RANT: spit or go blind

[JMWEBER987]

Not sure which of the above to do Im so frustrated. Must have spent 3 hours adjusting my delta 6 inch jointer to a fair-thee-well. Infeed/outfeed coplaner, knives barely kiss a metal ruler extended over the outfeed table. I'm confident my feeding technique is good and the damn thing still doesn't want to cut correctly. Every time a 14 inch long board is passed over the knives the board loses about 1/64 of an inch on the leading end compared to the trailing end. WTF? And the dad-gummed thing seems to be pretty underpowered to me. I was pushing a 3/4 inch wide ash board through at about, well I don't know exactly but it was pretty darn slow and the knives would almost stop at times and I would have to stop feeding.. I have an old 4 inch with a direct drive motor that does a better job than this POS. Does it seem like maybe I have a motor problem or are these things just underpowered. It's a standard open base Delta and right now I'm ready to junk it Big Ol Razzberry to Delta Mike in Arkansas in rant mode

[Bob]

Sounds like you need to tighten the belt. But before you do, see if it's glazed over from slipping so much. If so, replace it with a new one or get yourself a link belt. It's possible the motor is bad - did you ever see any smoke come out of it? Planing off 1/64" (.015") should not be any problem at all.

Bob S.

[Rick Nelson]

Hi Mike,

It wouldn't happen to be a model 37-070, would it?

picture:

've got that jointer and went through the same thing you did. I ended up coming to the conclusion that the jointer was simply a pile of crap. Still, I can't come up with any logical reason why it is tapering the boards unless the cutterhead is shifting when the torque of the motor is applied or the tables are flexing. I don't know - I'm stumped too.

-Rick

JMWEBER987 wrote:

[Never Enough Money]

Did you try calling Delta? They've always been great when I call them

-- or email -- but email takes longer....

[JMWEBER987]

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't called Delta yet and Rick the link you provided is not my model. I'm going to try again tonight having calmed down and had a good nights sleep. I did go back and check to see if the board edge I jointed was concave and it was. That was the problem that got me trying to tune it to begin with. So it not only tapers but is concave also. I did read a lot of info online before attempting adjustment. It's got to be me. The machine is too simple not to work correctly if properly set up. I either don't appreciate the degree to which I need to adjust the various components or my technique sucks. Going to check the mtor and belt tonight also. Regards, Mike in Arkansas (in less than full rant mode after a nights sleep.)

[JMWEBER987]

Okay, three hours after that last post and some progress finally. Because I purchased the jointer from a fellow who worked part time at Woodcraft, I guess I just assumed it would be set up close to correct. I was wrong. Way wrong. Went back further in the setup instructions for replacing the knives and now it works much better. The outfeed table was set WAY to low and the clearance between the outfeed table top and the knife holder was only .01 inches. It should have been .06. Adjusted. Because the knife holder was so high in respect to the outfeed table the knives BARELY cleared the knife holder bars. I believe it had such little projection that the holder bars may have been rubbing on the wood as it went through. Then, one of the holder bars was in UPSIDE DOWN, leaving even less (or no) clearance.. Anyway after making the above changes and doing a better job of adjusting the knife height it now cuts with much less taper with no concave edgeing. Also, cuts with more power. Although I tighted the belt I don't believe it was slipping and the above changes were the cause of the low power issue. Tomorrow PERFECTION. Mike in Arkansas (done ranting and please forgive me Delta.)

[Rick Nelson]

No, I never contacted Delta. After all the time I spent fiddling with that jointer and still having it be messed up, I'd just get pissed off if I had to take it apart again and make more adjustments.

If it was something other than Delta's bottom of the line jointer, I'd be more willing to take the time to set it up. As it is, I just chalk it up to "you get what you pay for". I've got three Knight planes, so I generally flatten one face with the jointer, handplane one edge square (or two at the same time for edge joining), powerplane to thickness, crosscut, and rip.

Also my handplanes are never going to take a chunk of flesh out of the end of my thumb when I do something stupid - and those moments are more common than I like to think about. Just another reason for me to consider that jointer the bastard stepchild of my workshop.

-Rick

Never Enough M> Did you try calling Delta? They've always been great when I call them

[mttt]

Soundz like a Happily Ever After coming soon... :)

[JMWEBER987]

It was and it is. Oddly, the Delta Web Site recommends no more than .015 clearance between the outfeed table and the cutter head assembly for a jointer with gib type table adjusters. My manual clearly calls for .06 inches. No wonder people find their jointers to be difficult and tempermental with all the various contridictory information. In any event I am one happy camper right now. I used feeler gauges every inch along a straight edge and it seems my outfeed table is not particularly flat. It dives downward at the extreme end of the outfeed table on each edge from the center out so I will attempt to keep my work more or less in the center and try to keep boards in contact with the tables cutter end. Now I feel better about starting that craftsman bed. Mike in Arkansas (deeply relaxed and calm)