John Mullanis

[Jim Dunn]

I finally got that pic of the Jointer. You can just see the out feed table adjustment in the end of the frame.

[John Miliunas]

Thanks Jim. That's what I kind of thought it was! So, in the final analysis, there actually is and adjustment for the outfeed, though I still can't help but wonder why your friend was told otherwise! Don't know...There might be a jointer around without the adjustment but, I've personally never run across one nor, can I figure why any OEM would make one like that! About the only thing I can think of is, if someone came out with indexed knives, like those many of the portable planers have, which would have a constant knife height. But even then, the manufacturing tolerances of the blades would need to be so tight, I don't think the OEM's would count on that.

[Mark Singer]

That doesn't look like a DJ 20 to me..

[John Miliunas]

Hey Mark, that's because it's NOT the DJ! That's their "Industrial" jointer with the typical dovetail ways, as opposed to the parallelogram design. Still not sure why they did such a short-change on the outfeed adjustment "knob", but it saves a buck or two, I imagine.

BTW, maybe you should send your airport sign to Jim D.!!!

[Roger Everett]

A couple reasons to have an outfeed adjustment.
1-- the DJ20 calls for having the out feed set at , as I recall about .015- .017 above the cutterhead. This is the first thing I check when getting ready to install new blades.
2-- After installing the knives, and checking with my rolocator ( dial indicator), if they are even, but off a .001 or 2 in heigth , I can make a small adjustment in the outfeed, then lock it in with the nuts.
Roger

[Russ Massery]

Just a thought, I would think that having the outfeed table up that high(.015-.017) would cause the board to be tapered.

[Dev Emch]

Hi Jim...

The jointer in the photo is not a DJ-20. This is a wedgebed jointer. Furthermore, if you look carefully, you will notice a rebate ledger on the outfeed table. The actual rebate operation, queer as it may be, requires significant adjustments of the outfeed table to work.

In dialing in most jointers, the main place to begin is the outfeed table lip. All adjustments are relative to this lip. Ideally, you wish to have this lip parallel to the cutter head cylinder. Sometimes its not. On jointers with yokes, you can compensate by shimming or adjusting the yoke height. If the out of parallel is minor, you can install the blades and actually tip the blades in their slots a bit to compensate for this minor out of parallel between the outfeed lip and the cutter head cylinder. Using a gage such as a Oneway multigage helps out here quite a bit. A slightly cruder method but equally effective method is the use of jointer pals.

Now, once you have the knives installed and the TIPS of the knives are in parallel to the outfeed lip, you still need to adjust the height of this lip relative to the knives. What you want is a knife height just a wiggle above the table. If the knife is too low, then a portion of the tailing board will not get cut as it rides out on the outfeed table. If the knife is to high, then you wind up with the tailing portion of the board riding up on the cutter head and then dropping out. This will snipe the board.

Ideally, once your done with all your micrometer and dial indicator setup work, you should always do one crude but empirical check of your work. Take a board and lay its edge on the outfeed table such that the leading edge just sits ontop of the cutter head cylinder. NOT THE KNIFE, the cutter head cylinder! Rotate the cutter head cylinder through top dead center for each knife. The board should lift ever so slightly and advance toward the infeed table by about 1 inch. If its more than one inch and see light under the board, the outfeed table is to low. If the board does not move at all, the outfeed table is to high.

The actual height of the outfeed table relative to the tips of the knives is not an exact science. So even through we can use indicators, the above test may dicate a tweak or two to the lifting or lowering mechanism of the outfeed table. The final judge is in how it works.

Now, once you have gone through all this and you find your jointer is cutting a convex or concave cut, well that is for another day.

Hope this helps...

[John Miliunas]

Hi Jim...

The jointer in the photo is not a DJ-20. This is a wedgebed jointer. Furthermore, if you look carefully, you will notice a rebate ledger on the outfeed table. The actual rebate operation, queer as it may be, requires significant adjustments of the outfeed table to work.

In dialing in most jointers, the main place to begin is the outfeed table lip. All adjustments are relative to this lip. Ideally, you wish to have this lip parallel to the cutter head cylinder. Sometimes its not. On jointers with yokes, you can compensate by shimming or adjusting the yoke height. If the out of parallel is minor, you can install the blades and actually tip the blades in their slots a bit to compensate for this minor out of parallel between the outfeed lip and the cutter head cylinder. Using a gage such as a Oneway multigage helps out here quite a bit. A slightly cruder method but equally effective method is the use of jointer pals.

Now, once you have the knives installed and the TIPS of the knives are in parallel to the outfeed lip, you still need to adjust the height of this lip relative to the knives. What you want is a knife height just a wiggle above the table. If the knife is too low, then a portion of the tailing board will not get cut as it rides out on the outfeed table. If the knife is to high, then you wind up with the tailing portion of the board riding up on the cutter head and then dropping out. This will snipe the board.

Ideally, once your done with all your micrometer and dial indicator setup work, you should always do one crude but empirical check of your work. Take a board and lay its edge on the outfeed table such that the leading edge just sits ontop of the cutter head cylinder. NOT THE KNIFE, the cutter head cylinder! Rotate the cutter head cylinder through top dead center for each knife. The board should lift ever so slightly and advance toward the infeed table by about 1 inch. If its more than one inch and see light under the board, the outfeed table is to low. If the board does not move at all, the outfeed table is to high.

The actual height of the outfeed table relative to the tips of the knives is not an exact science. So even through we can use indicators, the above test may dicate a tweak or two to the lifting or lowering mechanism of the outfeed table. The final judge is in how it works.

Now, once you have gone through all this and you find your jointer is cutting a convex or concave cut, well that is for another day.

Hope this helps...

Dev,
Great disecting of the process! Thanks! Another thing I've done to add to the "empirical check" you describe is, after the first time your board is "liften" and dropped back down on the outfeed side, stop and mark it with a sharp pencil line. Instead of continuing on, move the board back to "point A" and advance the head to the next knife and check to see if the board drops to exactly the same position. If it's further, the knife is set too high. Short of the mark and it's too low.

[Roger Everett]

Russ:
Thats the cutter head not the blades. The blades will be level with the outfeed table, when at their highest point in rotation. The blades in essence protrude .015 above the cutter head ( although look more, do to the angle they leave the cutter head ). This is basicly the same idea as setting the frog and chipbreaker on a hand plane, it's a setting to minimize chipping, splintering, etc.
Roger