Jointer Not Flattening Boards: Need Help!

You said your tables are almost dead on. Do you mean they are both the same heighth? If so the outfeed table should be level with your cutter and the infeed table should be lower by the amount of wood you want to take off. And then of course your pressure needs to remain on the outfeed table.

Could it be that the knives are set too high? There must be an easy way to check this. What method did you use to set the knife height? I’m a big fan of the ruler method, since I’ve never had any luck with the magnetic solutions.

0.008” isn’t alot, but depending upon the depth of cut, it could be enough to cause these issues.

I scored a 3”x3” piece of square aluminun tubing from the scrap bin at my workplace. I used this a bits of paper to setup my joiner. It also works great for flattening plane bottoms. You are very luck to have access to a veritas 52” straightedge.

-- - You begin thinking less, and feeling more.

Are the boards warped or cupped? A jointer won’t do much good with warped boards. At least I haven’t had any luck with them. You can build a sled to get them through the planer.
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

I use the same about of pressure on the outfeed as i do the infeed table. I wouldn’t think that you’d need to put more pressure on one side or the other. Maybe the outfeed table just needs adjusting.
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

One more thought…..? How does the jointer do with edge jointing?
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

Shannon I would check the height of the knives as WispWoods suggested. This method works well for me in adjusting their height.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Here is a site that discusses jointer set up and proper hand placement.
http://www.newwoodworker.com/usejntr.html

I had that same problem with my Grizzly G0586. It seems when you take it out of the crate, you tend to lift it by the tables, lifting them, and cocking them on the ends. And with the way set screws tightened from the factory, they stay that way. I had to shim my outfeed table at the front of the table, near the cutterhead, because it was high at the end. So far it’s held up with that only adjustment. Mine was also only off a few thousanths. Hope this helps!!

-- Matt, Houston Texas

Thanks everyone. After fiddling for a while in the shop I think there are two issues that taken individually are not that big of a deal. Added together I am getting a bigger problem. Definately the tables are not coplanar as my feeler gauge tells me. Also I think my blades are too low. Since they need to be sharpened anyway, I will fix that part. Any tips for bringing the tables into alignment. I assume I need to loosen the gib screws and shim them. Anyone ever done this? Matt, can you go into more detail on your shimming process?

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

I consider this the definitive way to set your jointer knives to the same height.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2983839096587014177&hl=en

This is a common problem with joiners. There are many tools out there for setting your knives on your joiner. The previous video is excellent on how to set the knives.

Once set though you have to have the outfeed table match the height of the cut. Noiw you can set the height of the knives to the outfeed table. If you are cutting any depth, the tables should not be at the same height. In any case you want to set the knives with respect to the outfeed table.

If your outfeed table is too high, then it wont cut at the end (like you described) If it is to low it will drop when you are at the end of your part as it goes through the joiner. It will put a “divot” in the part when it drops.

But with all this aside the best way to flatten stock in short dimensions is to do it with a table mounted router and a fence. The fence is set a distance that is about the width that you are going to router (you just take a little off like your joiner). The fence can be something real straight like a bar of aluminum and it can be clamped to the table if your table does not have a fence.

This will parellel the other side of the part you are routering.

Cheers,

Ben

Shannon,

I was instructed by the Grizzly Tech to lift both tables above the cutterhead. Then lay a straight edge across both tables, making sure to bottom it out on the infeed side, in order to determine if the outfeed table is angled down at the end, or up at the end. Once you determine the amount out of co-planer, make a shim exactly half that amount, and install it in the table ways. You will install the shim so that it is visible to you where the table meets the cast iron base that it attached to. You’ll shim it on both sides of the table, on each side of the ways.

-- Matt, Houston Texas

Are the boards warped or cupped? A jointer won’t do much good with warped boards. At least I haven’t had any luck with them. You can build a sled to get them through the planer.
- JJ

That’s what a jopinter is designed to do…take the warp out of boards! The sled is a option for people with larger planers than jointers and too much time on their hands.

-- Whatever!

I don’t know rick….. I’ve never been able to get a flat edge on a board using the jointer if it’s warped and twisted. You would have to feed the board through the jointer perfectly every time with pressure on just the right spots. If you are able to do it, more power to you. I have a sled and a DW735, and trust me, I don’t have too much time on my hands. Nor do I need you to tell me that. Chill out man.
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

I’ve never heard anyone say a jointer won’t deal with warped and twisted boards in 35 years of professioanl woodworking. That’s exactly what a jointer was designed to do!!! Perhaps there’s a place you caqn get lessons on technique or try spending 8 hours a day for several weeks doing exactly that. As simple as a jointer appears it’s not so easy. I find the paddles are useless for control and production. You just hold the board at an even averaqge position in regards to warp and run it through. The first pass establishes the flats and typically we call it skip facing to establish a reference face to plane it.

Like I said I’ve never heard such a statement from anyone regarding jointers? “A jointer won’t do much good with warped boards.” c

-- Whatever!

I also did not know much about jointers till I joined this website.Seems like I come here to learn and share with fellow woodworkers.Guess If we knew everything about woodworking nobody would be here.I enjoy this site because you dont have to be professional.

-- eric post, tallahassee FL

http://eberhardt.bz/GME_Wood_Land/GME_Woodworking_Stuff/0_Techniques_Information/Tech/7_Flating_Stock_On_Jointer.pdf
Facing boards on a jointer. Some things are best learned from a class but a jointer is truly designed to flatten and edge joint boards and isn’t the easiest thing to learn from forums or books.

-- Whatever!

Thanks for the information Rick.
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

Flattening a board is easy when the machine is set up. Take out cups, take out twists. You just need to hold the board a couple of times and then it will have a flat spot on two places that will make it easier to get it through every time after that.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I wanted to post an update. I shimmed the infeed table with a business card and was able to get the tables co-planar. I then removed, sharpened, and re-aligned the knives using the Jointer Pal. The jointer cuts like a dream now. Obviously it has been out of whack since the day I bought it because it has never been so easy to flatten a board before. I’m kicking myself now for not doing this earlier.

As a side note, I filmed the entire process and will be making a podcast of it in the near future. I’ll post the link to it here once I have it up and running. Thanks for everyone’s help!

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

You should shim the outfeed table, not the infeed table, as you rarely move the outfeed table compared to the infeed table. A cheap feeler gauge is a better choice than a business card as the paper wil compress. I have a pack of brass shimstock from Enco as I fix machines professionally but it’s around $40 and a cheap feeler gauge can be bought for around $5 from your local auto store. A straight edge about 2/3’s the overall length of the jointer is a must or you are just guessing at your shim measurement. Also the shimming is for dovetailed ways jointers, as parallegram jointers can be adjusted with the cams. Please redo the procedure before you blast it all over the net as it’s better to inform folks of the correct procedure. There is way too much misinforamtion on the web.

-- Whatever!

Rick,

Thanks for the comment. I’ll go do that right now. Great point and I am glad you spoke up so I could do it correctly. That’s why I love this site: with so many members contributing we are bound to clear up some of this misinformation. Thanks for participating in the conversation!

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

OK folks, I got the jointer completey tuned and all the problems are fixed. Thanks to everyone here for the help. Here is a link to my podcast where I talk about my solution.

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog