Any hope for a warped jointer fence?

[Andrew Nemeth]

I have a Jet 6" jointer and I believe the fence is slightly warped (twisted). Is there any way to untwist it? What should the tolerance on the fence be? I did not measure the gap on one end of the fence when the other end is square, I'll do that tomorrow.

Thanks,
Andrew

[Jude Tuliszewski]

If it is fairly new you should get in touch with Jet. If it is pre-owned, you could probably have it re-ground by a local machine shop.

[Chuck Wintle]

What if you put one end of the fence in a vise and use a big wrench to untwist it?

[John Thompson]

How 'slight" is "slight", Andrew?...

It depends on where it's warped as to what I would do. If you have a cup say on the out-feed end in the middle, I would just keep cutting unless the results showed up as a major negative.

If it's really warped badly.. you will probably have to have it re-ground. Again.. depending where and how it is warped, you could add a sub-face on the fence and shim between a dip or cup to get it flat.

Having it re-ground does not mean it will not warp again, as if it warped badly to begin with... the cast iron was probably cast in-correctly from the get-go.

Good luck with it...

Sarge..

[keith ouellette]

I had that problem and sent the fence back. Cast iron doesn't bend well but does crack. Trying to twist it back you could end up with no fence. If you can't send it back and can't have it re ground (I bet thats expensive) you might be able to put on a piece of birch plywood and shim it at the appropriate spots to make it flat.

[Ron Bontz]

I had the same problem with my 6" Delta. I had the fence reground and it is excellent now. This brings me to another point. I recently saw I believe it was Steel City (I might be wrong about the brand) using granite for their fences. I was told at the WC store it was because of the problems they are having overseas with the cast iron warping. Hmmmmm. Quality control problem?

[John Thompson]

I had the same problem with my 6" Delta. I had the fence reground and it is excellent now. This brings me to another point. I recently saw I believe it was Steel City (I might be wrong about the brand) using granite for their fences. I was told at the WC store it was because of the problems they are having overseas with the cast iron warping. Hmmmmm. Quality control problem?

Anytime you use cast iron Ron, there is always a chance it can warp if the proper procedure and ingredients were not strickly adhered to during the casting. And even then, there is no gaurantee that a batch will not be anything but perfect. If the ingredients did not properly disapate.. etc. etc. a batch that was properly controled has a chance of being a bad batch. Just the way it is with cast iron as it's not steel... it's cast iron.

Yes.. it was the Steel City you read about that will have the granite fence on jointers, Band-saws and table saw tops. They should be on the market sometime after the first of the year. No warp... no rust.

Below is a picture of my Steel City jointer with a black granite fence. The fence is one of the 3 original black granite proto-types un-veiled at the Las Vegas show in early summer. Scott Box (VP of Steel City) ask me to field test it a few days after the unveiling.

It's flat and will stay that way and I haven't seen a speck of rust since the day we installed it months ago.

Sarge..

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost...10&postcount=1

[Brian Kent]

Just out of curiosity, how much would you expect it to cost to have a fence re-ground? Just in round numbers or range of cost?

[Ron Bontz]

It cost me about $50.00 but I was a friend of a friend sort of thing.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

What if you put one end of the fence in a vise and use a big wrench to untwist it?

NNNOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooo

It's cast iron~!! Cast iron has like a ZERO modulus of elasticity. It'll snap.

However cast iron machines and grinds like butter. You can lap it flat on a sheet of glass with a little lapping compound. Random movement is key in lapping. Consistently placing pressure in the same way or places will cause screwy shapes to form. Random is key.

[Ron Bontz]

Hey, thanks for the info. I must admit that granite made me nervous. This old dog will have to do some new thinking. I am still looking for an 8" jointer as money allows. Decisions, decisions. Happy jointing

[Kermit Hodges]

I got to ask. How does is cut wood? Does the warp cause a problem?? If not leave it along. If it is bad enough to be causing a problem your not going to fix it yourself. Unless your a machinist. If you take it to a Machine Shop, be warned. It going to be expensive! Machine shop work is very slow and very expensive. And most don't want small one time jobs anyway.

Pet Peeve; these forums have tried to elevate woodworking to machinist tolerances when most times people are stressing out over stupid things. It's wood people, it moves, it's not practical to try to work to thousands of an inch. Bottom line is how does it (what ever the machine is or the perceived problem is) cut wood? Is it presenting a problem? If no. Start cutting wood and ignore it till it is a problem.

With that said, there are some things that a dial indicator or similar measuring tool has a place in woodworking. But the bottom line is are you having a problem? It seems to me many are inventing problems that are just not there worrying about minute measurements that do not affect anything.

[Jim Becker]

What Jude said...get if replaced if under warranty. Get it re-ground if not. Jointers are simple machines but something like this is critical if you are expecting good glue-ups from material you are machining. (Same goes for good table alignment)

[Carroll Courtney]

How about making a fence out of baltic birch and connect it to the cast iron and use playing cards as shims to fill in void areas.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks for all the comments and ideas.

The fence is indeed torqued along it's length. If I set the right end of the fence square with the infeed table the left side of the fence is about .015" out of square with the outfeed table. The twist is even over the length of the fence. I should not I did check and make sure the two tables were parallel to each other and they are dead on. When jointing thicker stock it has not been much of a problem as I press down on the outfeed table (not against the fence) but thinner material is a bit more of a challenge because you have to keep pushing it into the fence on the outfeed table to keep it stable. Unfortunately, the saw is no longer under warranty ! The replacement fence is $50, with shipping its going to at least be $75 (if not more).

What do you think about getting a piece of granite scrape and having it cut and drilled for threaded epoxy inserts? I doubt I would pay more than $50 for that (if you think I am way off on this feel free to say so). Other wise I may just make a wood fence and shim it.

Thanks again,
Andrew