GerryG said:

Thank you; it's interesting to compare that with the "old style" I bought
years ago, probably before China was around. The base was flat, and the face

I wish I had more "old" tools. I lost almost everything I owned in a
fire in 1987. Hand planes, power tools, mechanics tools, etc. I'm
having to replace the good old stuff with crap from China just to get
back to where I was. I still have some electronic items that are 20
years old, because they just don't build them like that anymore.
500watt amps, Flying erase head editing VCRs, analog Dolby FM
receivers. They may not have all the fancy remote functions, but the
sound quality and quality of construction is far superior.

Since the move to China, those quality and flatness issues have gotten to the
point where I'm glad I just moved next to a guy with a milling machine and
metal lathe. Trying to lap .028 over that area takes awhile:-) You might want
to consider a sander to take it part way.

GerryG

I have a Delta 6" joiner - 37-195 - and I waited a year to buy it
because the fences were warping so bad on the earlier models they were
unusable. It seems to be a problem with Pentair's products more than
other companies, however. The quality of Chinese crap is improving,
just as Taiwan's and Japan's did. It seems as though Pentair just
hasn't kept up with progress...

As for the jig, I've already completed the job. Started with prussian
blue and a nice, flat, sharp, OLD, US made machinists ******* file to
take off the bulk, then polished it down with abrasives and a 1 RPM
electric motor with an eccentric. It's a leftover from when I used to
build 10,000 RPM Rotary Engines and would lap the side housings...


Greg G.