Shopsmith Jointer not parallel

cerviking . . . I have the same jointer, and although I don’t have that problem, I believe you can still obtain the owner’s manual by contacting Shopsmith.com and providing the Ser. # of your jointer. If manual for yours in no longer available, let me know and I can copy and snail-mail the one I have to you. Pop

-- Drilling holes in wood is a boring job

cerviking pop on over to http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/search.htm Those guys are really knowledgeable and eager to help. They have helped me out countless times.

-- Made in America, with American made tools....Shopsmith

I would call ShopSmith direct. I have a ShopSmith and they have always been great about helping me fix any problems I had.

There are a couple of things you can check. The more likely cause of your boards cupping is that the blades are sharp and/or not set properly. Also using a straight edge up on edge on the out-feed table, with the in-feed table lowered out of the way. I use a blade from a combination square. Set the straight edge on edge at about the 8” point with 4” overhanging the in-feed table. By hand, slowly roll the cutter in normal cutting direction until a blade touches it. Check each end of each blade. If the blade doesn’t touch, it is too low. If it move the straight edge more thatn 3/32” they are too high. The blades should be set so that they barely touch the straight edge and move it about 1/16” to 3/32” at both ends of the blade. That makes the jointer blades around .001 to .002” above the out-feed table which is supposed to be the ideal setting. The wedges have to be just finger tight doing this and final tightening usually moves the blades so there is a lot of trial and error. IT is a time consuming procedure unless you’ve done it way too many times like I have. But, it is worth the effort and the only way, in my experience, to get the blades set correctly. I have tried the Magna-set jigs with little success.

If that doesn’t fix your problem then You can check to see it the tables not parallel is causing the problem. Use a long straight edge setting firmly on the outfeed (fixed) table, turn the cutter head so that is is between blades so the blades are not close to your straight edge. Now raise the in-feed table up to line up with the straight edge. There should be no gap along the length of the table. If there is then the tables are indeed, not in parallel. I had one like that once. I would first remove the in-feed table and clean and check the surfaces where the two tables mate and slide. They should be smooth with no burrs. Then grease and reassemble and check again. It can be fixed by having the surface Blanchard ground by a machine shop. This is usually not very expensive. I think I paid 35.00 (many years ago) but I had the jointer ready by setting the tables set as close to parallel as possible and tightening down the big nut on the in-feed table to lock it in position. I also removed the cutter head so the grinding dust would not ruin the bearings and the shop would not have to worry with the blades. Hope this helps and is not TMI. Skip Campbell

Thanks Skip,

I’ll give this a try.