thou high at the far end. Perhaps its the outfeed thats high, hard to say which is off. With the infeed all the way up i get a tiny gap on the infeed side of the cutter, but the travel limit is adjustable too so thats not necessarily concrete evidence that the problem is on the outfeed side. The manual doesnt really describe any way of adjusting this. Only that you can reduce sag with the gib screws. I checked them and they seemed properly adjusted (no play in the tables at all, and the infeed height adjusts smoothly enough). . Im not one to lose sleep over 3 thou if that is good enough for proper jointing. The discrepancy stays consistent at any given infeed height. I ran a few test boards and found i was tapering them consistently. The leading end gets cut deeper and if i run the piece several times it will stop cutting the tail end all together. Starting with a parallel piece i created a taper of about 10 thou over 3 feet in 5 passes. A 16" board yielded similar results. The jointed surface is nice and flat with no snipe whatsoever. . My outfeed table is set so that a straight edge across it barely contacts the cutters. I can hear it touch them as I slide the straight edge but it doesnt move them. . My technique is to start feeding with light pressure on the infeed side then focus on the outfeed as i come across and for the rest of the pass, keeping one hand just past the cutter. . This is my first jointer so any guidance would be appreciated. Is my outfeed height a little off? Is that 3 thou enough to cause a taper? Technique? Live with it? . Thanks. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Just wondering, did you check to see if the original owner may have erroneously put some shims in that may have raised the right end of the infeed to much. I don't know anything about Powermatic but I know on some makes this is a suggestion for leveling tables. By the way, great find. Congratulations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jussi Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 I got the same Jointer on craigslist as well. Mine had the quickset knives and the replacement cost was about half of what I paid for the jointer so I splurged and got a helical head and absolutely have no regrets. The infeed table will always be a lower than the outfeed so it doesn't really matter that it can't be adjusted to be flush with the outfeed table. The important thing is that they're in the same plane. So if you take a straight edge and span it from the out feed table to infeed table, the gap between the straight edge and infeed should be consistent through out the infeed. The tables on the jointer are long though so I doubt you have a straight edge long enough to span the entire distance. So put most of it on the infeed side. You may already know this but just in case Marc did a video on this and his video does a much better job explaining it. Hopefully they're not off by much because afaik there's really no easy way of calibrating them without shimming it. Some of the more expensive models have something built in. I believe Marc's 8" version has built in cams for such an adjustment but I'm pretty sure the 54a does not. Luckily mine was only a few though low on the back end and I didn't have to do any adjustments. While theoretically the tdc of the knives should be dead flat with the outfeed table I found having the knives a few thou higher works better. I had the same results as you with my older Ridgid when I set them to be exactly the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheperd80 Posted January 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Just wondering, did you check to see if the original owner may have erroneously put some shims in that may have raised the right end of the infeed to much. I don't know anything about Powermatic but I know on some makes this is a suggestion for leveling tables. By the way, great find. Congratulations Thanks chet. Nope no existing shims. I guess thats what im gonna have to do is shim the outfeed all the way around and get it perfect. No big deal though. For the price i cant complain about a little adjusting. The machine runs smooth and cuts nicely so im quite pleased. Theres nothing like a deep tune-up to familiarize you with a tool!! Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk I got the same Jointer on craigslist as well. Mine had the quickset knives and the replacement cost was about half of what I paid for the jointer so I splurged and got a helical head and absolutely have no regrets. The infeed table will always be a lower than the outfeed so it doesn't really matter that it can't be adjusted to be flush with the outfeed table. The important thing is that they're in the same plane. So if you take a straight edge and span it from the out feed table to infeed table, the gap between the straight edge and infeed should be consistent through out the infeed. The tables on the jointer are long though so I doubt you have a straight edge long enough to span the entire distance. So put most of it on the infeed side. You may already know this but just in case Marc did a video on this and his video does a much better job explaining it. Hopefully they're not off by much because afaik there's really no easy way of calibrating them without shimming it. Some of the more expensive models have something built in. I believe Marc's 8" version has built in cams for such an adjustment but I'm pretty sure the 54a does not. Luckily mine was only a few though low on the back end and I didn't have to do any adjustments. While theoretically the tdc of the knives should be dead flat with the outfeed table I found having the knives a few thou higher works better. I had the same results as you with my older Ridgid when I set them to be exactly the same. Some leveling cams sure would be nice. But instead there are only the gibs which can be loosened to allow for shimming the tables. Thanks for the feedback. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janello Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 2 hours ago, sheperd80 said: The leading end gets cut deeper and if i run the piece several times it will stop cutting the tail end all together. This is the concerning part. Assuming your technique is on par, this isn't acceptable. Definitely invest in a nice long strait edge to find the culprit. I have the same unit, and never really had to set the tables up. But mine does not do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Fixing an outfeed table that is high on the end isn't that hard and I had to do that to mine. Get some shim stock or use a pop can and place one on the front and back at the top. Moving it up and down will change the amount it pushes the table down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheperd80 Posted February 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 I did some shimming on the outfeed last night and now i have just one corner near the cutter that is 1 thou low. I may go back and get rid of it but for now its probably good enough. . I am still getting a slight taper, though not as dramatic as before. After some googling it sounds like this is a natural tendency of jointers and isnt a big deal. Im just wondering if you all experience this as well. My edges are coming out flat and square and the taper is pretty minute, and easily dealt with at the planer and tablesaw. . Anyone have a setup that doesnt taper at all? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 6" General Int. jointer. No taper at all. Both tables were coplanar from the factory. Blades are flush with the outfeed table. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brendon_t Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 If you're jointing flat, I'd be done. 1 thou is well within my tolerance for error. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estesbubba Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 1 hour ago, sheperd80 said: I did some shimming on the outfeed last night and now i have just one corner near the cutter that is 1 thou low. I may go back and get rid of it but for now its probably good enough. . I am still getting a slight taper, though not as dramatic as before. After some googling it sounds like this is a natural tendency of jointers and isnt a big deal. Im just wondering if you all experience this as well. My edges are coming out flat and square and the taper is pretty minute, and easily dealt with at the planer and tablesaw. . Anyone have a setup that doesnt taper at all? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk You're done. Close this thread and go make some sawdust. Trying to get that last thou will probably knock somewhere else out of whack 11 thou. On the taper if you keep jointing a board it will make a wedge. Grab a board the length of your infeed table, put some pencil marks on the face, and joint until gone. Place the board on the infeed table and if it lies flat you're good. Calipers and feeler gauges are good but sometimes we believe in them too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 Just rethinking my comment about no taper at all. I should say none that I've ever noticed. Once all the cup or twist or other crookedness is gone, I stop jointing. Getting that far has never caused any taper that I could see So ya, like the others said, if you can get 1 face flat, you're good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheperd80 Posted February 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2016 Alright thanks for all the input everyone. Ive got a biggish project starting soon and want to start off on the right foot. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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