Super Tune Your Jointer - Basic Tool Setup/Tuning Techniques

After the shop move all of my stationary power tools are out of calibration. None more than the jointer which I don't think ever was completely set up right and dropping it didn't help. But it has always been "good enough". After setting the infeed, outfeed and knives parallel we then worked on fence and knives. We discuss multiple means of accomplishing tasks for those who might not have all the gizmos. So now it's as dialed in as it can be for a budget jointer.
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Tools & Material Used in this video:
Associate Links (they give a little on back end to wortheffort)
Mini Planer Pal - (make sure it'll work on your size cutter head) amzn.to/3bVZf60
Grizzly Presidents Dial Caliper/Magnet Combo Pack- amzn.to/3bQ1Tdy
Cheap Feeler Gauges - amzn.to/2MByRWs
Ridgid Jointer - amzn.to/3uLViJP
Non-Associate Links (No compensation for recommendation)
Woodpeckers Clamping Squares - www.woodpeck.c...
Precision Triangle - www.woodpeck.c...
Carpenter Square - www.woodpeck.c...
Serx Straight Edge Rule - www.woodpeck.c...
Grizzly H3022 (Magnetic Base, Dial Indicator, Caliper Combo pk) - www.grizzly.co...
Associates Link of other items such as Tool, Book, etc.... I already own/use in woodworking craft that are available on Amazon - www.amazon.com...
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[@donalddparker]

Every 6" inch jointer manufacturer owes you a check. This is the video I've found that really details the approach to solving the problems I'm facing on my 20 yr old Jet jointer. Thanks so much!

[@peterrhodes5663]

When you've tired of all the pissing around, simply clean it thoroughly, align the tables as well as you can, dismount it from the base, and take it to an engineering shop or engine reconditioner, and have them surface grind the thing, clocking off the cutter drum as reference when setting up. Wood is abrasive, so you probable have a concave infeed table anyway, after 20 years use.

[@buckinthetree1233]

Good video. I have the same jointer, and needed a refresher on order of adjustments. A helpful hint on zeroing your dial indicator is to get it close and use the little knob on the bar for fine adjustments. When twisting the dial face, you're always going to be wiggling your needle around. With the fine adjust knob, it's so much easier.

[@Codeyellow]

Thank you so much for this video. I struggled with realigning my tables for about a month until this this video. It’s the ONLY one that takes it step by step and actually realigns the table. Every other video just skips over it and says “you might have to shim it. Idk. “

[@lenabanx6221]

Thank you so much for the video. So grateful for the people who post these 40+ minute videos going into detail on every single adjustment you can/need to make. Sat through this video more than a couple times!

[@MarklTucson]

That last part, where you were looking for light and didn't see any -- after having done that multiple times over the years -- had to give you a big thumbs up. Feels good when it comes together that way

[@MarklTucson]

@Corbin Carter Which has zip to do with my comment

[@michaelsablan8772]

Aloha Braddah! I play guitar, ukulele and other instruments. Now I want to make guitars. I don’t know much about wood, wood working tools as well as the machinery other than the basic use of the tools. I am currently elevating my knowledge to learn all the machinery and my top three machines needed to get rolling in it. I’ve learned that I definitely need a jointer, a planer and a table saw….anything else like a band saw, etc. I have a source offsite of my home. This video was very informative and deep….the realm I work out of as an aircraft mechanic/technician. Most mechanics have an inclination to dive deep into something to see how and why something ticks the way it does, which is why they are able to jump into another field and try to learn from the inside out. I needed this video! Mahalo nui for sharing your time with us!

[@nevadacool]

thank fro going into the tuning of the infeed and outfeed tables, no one else really wanted to address that, hands on like you did.

[@nickpompeo6273]

Thanks for taking the time to go through a very informative how to . So fed up with the 2 minute clips . Answered a lot of issues on adjustments. Not even the shop manual tells how to adjust the machine in that depth. 👍👍👍

[@paulglanville6965]

My Ridgid also got way out from some accidents. This video is great! Also, for a shim - I am pretty sure Mylar is almost indestructible, and the alcohol swabs people buy to give self injections - the package is Mylar and I measured it with caliper and get 0.001 inch. It is "stiff" enough to insert. I don't know how thick Mylar balloons are but they would probably be floppy and hard to insert.

[@quinkyle769]

This was great. I’ve got all the problems you covered. I feel confident I can fix the issues now. Thank you for the video. Very informative.

[@manny3549]

Love this thorough tutorial….nothing this good on the Internet! Thank you. An expert that knows how to teach is a hard find. Thank you very much for your efforts.

[@TarekElBaradie]

Very methodical but pragmatic at the same time. Thanks for the wonderful delivery.

[@jesus_is_lord8303]

This has got to be the best video on tuning / setting up a dove tail style jointer hands down! Thank you so much !

[@michaelnorman5640]

Shawn This is such a great video I come back to this because we tend to forget the little things and this one my friend is very detailed and always I take a peek back to make sure I don’t forget something as I try to do this once a year for peace of mind so to speak!

[@johnhickman1534]

You might already know this, but when you put the guard back into the spring, you have to load it by turning it before you run the stem down. Great video. I have the same Rigid, so I will 'tune 'it up tomorrow.

[@wortheffort]

Or have a spring at all in there.

[@ericorellana629]

Great job. Hands down best video explaining how to adjust.

[@dvanvelzer]

Thanks for the great video. I tipped over my jointer and everything was thrown out of alignment. The user manual was worthless. Your video saved the day. Again, thank you.

[@robertunderwood6788]

Thanks for making making this video. The amount of detail and explanations make me feel confident I can level my joiner no problem. 🎉🎉

[@mhstretch]

I just acquired this unit, and I thank you very much for your presentation. This made the less coherent instructions come together.

[@paulwilliams3139]

Hey thanks for this video, my jointer is very old like 60's vintage. Today I pulled it apart and put it back together again updating the old English Whitworth bolts to metric. I then went over the in and outfeed tables making sure they both lined up across the length, then moved on to the cutting head. My very poor old jointer never did do a good job at even doing a flat board. With your advice, it now does board completely flat but also a perfect 90, and wow what a difference and now a joy to use. Thank you for the video and the great explanations of how it should work.

[@jarmstrong2843]

FYI - The HD 6" jointer is made by TTI. This company makes jointers, lathes , saws etc. for Milwaukee, Jet, Home Depot, Grizzly and others. If you find a part that is difficult to find because it has been discontinued, try looking at other brands of equipment with similar features. As an example, I found some Porter Cable band saw parts work perfectly well with my 14" Ridgid band saw The same could be said for Grizzly. And I have found Grizzly parts work on my Ridgid jointer. Keep that in mind when you go shopping for parts. These are jointers all made in the same factory that are "similar" to the Ridgid. They are not identical, but use many of the same parts and design. ACCURA AMERICAN MACHINE TOOL BRIDGEWOOD BW-6R DELTA JT-360 GENERAL 1180 GRIZZLY G0654 GRIZZLY G0452 GRIZZLY G0526 GRIZZLY G1182 JET JJ-6 JET JJ-60S JET JJ-6CSDX JET JJ-6CSX JET JJ-6CS JET JJ-6HHDX PIONEER PNR 13 150L POWERMATIC 54A RELIANT DD-38 RIDGID JP0610 RIDGID JP06101 RIDGID JP6101 SHOP FOX W-1679 BUSY BEE B706 CARBATEC CTJ-150 CRAFTEX B706N GEE-TECH CT-15 GENERAL 80-075 GENERAL 80-100 GENERAL 80-150 GENERAL 80-100LM1 NORTHSTATE CT-150D STEEL CITY 40615 STEEL CITY 40625 STEEL CITY 40640 KING CANADA KC-150C AXMINSTER CT1502 GRIZZLY G0813 GRIZZLY G0814 SHOP FOX W-1745 CARBATEC CTJ-196 SUNHILL SM-150 RIDGID JP06000 GENERAL 80-150L

[@gsibert1]

Great video! Thorough, easy to understand, and to follow. Thank you so much

[@indranilchakraborty2731]

Excellent video. Thank you for providing all the details.

[@ncnardi]

Thank you so much for putting this together!! I just bought the same jointer two months ago and while it seems really straight I have been afraid to check (other than the fence at 90) for fear that I would not know how to make the adjustments!!! Cant wait for the Table Saw Video!!

[@richardanderson7692]

Top notch! I appreciate that you offered an overview of concepts, and discussion of how the task is performed. Thank you for suggesting the order the tasks should be performed. Each step builds on the prior in a logical order. Until tonight, I didn’t recognize the need to start with leveling the cutter head relative to the infeed table, and that it is possible to shim the infeed table if needed.

[@dgramsz2146]

Really needed this! Moved my shop recently. Just fired up my jointer and yeah, major issues, major panic… thinking this is going to help a ton.great work. Thank you!

[@nicbuo8319]

Great content, Thank you To adjust the dial indcator unlock the small thumbwhell located on the outer cover ring at the 2 o'clock position it will make the adjustment effortless - and will make adjustment effortless

[@barkingshark6413]

Wow… super helpful. Thanks for your time.

[@gefaber482]

Thank you for making this in depth video. I was having problems with my outfeed table and after watching , the adjustment was very simple. Thanks again!

[@TheBlueMuzzy]

I was JUST having that taper issue with my old grizzly jointer. I found the manual but it didn't say anything about fixing the angle or twist. This video came at the EXACT right time. Thank you :D

[@AdamLVose]

Thanks for another very informative video. Quick note, when you tweak the gibs... the set screws are the gib settings. The middle one with the lever is a lock.

[@wands46]

Thank you so much for this video! I have that exact jointer and have struggled so much. Initially it was tapering the wood which I mostly fixed by shimming the slope but then realized it was also twisting and then I couldn't figure out what to do with that. This video was immensely helpful.

[@cheryldawkins7486]

I also have this jointer. I thought my problems were caused by user error. Thank you for this video.

[@chashint1]

Edited.... This is a FYI. My jointer's model number is JP06101. Setting the knife height still alludes me. I bought the mini planer pal, but it sets the knives too high for the head to rotate. Best I can tell the head diameter on my machine is about 2.375" and the maximum the mini planer pal supports is 2.125". Per the Byrd website in regard to the Ridgid JP06101 jointer ... "Older models use a 2 5/8” cutting circle and newer models use a 63mm cutting circle (Cutting circle = diameter of cutter head including knives)." ... original... It was getting hard to push wood through my jointer so I decided to replace the knives. I remembered this video so I watched it again. Thanks for doing videos like this. My jointer is very well aligned so I didn’t have to mess with the beds. If I had not seen you turning the screws to the right to get the knives out I might have broken something. After putzing around trying to set the knives with a straight edge I couldn’t get them set good enough so I just ordered the mini knife setting gizmo and will try again in two days.

[@wortheffort]

Raise the outfeed to match the knives

[@chashint1]

@@wortheffort Hi Shawn, I understand the recommendation to raise the outfeed table, the problem I have is when the first knife is set with the gizmo it is set too high for the cutter head to rotate. Rotated forward it strikes the infeed table side and rotated backwards it strikes the outfeed table side. Bed height is not the issue. I have paid close attention to the segment of the video where you set the knife with the planer pal, you did a good close up of the methodology and I am doing it the way you demonstrate. I am not upset in any way with your instructions and recommendations, I am usually very good at setting machine tolerances but setting these knives is kicking my a$$ three ways to Sunday to the point that I have been looking at helical cutter heads this morning. I will work on it some more today. If I can find a couple of magnets I might add them to the ones that hold the knife so it will be set it lower on the head. I do appreciate you.

[@chashint1]

I finally succeeded with setting the jointer knives using the straight edge on the out feed table and rocking the cutter head back and forth method. It took several rounds of adjustments to get the knives all set equally across their length. That jointer went the full 15 rounds and I only won by a point or two. Hopefully I will be better at this task in the future.

[@tflood72]

Wow! Great information and detail here! I learned quite a bit. Thank you.

[@Chief515]

Awesome video! I wish I’d have seen it about 6 months ago..

[@DonsWoodies]

I have the same jointer, and recently replaced the cutter head with a LUX helical head. I know the tables are out just a bit, but have always been good enough. I think, though, after watching this I need to finally do the effort to get them inline better. The new head deserves better. :-)

[@jt_lancer]

Have the same jointer and everything’s tapered like you mentioned. Hopefully this will help me

[@dwaynebrazeaux3084]

Thanks for posting this video. I have the exact same jointer and noticed over the years that the front side of the fence was square to the table but not the back side of the fence. Never figured out why until watching your video! I think I see why you adjusted the cutter head instead of shimming the infeed side. My jointer had the exact same problem and instead of shimming the cutter head I shimmed the infeed side but noticed the shim would "skate" out the end after adjusting the table up and down, so I ended up shimming the cutter head as you did.

[@aggibson74]

I just picked up this same jointer on CL. Excellent video! Thanks!---now let me check out the table saw video...

[@treystills]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing

[@marcodelgado9278]

Muchas gracias Excelente explicación te felicito

[@Engineering_Science]

Excellent explanation.

[@cameroncaffee8243]

Well done ! I’ve had difficulty locating setup and maintenance training for any of my shop equipment. Thank you !

[@jayfmiller]

Thank you! Excellent video

[@aftermath2333]

I have the same jointer good tips going to try this when I get time.

[@TeeJayNIU]

Great video man. Huge help. Thank you.

[@Sillyturner]

The bars that hold the blades in are called the chip breakers. Thats why the radius groove in them to control the chip curling off the cutter and not just hitting a square shoulder and splintering, tearing the wood surface.

[@tomsuica8731]

I got a spiral head for my dw734 planer and my jet shopline series 6 inch jointer for $530 after negotiating and haggling back and fourth with Livter

[@JamesKelly89]

I never expected Penn Jilette to tell me how to tune up my jointer.

[@andrewkotula9975]

This was perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. I, however, being anal about measurements, would have taken one of the shims out. I can't help myself. Great video.

[@ok-hd4so]

Thank you so much.

[@fredmeyer3063]

Awesome video! Thank you!

[@ingram909xxx]

Thanks a million.

[@greglewis8752]

A very simple way to determine if the table, say on a band saw, is exactly 90 degrees to the blade can be done with two cuts on a piece of scrap wood. First you make a very shallow cut on a piece of thick wood [say 1/2"], then turn the board over, with the top side now on the bottom and make another cut near but not on the first cut. If the two cut lines are parallel then the table is exactly square with the blade. I feel this is superior even to the precision square and other measuring methods.

[@PattersonPatch]

123 Blocks would also work for checking the square of the fence and are also multipurpose just like those corners

[@wayneparris3439]

Yes they would but they are very small and your chance of error multiplies. A 456 would be better but a master square would be best. The angles are a good compromise.

[@christopherhachet8204]

Very good video!

[@sylvester-rockytarver1616]

Thank you for the information! Very informative and you explained this wonderfully!!! Will help me on my grizzly 6”. I’m definitely going to be buying some of those tools to help me dial those in. I was wondering why mine over time has gotten so off.

[@davesatosky5840]

i put a shelix in that same jointer and its the best thing ive ever done, quickly forgot about the price tag after using.. your making them big youtube bucks, do yourself a favor and get a shelix head lol.. joking aside, your the man and thank you for sharing your knowledge

[@wortheffort]

Ya, big bucks. Same day I emptied change jar to buy some blue tape.

[@davesatosky5840]

@@wortheffort I literally just purchased a T-shirt off your site, my contribution to the jar. Appreciate what you do and I look forward to the table saw set up video next.

[@daven7110]

Wow....a great video. Thanks! Please tell me that you live near Pittsburgh, PA as I'd like to hire you to 'super tune' my jointer...I have the same one that has been sitting in the barn since around 2013.

[@JakeEllison94]

Solid video

[@hassanal-mosawi4235]

Thanks for sharing that!

[@semtex2987]

shouldn't be at first the outfeed table coplanar to the cuttinghead / edge of the knives and then adjust the infeed table for planar/parallel alignement?

[@dublinf4477]

I thought the same. I think the procedure is backwards. Outstanding video just needed to start with the out feed table first, then the infeed.

[@jarmstrong2843]

Shawn: I have a Ridgid jointer that I purchased from an individual. It was damaged in a house fire and the plastic switch and bezel on the front of the machine were melted. Other than this, all looks ok other than the rust that was on the infeed/outfeed tables. That was removed with lots of elbow grease. Now I am in the process of truing up the infeed/outfeed tables. I am using a 4’ straight edge to find where the table is sagging. What is an acceptable clearance under the straight edge when looking for misalignments. I used a feeler gauge with .005” and all seemed ok. Then I went down to .0025” and in spots the feeler gauge slipped under the straight edge. Should I call it a day and leave things alone? Also, when I first began the true up process, I ran the infeed table all the way up then used a dial indicator to measure how much the cutter head was out of alignment to it. It was out about .007” at one end and I shimmed one end of the cutter head up with aluminum from a soda pop can and reduced the misalignment to about .002”-.003”. Is this good enough?

[@wortheffort]

You’re asking me how perfect should ai make it. That’s something you need to decide for yourself. I’m not a machinist.

[@martinsmythe3414]

great vid I need a little advise. I am doing this with a vintage craftsman 4 1/4 in. planer. when I check for coplaner with the straight edge I get a .013 gap at the cutter end of the infeed table. It is the same on both front sides of the infeed table. The gap very quickly over 3 or 4" disappears where do you think I should place the shims?

[@derekcraig3617]

It's more important to have your outfeed table square to your fence than your infeed table

[@seerstoneent]

how do you know that the drum for the cutter is accurate? Would it be more accurate to do the adjustments with the blades in?

[@northcackalacky4694]

Most excellent and Informative video. We needed that video!@$%!! Thank you

[@daveengstrom9250]

I usually reference everything off of the arbor, not the tables. You seem to have forgotten that the outfeed table moves up and down to match the cutters.

[@wortheffort]

You didn’t watch the part about setting the blades.

[@J.A.Smith2397]

How Ain't I seen this since you put it out?!

[@everettneil6860]

Mark and record any part or machinery before disassembly, therfore they can be put back in same position or close to it

[@richardackroyd1411]

joiner or thicknesser ? which is more usefull ?? as the space of both is tight and cost is important !!

[@tinycuisine6544]

All our poor jointers needed is a nice cool Coca-Cola.

[@jarmstrong2843]

BTW, did you ever get a spring for your jointer guard? Let me know. I’ll get you one if not.

[@timhalcomb4041]

Thanks for sharing have a blessed day in Jesus name

[@richranchernot]

Using shims for machined surfaces designed to regularly slide upon one another makes no sense at all. Normal adjustment of the in-feed table will wear the shim and it will need to be replaced. Additionally, the shims will have a tendency to move along the dovetail as the height of the tables are adjusted. To ensure accuracy shims would have to be adjusted every time the bed is adjusted. Ideally, the machined surfaces must be trued. I am of the opinion that trying to tune a portly machined jointer is dubious.

[@wantlessobject]

AAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

[@kennyc388]

You're going to flap your gums for 51 minutes on this? Goodbye.