Issue with table beds on Delta 6" Jointer

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I posted about this before.
I spent hours and hours on an old Davis and Wells 6 inch long bed. The former owner had given up on it after having the beds surface ground. It was still wonky. I eventually discovered that there was a tiny bit of casting on the gib ways that had not been properly milled away at the factory. When the infeed was raised for a fine cut it rode up on the casting blob and one side of the in-feed bed lifted. Unfortunately the P.O. had the grinding done when the infeed was sitting on the casting blob. I filed the blob off and shimmed the ways with brass and was able to get it working quite well, then gave it back to him.

A level is not as good as a machinist straight edge for troubleshooting a jointer.


from the old thread Last edited by Maurice Mcmurry; 06-16-2022 at 7:53 AM.
I was "gifted" a Davis and Wells 6 inch jointer. The previous owner said it was messed up. He had tried to "fix" it by having the in-feed and out-feed tables surface ground. It was indeed messed up. Unfortunately the problem was a manufacturing flaw. A bit of casting where the in-feed met the base had not been milled. The un-milled bump did not allow the two haves of the gib ways to nest. I eventually got it to function (in one spot) with a whole lot of shim stock. I was excited about the machine and could see that they are top quality.