You can go down the dial indicator track if you want to go that way. I just
find it a lot of unnessary effort. And by the way I have a shop full of dial
indicators and micrometers but I still do it the same way as the tradies
have done it for centuries.

A simple tool to do exactly the same job just as quick
a straight edge. be it a straight piece of timber. a small ruler of either
plastic or steel doesnt really matter. I can hear ppl shuddering now at the
thought of using a steel rule but if used correctly it will do no damage
whatsoever to the blades, if it does buy a set of better quality blades.

To find top dead centre of knife rotation
Place rule on rear table.
start to rotate knife by hand
as soon as it hits the straight edge (remember you are placing no pressure
on the straight edge it is just sitting there)... place a mark on the fence
keep rotating cutter until knife clears straight edge ..... place another
mark on fence
measure half way between these 2 points
align knife to middle mark ... and you are now on TDC

OK now to set blade height
bring each knife to TDC and adjust to straight edge. Knives are parrellel to
and level with outfeed table. It will take you longer to undo the nuts on
the cutter than it will to set the knives. You will 'feel' the knife on the
straight edge. If a little unsure rotate cutter by hand straight edge should
not move more than 1/32", you dont have to measure it you can see the
straight edge move and guess how much. If your hearing is better than your
eyesight all you have to do is listen to machine and it will tell you when
its right. You can hear the knife scraping the straightedge. Without knowing
the dia of cutter block to do exact calculations this will be within a thou
A variation to this that some ppl use is basically the same method as when
you are finding TDC. The straight edge should move the same distance on each
end of the knife and on each knife. Only downside to doing it this way is
that you will then have to adjust the outfeed table to match the knife
height.

The first few times you set up a set of knives it could be a little fiddly
but once you get the feel of it it only takes a cpl of minutes to adjust a
set of knives. The hardest part is usually learning how much to move the
knife. I easiest way is to just nip up the 2 outside bolts on cutter just
enough so knife doesnt move. Set the knife a little high and tap back down
with a piece of wood to set correct height. Tighten bolts and recheck
measurement.


"Chrisgiraffe" wrote in message
oups.com...
I had no idea I would spark this much conversation- and useful tips.
If this were 'Who wants to be a millionaire' I believe my lifeline
(i.e. this discussion) strongly believes it's the knives. I am apt to
suspect them, or at least want to check them, first. I don't have a
dial indicator.
Last night I rummaged through every industrial and woodworking supplier
I could to look for dial indicator deals and realized there are quite a
few doo-dads and gizmos that claim to help set the knives. What is sad
is that there isn't a standard practice/device for the operation and
what's sadder is that the jointer I have has no locking mechanism on
the spindle. I don't know that other jointers have this feature since
every advice I've come across talk about finding center and working
from there. It's kind of nuts that manufacturers might build this
machine knowing full well owners may one day have to change the knives
and have to perform a Houdini trick to get the task done right. At
least, one would think, they could put a pin that you could slide to
lock the spindle.

Also, after looking through industrial catalogues (i.e. Enco, MSC) at
metal milling machines I find that accuracy is built into the lowliest
of machines where as manufacturers who build machines for wood allow
much higher tolerances. Yeah, we can sand out imperfections and
materials are less expensive but don't we deserve the same treatment?

Anyway, I will be buying a dial indicator but until that arrives I'll
see what I can do by hand using the methods suggested in this forum. I
have to say I've gotten more out of this forum about jointing than I
have in any woodworking book. In some sense it makes me appreciate the
incident.

Thanks guys and gals! Happy wooding and feel free to add to the
conversation.