Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 24, 2003 06:25am | #1

   Richard,

   Gibs are only adjusted to get a smooth sliding fit for the table height adjustment mechanism, gibs were never intended to be adjusted to change the alignment of the tables.  Excessively loose gibs will allow the tables to sag out of line, but the basic alignment of the tables to each other was built into the machine when it was made. 

   A warped or worn out jointer can sometimes be restored to alignment by shimming the dovetail ways, which will require adjusting the gibs to get a good sliding fit after the shims are installed, but this still isn't using the gibs to change the alignment. 

   Owner's manuals and a fair percentage of factory phone reps are clueless about how a jointer is supposed to be set up.  I suspect that whatever problem you were trying to solve probably had nothing to do with the gibs in the first place.  If you could explain what the original problem was, and what you've tried to correct it, either I or somebody else can probably help you out.

   Hope this helps,

   John W.

1. 
   rckendall | Oct 25, 2003 06:43am | #3

   John,

   Thanks for taking the time to respond. I set out to hone the knives with the method described in the manual, which I'll briefly explain. Level the tables with the knives, lower the outfeed table .003", clamp a block of wood 1 1/2" from knives on infeed table, run machine and slide an arkansas stone back and forth across the knives.

   What I found using a dial indicator to find the level of the knives was that the infeed table and outfeed table were not in alignment by about .010" across the 8" width. The manual describes leveling the tables (parallelism as they state it) via the gibs. That is what I attempted but got nowhere the first time (following the instructions).

   The next time, just going for it on my own, I got the tables to within .003 across the 8". This, I think is acceptable but I don't know how I did it and wonder if I did it correctly. I learn best when I am really interested in something, and at the present, I am very interested in this piece of equipment and others like it, using the gibs etc.

   I hope this gets the main points across.

   Thanks again,

   Richard

2. 
   milanuk | Oct 24, 2003 06:28am | #2

   I'm afraid I can't help you too much as I don't have a jointer yet myself. But I would recommend 'Care and Repair of Shop Machines' as it appears to give detailed information on tuning up jointers, tablesaws, planers, drill presses, etc. In fact, I believe the jointer section is by far the most detailed in the whole book.

   HTH,

   Monte

1. 
   rckendall | Oct 25, 2003 03:53pm | #4

   milanuk,

   Thanks for the lead. I checked it out at Amazon.com and see that it is very promising. I'll see if I can see one in person today at Barnes & Noble. Will let you know.

   Thanks again,

   Richard