Tune Up Your Jointer

[Music] chunder here the woodworkers journal magazine and the skill builder series on woodshop machine maintenance and today I'm going to talk about tuning up the jointer a machine that might not be as versatile as a table saw or capable of fancy cuts like a shaper or router table but if it wasn't for the joiners ability to create a flat surface or a straightedge on our work pieces those other machines would be pretty much out of business jointer is not a particularly difficult machine to tune up it just requires a certain amount of care and patience in following all the steps necessary to assure that your machine will operate safely and cut true and clean these steps include checking the tables for parallel changing and setting the knives setting the height of the outfeed table adjusting the fence and it's tops and checking the cutter head guard as well as the drive belt in pulleys as always before doing any work on your machine unplug it from power and clear the chips from the joiners dust chute then vacuum any sawdust that's left up inside the machine as well as from around the tools base and tables and cutter head assembly before starting any adjustments clamp the joiners guard in the open position so that it leaves the entire cutter head exposed then reposition the fence so that it's fully clear of the tables to check the joiners tables for parallel take a long straight edge or Carpenters level and set it across both tables now slowly raise the infeed table until it's level with the outfeed the straight edge should sit flat and not rock back and forth if it does it's likely the tables have drooped and are lower at their ends than near the cutter head to see if the tables are lower in the middle then at the ends try to slide the thinnest feeler gauge you have under the straightedge near the cutter head if the straightest checks reveal a problem you can often bring the tables back into parallel by resetting the joiners giba justments crews in preparation for changing and setting the joiners knives remove the motor cover so you have full access to the drive pulley to remove the knives rotate the cutter head so that a knife slot faces directly up then carefully loosen the bolts that secure the knife Gibb and the knife itself in place to lift the knife and give from the cutter head I recommend that you use a powerful magnet and wear work gloves to prevent any accidental cuts from these sharp blades after all the knives have been removed scrub out each head slot with a stiff bristle brush to remove any caked on sawdust and grime then blow the slot clean using compressed air before installing a new set of freshly sharpened knives clean each of the gibs with a solvent or penetrating lubricant and wipe them dry with a rag before inserting the new knives turn the bolts on the gibs so they won't stick out too far and make sure each knife's beveled edge faces the outfeed table and the cupped edge of each GUID faces up now gently turn the bolts until they apply only a slight bit of pressure against the head slot position each knife in the slot so that it extends beyond the edge of the cutter head by only 1/32 of an inch then tighten the get bolts just a little bit more with all the knives in the cutter head it's time to set their height relative to the outfeed table and to each other the trick is to turn the jack screws at each end of the cutter head and raise the knife just a little until it makes contact with a small wood strip laying on the outfeed table once a knife is roughly level with the outfeed table check its height by setting the stick near one end the knife then turning the cutter head by hand and observing how far it drags the stick forward the amount is gauged by fine lines drawn on the stick should be the same at each end of the knife as well as for each knife in the cutter head if it's not tweaked the jack screws until the amount of drag is the same now fully tighten the get bolts until each knife is safely secured start with the bolts closest to the center of the Gib then tighten the ones near the ends unfortunately tightening tends to upset knife height so you'll need to go back and check the knives again with your drag stick and readjust them as necessary it's important to fine-tune the height of the outfeed table after the knives have been changed so that the knives just kissed the edge of a short straight edged board razor lower the table as necessary while turning the cutter head by hand an outfeed table set to high causes snipe at the front end of a jointed board while a too low table will snap the board's back end the next tune-up task is to adjust the joiners fence and angle stop start by bringing the fence in full contact with its ninety degrees stop and checking to see if the fences face is Square to the table if it's not loosen the screws lock nut and back the screw off a little after squaring the fence to the table reset the stop screw and retighten its lock nut to confirm your fence stop setting take a test cut by jointing a wide board then checking its edge with a good try square finally to keep your jointer operating safely make sure it's guard functions properly the guard spring tension should be set so that it springs back fully and quickly after board has passed over the cutter head [Music]

Channel: WoodworkersJournal

Views: 122,409

Rating: 4.8361154 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, jointer, power tool, maintenance, maintain, woodworker, woodworker's journal magazine

Id: oMVP1JGdvuI

Length: 7min 3sec (423 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 18 2011