I have reached an age where I am able to spend my winters in Florida and
have been trying to set up a small shop in my garage, leaving my machinery
in my main shop up north.

I was tempted by a cheap Harbor Freight 6-inch joiner at the irrestible
price of $189. I am old enough to know better so I really have no one to
blame but myself for ever buying this piece of junk.

First of all it took two full days to assemble it due to the instructions
which had to have been written by a non-English speaking person who no idea
at all of what he/she was doing.


I also bought a Rigid table saw for $569. At least it had clear
instructions and was easy to assemble. Its fence has a visible bow in
it--so far out I didn't even bother trying to just how far it was out. I
can correct that by fastening a baltic birch plywood fence to it. I suspect
that table is out and am waiting for a machinist straight edge to see just
how far out. Their cust. service says that if the table is more than 12
thousandths out they will send me a new table but they didn't say how far
out the new table might be. The one positive thing I an say for it is that
is is fairly vibration free for a saw with a motor hanging out the back.
(Cabinet saws usually have multiple belts which are short because the motor
is below and very close to the arbor and this really reduces vibration. I
dont
feel quite as stupid with the purchase of the table saw as the joiner but I
wish
I had just gone for quality instead of price.

I'd sure like to hear from any one who has succeeded in really tuning up one
of
these HF cheap joiners and would like to know how they were able to set
their
blades without jack screws or springs to raise the blade. I suppose it is
possible
that I just got a defective unit where they forgot to install the jack
screws or springs
in the cutter head.

Joe

"no spam" wrote in message
...

Snip

The one positive thing I an say for it is that
is is fairly vibration free for a saw with a motor hanging out the back.
(Cabinet saws usually have multiple belts which are short because the
motor
is below and very close to the arbor and this really reduces vibration.

I think that the 3 short belts would be more likely to ADD vibration as they
spin at a faster speed than the single long one on a contractors saw. The
cabinet saws typically have much more mass that helps cut down on vibration.

Joe wrote:I'd sure like to hear from any one who has succeeded in really
tuning up one
of
these HF cheap joiners and would like to know how they were able to set
their
blades without jack screws or springs to raise the blade. I suppose it is
possible
that I just got a defective unit where they forgot to install the jack
screws or springs
in the cutter head.

Joe

You could make a set of magnetic gauges (if the table is iron), which will
hold the knife in place while you tighten the gibs. Tom
Work at your leisure!

no spam wrote:
I have reached an age where I am able to spend my winters in Florida and
have been trying to set up a small shop in my garage, leaving my machinery
in my main shop up north.

I was tempted by a cheap Harbor Freight 6-inch joiner at the irrestible
price of $189. I am old enough to know better so I really have no one to
blame but myself for ever buying this piece of junk.

First of all it took two full days to assemble it due to the instructions
which had to have been written by a non-English speaking person who no idea
at all of what he/she was doing.


I also bought a Rigid table saw for $569. At least it had clear
instructions and was easy to assemble. Its fence has a visible bow in
it--so far out I didn't even bother trying to just how far it was out. I
can correct that by fastening a baltic birch plywood fence to it. I suspect
that table is out and am waiting for a machinist straight edge to see just
how far out. Their cust. service says that if the table is more than 12
thousandths out they will send me a new table but they didn't say how far
out the new table might be. The one positive thing I an say for it is that
is is fairly vibration free for a saw with a motor hanging out the back.
(Cabinet saws usually have multiple belts which are short because the motor
is below and very close to the arbor and this really reduces vibration. I
dont
feel quite as stupid with the purchase of the table saw as the joiner but I
wish
I had just gone for quality instead of price.

I'd sure like to hear from any one who has succeeded in really tuning up one
of
these HF cheap joiners and would like to know how they were able to set
their
blades without jack screws or springs to raise the blade. I suppose it is
possible
that I just got a defective unit where they forgot to install the jack
screws or springs
in the cutter head.

Joe


I just looked at one of those jointers for $189. It has
screws in the bottom of the groove to raise the jointer
knife. A hell of an improvement over the 4" Craftsman that
my FIL gave me. The little Craftsman (about 50 years old)
also has a terrible adjustment bolt mechanism for leveling
the tables. I spent a useless hour trying to adjust it
until I took it completely apart and saw what a mess the
adjuster were (loosening or tightening the lock bold easily
changes the table by height by several thousands. In all I
probably spent about 3 hours trying to get the tables level
with each other and the knives at the same height as the
outfeed table. The tables are not flat and I have never had
a jointer before. You adjust the knives by putting a little
tension on the holding screw and then you tap the knife
down with a piece of hard wood or move it up by tapping the
bottom of the overhanging knife.

I though the HF$189 jointer would be a huge improvement as
both tables moved smoothly with hand wheels and the tables
looked flat, but I didn't measure with a straight edge.

If you have a visible bow in your TS fence, you need to get
Rigid to replace the fence.