00101 Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Is there a cheaper alternative to the $80 straight edge used in the jointer video? I set mine up a while ago with a hardware store level (exactly what I wasn't supposed to do), and notice that I cannot seem to get my fence square to both tables simultaneously. I really don't want to—nor have the money to—drop $80 on a ruler I'm going to use once maybe twice. I've already spent an extra $150 on junk to set up the jointer and cannot really push it that much higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brice_Arnold Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 Without knowing the "correct" way to do this here is what I would do..... First the fundamental theory... Your joiner knifes are typically referenced off of a surface. Whatever surface these knifes are referenced from is the same surface that your fence should be referenced from. It's critical that everything that is important has the same reference/datum. For me, when I set my joiner knifes I reference them off the out-feed table. I make sure they are parallel and in the same plane as this surface. Based on this I also set my fence so that it is dead square to the out-feed table. I don't really care about the in-feed table when I am joining work pieces that are ultimately referenced off of the fence. If the knifes are parallel to the out-feed table and the fence is square to the outfeed table then it would stand to reason that the fence is sqaure to the joiner knifes which are doing the cutting. So, if you run a piece of wood through the joiner that is referenced off the fence then is stands to reason that the knifes will produce a cut that is square to that surface that is riding along the fence. The straight edge will tell you if your fence is cupped, bowed, etc....but in reality I don't think there is much you can do about it if it does have flaws (short of sending it out to be ground flat). The straight edge will also tell you whether or not the in-feed and out-feed are parallel which is somewhat important but again I don't know if there is much you can do to adjust for this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 15, 2011 Report Share Posted September 15, 2011 There's a thread in this forum where kpetten describes how to use piano wire as a substitute for the straight edge. If it were me, I'd see if I could borrow one. As you say, why buy something that you are going to use once every few years; that's a perfect situation to borrow it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00101 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 There's a thread in this forum where kpetten describes how to use piano wire as a substitute for the straight edge. If it were me, I'd see if I could borrow one. As you say, why buy something that you are going to use once every few years; that's a perfect situation to borrow it. I don't really know anyone in my area who does woodworking, so that eliminates borrowing it, and I'm not sure if the piano wire would really work. From reading the first several posts there, it seems like it would have a couple of problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 I don't really know anyone in my area who does woodworking, so that eliminates borrowing it, Any machine shops? Maybe in a high school or trade school? The university I work at has several machine shops. Actually, that sort of accuracy isn't needed for woodworking. It's a machinists tool, but woodworking machinery needs to b set up using machinists tools, not woodworking tools. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00101 Posted September 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 There's one for sure, I had them make some rails for my table saw. I don't really know anyone there, so I'd feel a little awkward asking to borrow something like that. My school might have one, I have a pretty good relationship with the metals teacher so he might let me borrow one if I asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Where are you located, roughly? Maybe there's someone nearby who'd be willing to help you out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00101 Posted September 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 I'm in the fox valley in Wisconsin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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