John,
The cutter head on my jointer is not parallel to the outfeed table….which means the apex of the knife blade differs from one end of the blade to another.
This is the first time I have had to replace the knifes on this jointer (Ridgid 6″ from home depot) and I have to say it has been incredibly frustrating and difficult to get the knives perfectly aligned to the outfeed table along the entire length. It always end up with one end higher or lower then the other.
Not sure what to do about this and the Shop Fox magnetic jig does not help at all.
Looking for advice
David
Replies
David,
The cutter head doesn't need to be parallel, close is good enough, and manufacturers aren't going to go to the considerable extra expense to make the head exactly parallel if it isn't necessary.
The knives do have to be parallel to the outfeed table, but the magnetic jig will position the knives properly because the jig is sitting on the outfeed table. When you use the jig, the knife should be slightly loose in its slot so that the jig will lift and hold the knife at the proper height while you snug down the gib screws. Used this way the knife always comes out parallel to the outfeed table, no matter how well the head itself is aligned.
If your jointer has knife height adjusters, one toward either end of each blade, you should remove them since they aren't needed when using a magnetic jig and they can sometimes interfere with the blade being lifted by the magnets.
I would need more details on how you are using the jig to figure out why you are having a problem.
John White
I have loosened the jib scews enough so that they are not interfering with the magnet on the jig pulling up the knife, but It seems to me what is happening is that one end of the knife reaches its apex before the other end, so as the cutter head is rotated around to position the knife at the apex (the highest point of the knife is touching the underside of the jig) the other end of the knife has still not reached its apex even though it is touching the underside of the jig.....the cutter head still needs to be rotated a tad more before that end of the knife is at its highest point. I can lay a straight edge on one side of the outfeed table (near the fence) and the knife barely touches the straight edge as it should, and then move the straight edge to the front edge of the outfeed table and the knife lifts the straight off of the table.
I ruined a piece of white Oak face jointing it.....the left side of the board is having more material taken off then the right side (turning the board into a wedge).
I have tried everything that I can think of.
David
The slots in the cutter head would have to be skewed to the head's axis to create the problem you are having, which would mean that the slots were machined improperly. To be honest this seems unlikely, but it is possible.The two tables being out of line with each other crosswise will also create the wedge cutting effect that you are seeing.John White
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled