Jointer table and fence tolerances

[btracey1]

Hi,

I have recently purchased a 6" Jointer and am curious as to what are acceptable tolerances for the tables and fence.
The In-feed and Out-feed tables are within .001, but the fence has a .012 bow and about the same amount of twist (.010-.012).
I am new to the world of Jointers and have not been able to figure out if these tolerances will cause a problem or not.
Are these tolerances acceptable?

Brian

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Hey Brian,
You can easily get into an almost religious war about tool tolerances, especially on this board .

The short answer to your question is to run a good long test piece, as long as you would use in your work and see if it comes out flat and square.

Here's a good article on how to set the jointer tables to ensure flatness.

Hope this helps.
Jesse in Placitas, NM

 

[greg mann]

Brian,

I'm not really questioning your numbers but how did you determine them? Some of these conditions are difficult to measure without known flat references unless one has a very good understanding of spatial relationships. Either way, you have managed to find variability so you now ant to know hao it will affect your work. The relationship between your tables seems very good and that is the most important variable. The twist in you fence is less important. When you are jointing an edge it is most important that you are square to the outfeed table in the area directly after the blades. Of course, you want the apex, or top dead center, of the blades to coincide with the outfeed table. If you are smart enough to determine your tables are co-planar within one thou then you should be able to set your cutters correctly to the outfeed table.

The real answer here is ALWAYS the same, but the right question is almost never asked: What results do you get when you face joint and edge joint? If the face is flat and the edge is straight and square then your machine is as good as it needs to be.

 

[btracey1]

Thanks guys,

The tables and fence were checked using a Veritas 50" Straight edge and feeler gauges. The tables (after quite a bit of adjustment) ended up being as coplanar as i could get them with no discernible peaks or valleys. TDC of the Helical cutters were checked with a dial gauge and are in line with the Out-feed table. My concern is what effect the twist and bow in the fence will have on the edge jointing. I have not used the Jointer yet, I was getting it set up before I had to leave town for a couple of weeks and found the twist in the fence. Hopefully I will be able to run some lumber across it this weekend, and try the practical approach.
Should I set the fence square to the In-feed or Out-feed table or do you think it will even matter?

Brian

 

[greg mann]

Since you have them coplaner it probably doesn't matter. If it were me, I would make the fence square to the infeed immediately before the cutter. Reason? This is the part of the fence that will be presenting the work to the cutter.

 

[btracey1]

Greg,
Thanks, I'll try that this weekend.
I have contacted the Manufacturer and they are sending a replacement fence.
Brian

 

[Oldwood]

I have resolved the fence problem by adding a sub fence and shimming it to make it straight and square off the machine fence. The only other option I can think of is to have the fence surface ground which should not be that expensive and won't reduce the usable width like the sub fence does.

HTH
Gerry