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I'm confused or maybe just ignorant of this model. Does the outfeed table on this jointer not simply adjust? Even dad's old Delta has infeed AND outfeed table adjustment knobs / arms. No shimming required unless the tables are out of plane.
When I was young I sought the wisdom of the ages. Now it seems I've found the wiz-dumb of the age-ed.
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GeeDub you are correct, the PM 50 has an outfeed table adjustment hand wheel.
Using White's book as my guide, this is what I found:
1. Bringing the tables as parallel as possible the outfeed table was .0015" lower than the infeed table on both planes - towards the back along the fence and towards the front.
2. Checking for full length table alignment the outfeed table was flat but the infeed table was sagging by .0025 - .003".
So do I shim the outfeed table on the gibs closest to the cutter head by .0015" or do I call it a day.
Thanks
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What I say you should do: try it , if it joints true, don't lose any sleep at .003 over whatever the length of the infeed table is. Especially since your straight edge is probably not even rated to within .003 over its length.
What I might do, especially if I am in the middle of a project where the next step worries me that i may mess up the whole piece and have to start again,: mess with shimming to try to get it "right"
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Gotcha Barry.
But as a friendly FYI the straight edges I used were Starrett precision ground 4' and 12" straight edges. I also have the 18", 24", and 36" versions. Something I learned from the late Pat Warner.
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05-27-2020, 06:04 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-27-2020, 06:06 AM by barryvabeach.)
(05-26-2020, 06:53 PM)OBG53 Wrote: Gotcha Barry.
But as a friendly FYI the straight edges I used were Starrett precision ground 4' and 12" straight edges. I also have the 18", 24", and 36" versions. Something I learned from the late Pat Warner.
I just checked Starret's website, and the steel straightedge is listed at $350 , wow. It is spec'd at + or - .0002 per foot, so that works out to .0008. I checked LV, and the longest one they made, not the Starret, is 36 inches, and it is spec'd at .0015 for the length, which means about half of the .003 that you measured.
So while the Starret may be true to show a sag of .003, for most of us, our straight edges are not that straight, so you will probably be fine as is.
BTW, I sold my PM and bought a Jet JJP-12 which is not dovetailed, and instead there are adjustments to get the tables parallel - which is a total pain, though once it is done, it should not have to be changed much.
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You're right about the prices. Luckily for me I got them like 12-15 years ago when I could afford them. Now that I'm retired, they're out of my price range.
I really wanted to get the Grizzly 8" helical head parallelogram jointer but my shop is a 12 x 18 detached shed and I couldn't fit in. So, 6" is my max but I may look into a Cutech/Wahuda 8" benchtop as an option down the road. The longest board I usually get is 4' - 6'.
Thanks for all the help.
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Having gone down that road more than once, I would have to have a REALLY compelling reason to get me to shim a dovetail-way jointer. This is one of those areas where my intention to improve something cost me hours of fiddling and repetition of tasks. Bear in mind I am the guy who will set aside a whole day to align a machine to make sure I am in the right state of mind and have no reason to rush. I enjoy aligning machines for better performance, Shimming DT-way jointers? That road can lead to madness ;-)
When I was young I sought the wisdom of the ages. Now it seems I've found the wiz-dumb of the age-ed.