Thread: Homemade 12" jointer

So what is the in and out feed tables made from? and can the tables be raised and lowered? Interesting

So the construction is two sheets of 19mm marine ply glued together for the carcass as well as the infeed and outfeed. Then the fence, infeed and outfeed then have 3mm stainless on them for a smooth surface.

It uses a parallelogram mechanism to raise and lower the height of the infeed table. Each corner of the outfeed and infeed tables are adjustable in height so I could make the outfeed parallel to the cutter head and then the infeed table parallel to the outfeed table.

Here is a link to the page I got the ideas from he is a very intuitive man and he has some great projects on his website. He demonstrates how to build the jointer as well as how to build the parallelogram mechanism.
https://woodgears.ca/jointer/homemade.html

Impressive.

What did you use for a motor, bearings and belt drive?
Where is the belt?

Belt is on the back. I did this to save me making a belt guard and to me it just made sense to put it at the back.

Motor is a 3hp single phase motor purchased off of ebay and is mounted on a carriage system so I have 19mm socket that goes into the side of the jointer to increase or decrease belt tension.

Bearings are sealed bearings in pillow blocks purchased from local bearings stores.

Belt drive is a pulley kit I got to suit a Grizzly jointer as the diameter of the cutter head shaft is the same on the grizzly as it is on the spiral cutter head I used. See link below.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Pul...campaign=zPage

Cheers.

Cool. How do you make sure that the fence stays true and 90 degrees?

Great job!

I'm away for work but when i'm home i'll post a few photos.

The fence sits on two sturdy supports at the back that have a section of T track in each of them. This allows me to move the fence inwards and outwards and up and down if needed. I used paper shims to make sure it was exactly 90 degrees to the cutter / infeed and outfeed tables.

The only thing I don't have is the ability to put 45 degree edges on boards but I have already drawn plans for a second fence set to 45 degrees that I can swap this fence with if needed. The fence can be removed in about 30 seconds.

Cheers

Might as well follow this by saying i've used this jointer for a while now. Works extremely well. I have run quite a bit of hard maple and walnut over it. No problems yet. All up i'm in probably $1000 on this but compared to any spiral cutter jointer (let alone a 12" one) and i'm far ahead here.

How often do you use a 45 degree on the jointer anyway?

Yes some pictures of the fence support would be great!

Personally not often but for some people the jointer is the machine of choice for bevels and mitres. I've found the table saw to be just fine for the most part.

you are obliviously very talented but one word of advice machining anything from the outfeed position is not a good idea because if you get kick back it is difficult to avoid being injured. I see lots of videos where operators place there hands beyond the turning blades and I shudder even time.

Much appreciated thanks for the tip. I'll avoid this from now on.

Sorry for the delay. Got the jointer going today. Haven't used it in about two months, the weather is a lot warmer now and I checked the tables were still co-planar. All sweet! I passed a piece of tiger maple I had on hand. Here are a few photos as requested of the fence, and of the finish straight off the jointer. I love this. I've got a few big panel glue ups coming up soon so i'll make good use of the jointer. It the timber is quite bent I usually take an edge off either using a jig on the table saw or my track saw. Then pass it on the jointer after to make sure it's perfectly flat.

Veritas Straight edge used on the timber here.

Sorry again for sideways photos. First three images are timber straight off the jointer.

Image 4 shows the outfeed table and how each corner is adjustable to make sure it is parallel to the cutter head. The outfeed table is made up of 2 pieces of laminated marine ply with 3mm stainless on top. There is a piece of threaded rod in each corner epoxied into the outfeed table. I then can adjust some nylock nuts up and down in each corner to raise or lower each corner for the outfeed table. The infeed table has the same principle but on top of this the parralelogram mechanism as I described in my first post from woodgears.ca

The stainless is very level I just used fine sandpaper to remove burrs around the countersunk screw locations hence why they look 'polished' compared to the rest. Using my veritas straight edge it is extremely flat though.



Imaga 5 is the infeed height adjustment wheel I made. This connects to the parralelogram inside the jointer to move the infeed table up and down.

Image 6 is quite average but shows the side access to the motor carriage I had to increase / decrease belt tension on the motor.
The last two images show the fence and how it is adjustable.