So I was working on the Laguna Jointer yesterday and was making sure it was in good working order before using and noticed the fence out of 90 square to the table. Was seeing how to go about making fence adjustments and just couldn’t make heads or tails of it. The Laguna instruction manual is pretty god awful (always been a grip of mine with them) and surprisingly didn’t see anything online about setup for this same model jointer. While I was at it though on closer inspection even to my untrained eye a lot of the machining, components etc of the fence seemed to be all out of whack. Misaligned, stripped bolts, etc. Seems it’s getting used (great) and abused (not so great). This tool should provide years and years of good service. I’d love to meet up with someone who’s got experience with this jointer who could show me how to tune its setup and help others when necessary!
You’re right. The jointer has gotten a lot of use and abuse. Unfortunately, the fence has never been great. On initial setup, Charles and Joseph went to great trouble to calibrate it. The fence is simply unstable. I’ll do my face jointing, then adjust the fence to 90 degrees. And then be extremely careful to not hit the fence with the lumber, or let the pork chop hit it. That’s not how it should be. If you want to help maintain the jointer or other shop equipment, let me know!
Is not only the jointer that needs TLC. I have not been in the shop in the last two weeks and I hate to be the Gestapo police but here it goes: used the bandsaw and immediatelly blade came off the track. There was a wax like substance caked in the bottom wheel, took me fifteen minutes to scrape off. Went to reinstal the blade and without loosening anything i was able to put the blade back in the tracks so leads me to believe that it was improperly installed hardly no tension. When I made a cut, the blade is so dull that left the edge where i cut black (it was 3/4 birch plywood). Used the table saw and the blade is also pretty dull. One of the side effects of using a full kerf blade is that they are not as forgiving when they get dull and also you can not just feel the friction as youre cutting you can hear it too. Went to use the miter saw and again the blade is rather dull. I was cutting hard maple, meranti, and cherry so you have a semi-soft, medium, and dense lumber. On all three species the blades acted the same. I could have understood the hard maple since it was 1" thick but not the other two. Anyway, i was there when Cameron was experiencing the jointer problems. I was teaching Trevor the proper techniques to use the jointer. In a span of one hour the fence went off square four times. It was very consistent though. About 4 degrees or around 3/16" bottom gap when you put a square on it and it seemed to happen when they move the fence. So i suspect there is an obstruction on the camlock or is dirty. I guess trying to get the fence sqared people have been messing with the mechanical arms behind the fence and since the problem is not there, have not been successful but in the process they have thrown at leat one out of whack. I will try to look at it late tonight (alot of people on the schedule, don’t want to get in the way) or for sure tomorrow. I will also change the blades on the bandsaw, tablesaw, and miter if there any on hand.
Also, you may want to look into replacing the carbide squares in the jointer as they are also dull. When i was teaching Trevor how to reposition the pads or hands when surfacing long stock, the places where i paused (I was very deliverate so he could see the process)ended up with burnt marks instead of just a scaloped or snipe gauge.
Which bandsaw are you referring to? The resaw just got a new blade, and it seemed sharp when I used it today.
Yup +1 Jose’s commentary. As for the jointer I think at least the fence needs to be disassembled, thoroughly cleaned and have some of the necessary components replaced.
If I’ve got the right manual looks like the fence handle (up top) is completely gone. Maybe it was never there…I think this is the part Fence Handle.
Beyond that we’ve got some really nice tools around the space and I’d hate for them to get burned through due to the tragedy of the commons issues and general misuse. I’ve seen some downright dangerous operations of some tools by folks who clearly didn’t understand exactly what they were doing. Rather than take a step back when a tool is clearly not working as it should I think some have a tendency to plow through rather than seeking assistance. Wondering if we have enough classes / instruction so ppl get a more in-depth look at setting up, operating and maintaining the various tools. I know we have the required wood shop safety class, but idk that this one hour class is really enough to understand some of the finer points of the tools…just a thought.
I’m willing to help assist tuning the tools for anyone willing to teach! Thnx
The handle for the fence is in the stewards closet. It was purposefully left off recently, since it tends to knock the fence out of square when people grab that handle to adjust the fence/bed width. It’s better to adjust by the frame behind the fence.
A longer term fix might mean making a way to attach the fence without the tilting mechanism. That seems to be the aspect that is unstable.
Makes me think why a jointer fence can ever move. I’d be interested to hear how often anyone has ever intentionally jointed something at an angle
It’s a convenient way to chamfer edges. I’ve done it on my jointer, but it’s certainly not super-common and you can usually accomplish the same task with the router table unless you want an unusual angle.
(I think the ideal tool for that would be a tilting-spindle shaper, but alas nobody’s donated one of those just yet…)
It’s a much more common adjustment to move the fence in or out with respect to the cutting head so you’re not always using the same 2" of cutter when edge jointing. Being able to do that while keeping the fence square with respect to the table is much more important than being able to tilt the fence.
If somebody really, truly needed to edge-joint bevels, a tapered sacrificial fence could be constructed easily enough and clamped to the fixed fence.
My 2 cents: at one point in time there were no chamfer or angled router bits available and columns or spindles were desirable. So aesthetically, making a hollow glued up cylinder required jointing of different bevelled angles to make a good strong joint so it could be turned in the lathe or otherwise. Now days is possible to get router bits in many different angles and although most are limited to cutting 3/4 you can still use them for thicker and still be successful (requires a geometry or japanese jointery lesson). Using router bits or a CNC is more aquarate than the jointer. So yes I have used the jointer for angles, I had the need for a walnut 10" round smooth column 5’ long and only had 7/8" stock. So I made a twelve sided cylinder that gave me a smooth column a little under 3/4" thick. Also, now days there are some table saw blades that are designed to give a glue ready joint and that is safer than the jointer. The jointer problems rise when is moved. Right now the jointer moves rather easy. I dont think it was properly set up since the market event. So I suggest to try to bolt it to the floor if possible. When properly ground, the vibrations of the machine would be reduced so the mechanical joints where screws are used would be more stable. If you look at other industrial Laguna jointers they do not have the same fence design. They have the more traditional version of a 3" or so cylinder or pipe being hosed in a bracket holding the fence. So I would say the design is somewhat flawed since they don’t use it in the newer machines. But we have to live with it and I agree making the fence stationary to 90 degrees should be a good solution. I am not a metal guy so I dont know if some of the arms can be welded. Another solution could be to see if the other kind of fence from Laguna can be retrofitted into this one.
Using the jointer to beveling is perfectly reasonable. This is a feature designed into most jointers for some time now. How effective it is versus other techniques I might question… The classic optimization problem comes into play though. If you make something designed that can move…well it will move. As Jose alluded to though this model of Laguna jointer doesn’t feature the same fence system as they have on the industrial models. There seems to be more moving parts on this model which of course general make the overall structure less rigid and more prone to inadvertent adjustments…
As for the present problem with as much use as the jointer gets we need to be able to reliable slide adjust it to evenly wear the cutter heads, while ensuring it stays square to 90 deg. It’d suggest also once this is achieved beveling should be broadly discouraged…
Update on TLC items: tablesaw blade was replaced and squared to the table. I don’t think I like those blades. I feel too much vibration from the blade to the stock. Maybe im being picky. But i will make sure i bring my blade from now on.
Jet bandsaw (14") replaced the blade (there were none on hand so I donated the one I have been using). Is an Olson 1/4" APG73193 allpro, 6-TPI. It is a hog meaning it will cut quick but the edge is going to be rough. With all the new belt/spindle sanders it should not be a problem taking care of the edge. I cleaned all the bearings and the tires. It will need the guides bearings replaced soon (608Z or 608ZZ not sure what’s the difference) the bottom front on the right is freezing. I cleaned it out /lubricated and seems to be OK for now. I also cleaned the rust on the table top and waxed it. Miter saw, I replaced it with a 12" general purpose 44 teeth Diablo (HD twoffer special) I have never used this blade so see how long it last. The Olson bandsaw blade i have used it for 15 years and stand by their quality. Jointer: set it on the floor pads as in off the wheels. Leveled it but is off a wee bit, is a two person job. Took appart the fence mechanism cleaned all the parts. There was a clevis or roll pin that was protruding too far where the handle joins the centric cam, I pounded it into submition and should work much more better. I believe this had a little to do with the handle being hard to lock and unlock. To make it short, if you have to adjust the fence to make it square, use the plastic “L” handle to loosen the mechanism and if necessary the big screw on top of it. Drive it in or out, secure the handle and check for squareness. All the other screws ir nuts do not have much to do with the squaring of the fence. Maybe someone want to delve into flattening that particular screw and the bracket that is agaist it. I hand filed a little both of those surfaces and that’s how i got it to square consistently or not to come off square when the fence is moved.