Tedious Tasks

This was definitely one — but very necessary.

Before I continue, I think it’s only fair to warn you that there are going to be a lot of workshop blips ahead — it’s where I’m spending much of my spare time these days.

This is the underside of the jointer that I bought a while back on Craigslist. I hadn’t been able to get very good results with it, and after close examination a couple of days ago, I discovered the problem. The infeed and outfeed tables were significantly misaligned. These ought to have been aligned by the manufacturer, and should never need adjusting.

Not too surprisingly, there were no instructions in the manual for making this adjustment. Google came to the rescue yet again. After some minor disassembly I had the jointer on its side and was able to access the four infeed table leveling screws (the other table is fixed).

This is where it became tedious. Each time I adjusted one (or more) of the screws, I had to walk around to the other side of the bench to check the table alignment with a straightedge. It was easier than wrestling the jointer back onto its feet. I found that adjusting the screw at one end had a secondary effect on the other end, so it took a lot of trial and error to get the job done.

I’m looking forward to making some test cuts when I get the sharpened blades back from Bob’s Super Saw Service on Tuesday.