Help Needed!!

[Mike_SA]

Hey guys.

Not sure if this is the correct section for this question so if not could someone please point me in the right direction.

I'm pretty new to the whole wood working thing and have got my hands on a spindle for cutting joints etc but I am struggling to get the damn thing set up correctly.
Current;y I'm running a double "F-joint" knife for a table top and for love or money I can't seem to be able to get the boards to align exact when joining them, there's always a tiny ridge, say 0.5mm.
Is there a trick to be able to set the knife so that the boards will align perfectly or is it a bit of black magic?

Cheers

[NCArcher]

There's a really nice, big jointer there behind the moulder. For a table top just glue jointed edges and don't worry about a profile. You could use biscuits or dowels for alignment but they aren't a necessity.

[Kuffy]

It is important to have boards the same thickness across the full width of the board. if the boards have a side to side variance say 45.2mm on the left side and 44.9 on the right side, it will give you a step between boards every time unless you mess about making sure that all 44.9 sides join together and the 45.2 sides join together, but that will end up giving a very wavy top without the ridges. The boards should also be flat, or weak/thin enough that the powerfeed can overpower the tension in the boards and compress the bow/cup out of the board at the point where it meets the cutterhead.

Other than that, it is just a case of setting the cutterhead height exactly. I used a scrap piece of timber the same thickness as my actual boards to set up the spindle moulder (often it was 45 or 35mm so I had plenty of scraps). Set up the spindle moulder, cutter height and fences to be as close as you can get them by eye/jigs. Then run the test piece through on one side only. Cut off 50mm and see if the joint aligns correctly. If not, just raise or lower the spindle height to accommodate the variance.

[rustynail]

Check your boards thickness along both edges using a vernier caliper. Any variance will show up in the joint.