Planer alignment driving me insane

[Allen Roy]

I have been working on a custom cutting board for SWMBO for the last 2 weeks (roughly 2 hours per week) and have found after planing some small parts that my Delta JT160 is out of alignment. I thought no big deal, grabbed my square and set it against the fence. The outfeed table is right on. However the infeed table is perplexing. It was out about .010 at the top on the left and .015 on the right side. I made some shims for it and the left side was then right on. Now the right side is over corrected by .009.When I bring the fence back over the tables, there is more of a gap on the left side of the infeed than on the right. As you keep sliding the fence toward the front of the machine, the gap evens up.

Could this be a possible twisted table? I have tried everything that I can think of.

Thanks, Allen

Thanks to all that responded to opinions on table saws. I purchased the Dewalt ( yes new as this is my first *new* power tool over $500 ). And it gave me a love kiss tonight as well.

[Leon]

Out of alignment? What are the results that you ate getting. You may be worrying about and adjusting the wrong thing. Other than snipe I cannot think of how an in feed or out feed table would introduce a problem. I have a Stationary Delta planer and both In feed and out feed roller tables tilt up towards the planer as they near the planer. I have no alignment problems. Many planers including large ones have no in feed or out feed at all so they are not essential to getting good results but only an aid in holding one end of the board as it enters and exits the planer. What are you calling a fence that you set your square against?

[DonkeyHody]

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate." I think he has a JOINTER-planer he's trying to align. Allen, you need to get the infeed and outfeed tables parallel to each other in both left-to-right and front-to-back planes. Then align the fence at 90 degrees to both. Don't worry about the gap between the fence and table. It's inconsequential if the angle between fence and table is right.

DonkeyHody "A bulldog can whip a skunk, but it's probably not worth his trouble."

[Doug Miller]

Yes, it could. Google on "winding sticks" for one method of checking for twist.

The JT160 is a benchtop *jointer*, not a planer as the OP mistakenly referred to it...

[Leon]

Yeah, after rereading I find that perhaps the best way to find a solution is to accurately identify the machine to begin with.

They need to be on parallel planes.

Then align the

[tom]

[dpb]

I think (as others noted) you're speaking of a jointer, not a planer, but...

Depending on what you're using as the reference and where you're taking the measurements, it's possible it's the fence rather than the tables. You need to check the tables with respect to each and each to itself to ensure they are first, flat and then parallel both lengthwise and across. Unless you first can ensure the fence is true, you can't reliably use it as a reference. The "winding sticks" reference gives the necessary hint lacking a machinist's reference table of adequate size.