I'm generally pretty relaxed, until it comes to machine tolerances. My jointer fence had a slight dip in it, and flattening it has been on my "things to do" list for about a year. I called a friend with access to some massive tooling and it made short work of making my fence flat. To give you an idea of the size of this mill the clamped fence is 36"x6".
-Tyler
jesus.
ReplyDeletemy fence has that very same dip. maybe they had a flawed casting.
i wish my friends had a mill that size.
jbreau
Hey Jbreau,
ReplyDeletebummer, it's interesting to hear your have the same flaw, because i was wondering if it was wear or age that produced the defect. Damn you Poitras! Originally, i called my friend to see if he knew anyone in town with a grinder that could handle the size. He told me to bring it by and he'd hit it with his mill, i was a bit skeptical until i saw the work they produced. Pretty amazing stuff.
Tyler
the grinder marks are still quite visible everywhere on the face of the fence, and the bow is quite severe (about 1/16"). it's probably just some stresses that have come out of the castings after they ground it flat.
ReplyDeletewhat year is your jointer from? mine's from '76. i'm just wondering if they might have been rushing some castings towards the end of the business...
I'm not sure of the year, but it's a later model (the base isn't completely made of cast iron). Tomorrow i'll look at the serial numbers. My dip was only .008", and it was concentrated around the cutterhead, which leads me to think mine might be a result of wear.
Delete1/16 seems like a lot, i can see that driving you bonkers.
It's serial is K 06 81 779 . Apparently it was made in 1981.
Deletethose would of been some of the last ones made. i think general bought them in 1983.
ReplyDeletemy base is not cast either. it's made of really thick sheet metal.