Help setting jointer knives

[Brian Hale]

I'm getting lots of chatter with my new Bridgewood 6" jointer. The knives are sharp and flush with the outfeed table. I've tried using the supplied setting gage but it's kinda small and easy to rock out of position. I got the best results using my Starret 24" rule by setting the first blade with the setting gage, raise the outfeed table till the knife will just "tick" the rule front and back and then set the other 2 knives using the "tick" method.

The amount i tighten the 4 screws that hold the balde in seems to have some amount of effect also. How tight should i make them? Am i distorting the cutter head when i tighten them?

I've been testing with a ~24" piece of 2x4 a stick of Ipe. The Ipe (1" wide) will chatter so bad it's scary. Accoring to my calipers i'm taking about .015" on a light pass.

I've been working on it for 4 hours and i'm ready to get a hammer...

Brian

[Steve Jenkins]

Brian, the first thing that comes to mind is that the knives are dull. I only say that because with a really hard wood like ipe it doesn't take much to make it chatter. Try a different wood that is a bit softer.
I use a normal open end wrench to tighten my gibs and I don't think that you can get them too tight since the wrench is pretty short so not much leverage unless you hammer on the wrench.
I set mine with a dial indicator and get them about .035 above the cutterhead at top dead center.
The way you are doing it with the stick is fine. If the knives are moving when you tighten up the gibs you need to allow for that when you initially set them so they will go into place as you tighten them. a bit of trial and error the first time or two but you will quickly learn how much to allow.
After setting all the knives I then check how it works by jointing a piece on edge and set the outfeed table height if I need to to eliminate snipe.
Steve

[Gord Graff]

Hello Brian,

I’ve used several methods for setting jointer knives but the easiest and quickest for me is with a dial indicator and a flat tip as pictured below.

The Ipe you’re using is as hard as nails, I’m not surprised it’s chattering, the slower the feed rate the better.

As for distorting the cutter head, I don’t think you’ll have a problem, I’ve tightened mine tight enough to strip the head of the bolts (yeah I know, don’t say it) but the cutter head is still fine.

All the best
Gord

[Brian Hale]

Thanks Guys!

Sounds like i need to start over (tomorrow) with sharpening and resetting. I'll bring a mag base and drop indicator homw from work and give it a go ..

Brian