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then why don't you just glue the belt to a 32" length of 1" wide stock which has already been straightened, and use that as your *plane* rather than the 12" long ceramic stone

Because, as you noted, I'm cheap!

I didn't cut the belt open, so it can still be used on the belt sander....

You obviously haven't used zirconia abrasives yet. They ARE that impressive...

Hey Mario,
If you can find a 4X24 sanding belt and the sander to go with it, you can avoid that sore shoulder getting sorer.

Well, we exchanged problems.

Managed to get the new jointer in the shop by unpacking it in the alley. One 120lb box and one 440lb box. We press ganged a shop drop-in for assistance 'since you're here anyway, would ya mind?'...

Assembled it carefully, and wouldn't you know, it's hoopty outta the box. You can square the outfeed table and the fence, but the infeed table is off by about 1/8" across a 6" span. If it wasn't a granite bed, I'd say there's some irony in there.

So, now we're back to waiting for the rep to come have a gander. Sheesh, all I want to do is glue up some backs and tops. I shoulda just bought a Lie-Nielson and learned a new skill....

Ha!

I wouldn't let a jointer hold up joining tops and backs. A cheap Stanley #4 and a shooting board would make short work of it, and just about as fast as a jointer. A jointer can do many other worthwhile things so don't think I'm dissing the tool, but I wouldn't let the lack of one hold up production.
Why are granite topped tools so popular these days? Granite tabled tablesaws, band saws, and now jointers? Granite seems like it would be more prone to chipping and cracking, but maybe this isn't the case.

And the word is not 'cheap' - it's 'frugal'...

Thanks for the correction. You're correct! I be frugal....

Meddling, what you're struggling with was one of my arguments with the pad dude, regarding truing-up the one I have VS buying a new one(as was his recurring suggestion). Buying new doesn't ensure success. I hate that you're having so much trouble, but at least you have a nearby rep who can come-by and look it over, and you will get it right at some point, and likely learn a lot more about the machine than you would have if the first one was perfect right out of the box.

I remember my brother ordering, and installing, something like 5 table saws before he got one with a decent enough top that he'd keep it....

It's a bit of an annoyance but not the end of the world. Eventually if I spend enough money I'll get a machine that works, right? We've also had a a much closer look at the drum sander. The bed is not flat and needs milling. I wonder if they'll cover that under warranty.

Clay, I've tried so many times over the years to make the plane/shooting board combo work, it's sad. I still have a shooting board around built off of Todd's plan. I think I'll get a decent plane one day and try again though.

I'm pretty sure the beds themselves are nice and flat. There are adjustment for changing the tables and I suspect that it what is out of whack. We'll see what the rep says.

My dad was a child of the Great Depression, so he tended to buy high quality, durable goods as inexpensively as possible from dealers/vendors that would stand behind the product. He was very frugal, but never cheap!

Well said! My Dad always said that it cost more to go second class, so he, too, would always buy the best he could get, but he'd haggle and look everywhere to get the best price. This is especially true with tools; when we buy 'cheap', we usually get a tool that won't last, and in the end, will have to replace with a quality one, so the money paid for the cheap one was actually completely wasted. I think it was Michael Lewis who said that a good tool only hurts once(when you pay for it), but a cheap/bad tool hurts every time you use it...

And a little correction on the belt size I'm using; it's a 1x42", not 32" as I wrote earlier. Now considering making a 16" or 18" long block for the final truing. Truing the tables is really going faster than I would have ever dreamed... Thanks for the inspiration to "just do it"! I'd found a way to make the jointer workable years ago, and was too lazy to ever bother to fix it correctly.

That's the problem with workarounds. They tend to stick around...

Yup...

there is quite a bit of truth behind this all...but there are times when you need a tool that you know you will rarely use and buying some cheap alternative from Harbor Freight turns out to be the best thing you have ever done...

for example I have about 20 high dollar 2' Bessey bar clamps...at one point I needed about twice that many and coincidentally HF had their cheapos on sale for about $4 each...so I bought 30 in various lengths...yep, I've stripped the threads on 2 of them but I am VERY proud of myself for having saved about $500...I prefer my Bessey's for sure when I need some real heavy clamping pressure, but when I'm doing work that requires less pressure in many places (like a curved stair rail or cap) then I pull out every clamp I have and go to town...

Yeah, Harbor Freight clamps ... I had a similar need this year, and bought something like 8 18" clamps. I haven't destroyed one yet, and it was great that they cost nothing, but they still make the skin crawl a little. (Note that even the thought that I could destroy one is based on their very first use).

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Mario, you can make a very effective sanding block out of that belt by using a 1" thick piece of hardwood of whatever width ...2 1/2" to 3 " ... rounding one end to a roughly semicircular profile and making a pair of folding wedges to take up the slack at the other end (one wedge would also have a roughly semicircular profile) Tap the wedges together and you take out all the slack in the belt.

I am sure your brother has done this countless times with shorter belts ... it's an old cabinetmaker's trick.

btw ...you can get a pack of 3 Al.Zirc 40 grit belts on Ebay for under 9 dollars ...

Well, at least this time it wasn't me. The infeed bed was indeed way out of whack. The service guy spent a good 5-6 hours with us disassembling and adjusting the beast. Not much fun and not a very productive day, other than getting the machine fixed, which is something I guess. Did manage to join a few panels though. It seems to take way more finesse than the jointer I'm used to, and each piece seems to require its own specific little dance to make the edges line up good. I'm a little disappointed overall. I had hoped a 900$ machine would be a foolproof situation, which is what I'm always aiming for.

On the plus size, he played guitar and liked ours, and is going to come back one day with a buddy of his. Plus, he's a competition shooter, so I may be able to get a few proper shooting lessons. He actually built the range I go to from a decommissioned battleship armour plate. Small world....

What brand of jointer was it that you bought, meddlingfool? I am going to replace mine soon, and don't want to jump though the same hoops that you've had to. It does sound like the customer support is pretty good, though.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

It's a Steel City 6" granite bed helical head jointer. I believe it's a good machine, it's just going to take some getting used to I expect. I imagine it will take some time to know what the different cut results indicate, as in whether the outfeed table needs adjustment etc...and getting used to it rather than the one I've been using for the last ten years or so...