jointer knife setup

I don’t think it is the cutter head as much as the top edge of the blades that are the most concern. The blades should all be exactly the same height and flush with the surface of the outfeed table as they reach the top of the rotation arc- for typical jointer operations.

Lew

Lew, thanks for your reply. I guess I did not make my question clear. The blades have to extend above the cutterhead some, or there would be no edge exposed for cutting! At the other extreme, 3/8 or 1/2” is probably way too much. My outfeed table is adjustable. If you lay a straight edge on the outfeed table, what should the height above the cutterhead be before you put the blades in. Then when you adjust as you said in your reply, that exposed blade measurement will be the same.

Googled ‘RIGID Tools’ and came up with this – http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Literature-Search
Put in the model number and the manual came up. Check out figures 40, 41. HTH

-- ....next big purchase is wood for the next project, Mark

Sorry, misunderstood exactly what you meant.

Mark’s link shows the mechanics of the replacement/adjustment but I could not find the dimension you were curious about. I guess the best thing would be to measure the distance on the original blades and try to get close to that with the replacement. Of course if the new blades were very different in width- you may have to readjust the “jack Screw” shown in the diagram. On my jointer, the blade is above the wedge about the distance of the ground angle- if that makes sense.

Lew

Mark and Lew, thanks. I went to figure 40. It looks like the knives are inserted in the cutterhead up to the end of the bevel. On my old blades, this measures out to be about 5/32”. I think that I am going to go for 1/8” blade exposure. The manual says make no cuts deeper than 1/8”, which I would never do anyway. I would rather make a 1/32” or less cut, and make several passes.

This is the way I set my router blades.

And it works great, you don’t need any special tools either.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1