Anyone have a Jet 54A Jointer? My Tables are not co-planar?

[mpooley]

Hi
in my ignorance I never checked my infeed and outfeed tables before but whilst browsing youtube the other night I saw a guide to getting your tables set up and realised this could be why I find it difficult sometimes to get a perfect flat edge.
I tested the tables as best I could (before investing £70 on a straight edge) and it was obvious that my tables are nowhere near coplanar !
unfortunately there is no mention of this adjustment in the manual and there is nothing obvious on the planer to do it !
Can anyone give me advice on if it's possible and how to do it please?

thanks

Mike

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've a feeling that Mark Spagnuolo (AKA "the Wood Whisperer") has that very same model. Try his YouTube channel, as I remember he made at least one on planer (jointer) setup.

Hope I'm right,

E. (who often isn't!)

 

[mpooley]

Thanks Eric but he was the very chap I watched.
unfortunately his planer was definitely not the same as mine.

Mike

 

[mpooley]

I don't know what other people think of this but rather than buy an expensive straight edge I had the idea of using my digital angle gauge!
now with this I test front to back and left to right on the tables and found that they are indeed coplanar !
and only point 1 of a degree out from front to back on the infeed table.

so if that is indeed an accurate way of testing it seems i don't have a problem.

Mike

 

[Eric The Viking]

I bought an Axminster straightedge, the 750mm one. It's very good, and a handy length - long enough to not really need weighting down on the outfeed table. I think it's gone up a bit since I got mine, but it's steel so a lot more rugged than the machined aluminium ones, and as precise as I'll ever need for woodworking.

I initially bought one from another well-known mail order company. When the replacement arrived, also bent, I asked for a refund (sigh).

 

[Myfordman]

I have one of these planers and agree that there does not appear to be an adjustment.
I presume it relies on the original machining in manufacture for accuracy.
I assume each of your tables is perfectly flat in its own right. If not a regrind may sort that out.

You could try a PM to Jetman on this forum. He is very helpful and may well know if there is some subtle method for adjustment.

 

[longinthetooth]

A metre long spirit level may have potential as a straightedge and be within tolerances enough for woodworking purposes if not engineering ones. A set of feeler gauges is also useful in conjunction. In this context, 1/1000 inch is nothing worth thinking of, whilst 20 thou is outrageous.

Regarding cast iron planer beds riding on inclined ways, the method of adjustment is to remove the bed, turn it over and file the bearing surfaces appropriately to the adjustment required. A certain amount of informed gueswork is involved, and it is a trial and error process in that you have to periodically reassemble to check the progress of the work. Allow half a day to a whole day to get an acceptable result.

Filing metal is like another version of hand-planing wood. Be cautious but determined.

 

[heimlaga]

I would scrape instead of file unless there is a lot of cast iron to be removed. With a good hand scraper ans some machinist's blue and some kind of reference surface it is possible to work to much smaller tolerances than using a file.

I would say that a file on cast iron is akin to a coarsely set scrub plane on wood while hand scraper and reference surface does the work of the long jointer plane makin things straight and smooth.

 

[mpooley]

I bought an Axminster straightedge, the 750mm one. It's very good, and a handy length - long enough to not really need weighting down on the outfeed table. I think it's gone up a bit since I got mine, but it's steel so a lot more rugged than the machined aluminium ones, and as precise as I'll ever need for woodworking.

I initially bought one from another well-known mail order company. When the replacement arrived, also bent, I asked for a refund (sigh).

Thanks Eric I did a search on Axminster's site but never found that one!
that's a lot more affordable.

what do you think about using the digital angle gauge though? in some ways it seems the perfect solution?

 

[mpooley]

Thanks to all who replied.
I'm hoping I don't need to file or scrape the cast Iron as I know I'd mess it up.

Myfordman: thanks for that, I did find out that the "Powermatic" planers are Jet under a different name so I found a better manual which did describe adjusting "gibs" on the back of the planer but no real mention of what it did and how it worked.

 

[Spindle]

Hi

I'm not sure I understand how you have used an angle finder to ensure your tables are co-planar. Having identical angles means that the tables are either lying in parallel planes, (probable), or co-incident, (possible (this is co-planar)), it won't assure that the tables are co-planar. The best way to check they are co-planar is to put a straight edge across both and sight / use feeler gauges to quantify the error, repeat for various positions on the tables.

In use the tables will not be co-planar anyhow as the outfeed table will be higher than the infeed by the depth of the cut.

Regards Mick

 

[mpooley]

Hi

I'm not sure I understand how you have used an angle finder to ensure your tables are co-planar. Having identical angles means that the tables are either lying in parallel planes, (probable), or co-incident, (possible (this is co-planar)), it won't assure that the tables are co-planar. The best way to check they are co-planar is to put a straight edge across both and sight / use feeler gauges to quantify the error, repeat for various positions on the tables.

In use the tables will not be co-planar anyhow as the outfeed table will be higher than the infeed by the depth of the cut.

Regards Mick

Now I'm confused.
If the tables are parallel and are flat from front to back as well, surely that is co-planar?
obviously in use the infeed is lower.

So I set the angle gauge on to the out feed so that it measured the angle right to left along the length of the table and set it to zero.
I then ran it all over the table in the same plane and it read zero the whole time. without altering the setting on the gauge I then checked the same plane on the infeed table and that was still zero.

I then did the same thing for front to back eg from the edge to the fence. and the outfeed was zero everywhere and the infeed table had a tiny 0.1 degree difference nearest to the blades.

Is that not right?

thanks

Mike

 

[Spindle]

Hi

What you have proved to your satisfaction is that the tables are in parallel planes. I think this will be sufficient in this case.

You confused me :? by making reference to 'co-planar' which means all points lying on the same plane.

Parallel planes can be demonstrated in the manner which you have used. Co-planar requires the addition of a straight edge to demonstrate.

Regards Mick

 

[mpooley]

OK Mick it looks like the wood whisperer has got it wrong then, it was his description of coplanar that I was going by, me? i haven't a clue lol