I know it’s only a 6” but that’s all I need right now, couldn’t justify the extra expense for the 8” at the moment.
Sorry to have to tell you this but that’s the worst jointer ever made. Don’t even bother unboxing it. Just send me your address and I will gladly dispose of it for you. 😁
Jokes aside, I would love to have one of those.
You had me in the first half
No other recommendations that others haven’t mentioned, but enjoy!
There is something super satisfying about milled lumber
Check the calibration:
- Confirm that the outfeed table is parallel to the cutter head.
- Confirm that the outfeed table is level with the top dead center of the cut.
- Then confirm that the infeed table is parallel to the outfeed
- Lastly confirm that the fence, when set to 90, is square to the outfeed table.
This should all the the case right out off the pallet but it’s worth a check.
Adding on to this calibration comment that an engineer square is much more accurate for setting up machines than a carpenters square (which are often knocked out of alignment).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg53x5W7YOc
The wood and plastic squares are super easy to adjust.
No real tips to add but I have a bench top jointer and LOVE it. Sure a larger one would be nice but it does the job.
Just got the cheap spiral cut 6" from wen. I’ve only a run a few boards over it, but I like it. I was an idiot a few years back and gave up my cast-iron Harbor freight 6" model “just” because the shitty motor burned out. Today, I’d have been less stupid and picked up a new motor. I got Porter-Cable that’s clearly from the same factory where they’re making all the benchtop models these days, and it was fine until I had to replace the knives. It was tedious, finicky, and I never did quite get it right. I freakin’ HATED setting those blades.
I sold that (with full disclosure that it was aligned poorly), and then my used Shopsmith came with their little 4" cast-iron job. It was also annoying, but either I was better or the design was better, so I had it set up reasonably well. It cut pretty flat, but I blew up some retaining bolts and threads on the cutter head when some bad technique on a short workpiece saw it get wedged in there. No injuries thankfully, but I figured that since it was changing blades that I hated so much, I’d try one without straight knives, and I think I’m back in love with processing lumber, at least until my planer knives are too dull to use, LOL.
Try not to lift the top by the beds when you haul it onto the cabinet. This might be easier said than done, but you want to avoid messing up the delicate alignment.
The tips that others gave about alignment and such are great tips. I would like to add one more. Read about the safety tips and guides. Also take extra care when jointing really small/thin boards. When the grain is oriented badly it can chip out and cause your workpiece to break. You don’t want your hands near that.
https://www.finewoodworking.com/2014/03/11/a-woodworkers-guide-to-grain-direction This video clarifies the importance of grain direction.
That looks like a great rig. I need to add a joiner to my shop. My last one was a 4” with no guards. I hated using it because it was so sketchy.
I know a lot of people swear by the helical cutting heads.
Hope to see posts of your finished projects here!
