Replies

1. 
   riverr1 | Apr 04, 2003 01:04am | #1

   Matt,

   Not sure if this will help, but I ran into this problem. I have an open stand jointer. I boxed it in for chip collection, and I ended up with the problems you are describing. I put some holes in the boxing and it started working great. I guess I just created a situation where enought air wasn't available to meet the needs of the dc, and created a vacum.

   Don

2. 
   forestgirl | Apr 04, 2003 01:27am | #2

   It would be helpful to know if you're working with a closed-stand jointer, or an open stand that you yourself enclosed.  I have no problem with my jointer (a Jet 6"), even though I just use a big indoor-outdoor vac, rather than a DC.  The only times shavings back up are (a) when I forget to turn the vac on (doh!) and (b) if I do something that causes a bit of a clog.  Usually, this is when I do a quick job, not using the vac, and then later hook up the vac to do a bigger job, but the 2nd batch of shavings can't get past the 1st or push them out of the way.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

3. 
   GJMID2 | Apr 04, 2003 02:34am | #3

   Hi Matt---Check to be sure your dust chute is not plugged.   The only time my plainer acts that way is when chips have blocked the vaccum from pulling chips down into the chute......any other questions send e-mail.   George

4. 
   ChipTam | Apr 04, 2003 01:12pm | #4

   Matt,

   Not sure if this is your problem but there was a discussion several years ago on this site about misaligned chip deflectors on the Delta DJ-20 which caused the same problems you're having.  The fix was to reach up and bend the deflector (forward or back, I'm not sure).  If you try to do so be very cautious.  Your fingers will be very close to the knives.  Perhaps someone else out there remembers this discussion and can give you a bettter description of fix.

1. 
   Matthewd | Apr 08, 2003 05:28pm | #5

   Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I feel really dumb now because the chute was just clogged up at the top where I couldn't see it. Everything works fine now, but while I've got your attention, I know there is a lot of debate about whether the knives should be set slightly higher than the outfeed table (infact delta tells you to do it in the instructions). I've got mine set about 0.004 - 0.006" higher, but I still end up with some nasty snipe at the end of my cut - How do you guys set your knives?

1. 
   JPGrout | Apr 08, 2003 06:55pm | #6

   I set the knives and the outfeed table dead parallel or no more than .001" lower than the knives.I hate sniped boards.

   Joe

   Edited 4/8/2003 11:57:00 AM ET by JOEGROUT

2. 
   forestgirl | Apr 08, 2003 07:22pm | #7

   That's a new one to me.  I've read several articles about jointer set-up and have 3 books that describe the procedure -- none of them specifies having the knives anything but in line with the top of the outfeed table.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   SgianDubh | Apr 08, 2003 07:53pm | #8

   That's the standard recommendation, fg, and not a bad place to start. After that, it's a matter of making adjustments. After I've set the outfeed table as best I can to that setting I proceed to flatten a piece of wood that's reasonably true to start with, and watch carefully how it approaches and slides over the outfeed table. 

   Actually, I stop feeding and hold the wood stationary as the front 75- 100 mm (3"-4") of stuff sits or rests over the outfeed table. If there's a slight gap, I adjust the table up a bit. If the piece butts into the leading edge of the table and climbs up after it's passed over the cutters, I lower it a bo'hair until I get it just so. Then I flatten the whole piece of wood a time or two to see what snipe, if any I get at either end. 

   Very hard woods react a bit differently to being cut than softer woods, and there might be a bit more, or less springback after the cut, so a slight adjustment might be needed here, too. Dull cutters again make a difference to how the wood reacts, and dull cutters will probably require another slight change in the setting. Little things like these examples have to be allowed for, and the machine fine tuned to suit. Slainte.Website                                   The poster formerly known as Sgian Dubh.

1. 
   forestgirl | Apr 08, 2003 08:21pm | #9

   "That's the standard recommendation, fg, and not a bad place to start. "  -- Which "that"?  The dead-even "that" or the .00x "that"? 

   Thanks for the details you provided -- it does seem that sometimes even when everything adjusted to seeming perfection there's still a problem.  Your info gives me some other troubleshooting possibilities. 

   Speaking of dull blades, grrrrrr, really am going to have to change mine out soon.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

3. 
   rod | Apr 09, 2003 04:58am | #10

   Here is what I read in David Charlesworth's "Furniture making techniques, p.40 (with pictures)":

   "The knives of a surface planer must move a steel rule or accurately planed wooden stick forwards by about 3mm when the cutter block is rotated by hand.   ...

   The planed surface of the timber is thus not flat but composed of a series of scoops. The high points rather than the low points must rest flat on the out-feed table, so the top dead centre of knives must be slightly above the level of the out feed table.

   Experience suggests that the ideal amount of carry forward varies slightly for different timbees, hard dense exotics requiring slightly less than soft springy ones."

   I think he repeats the message at the end of volume 2.  I have yet to try it myself.

   Rod