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Jointer Design question - Howard Pollack - 04-30-2017
Can someone please explain the difference and advantages and/or disadvantages of jointers designed with dovetailed ways vs parallelogram jointers? Thanks.
-Howard
RE: Jointer Design question - Steve N - 04-30-2017
Either work fine. With the dovetailed ways they adjust much slower than the parallelogram type. I had always had jointers with the crank, and DT ways, Used a parallelogram once, and said next Jointer has these. Glad I did, usually you will pay a bit more though, so probably comes down to how much you adjust your depth settings. I have to say, now that it is just one second to change, I do a lot more, and it allows greater control over what you get out. Previously I pretty much left it set at one set depth, but at the end of finishing you often get where a full pass takes off more than you want, so to change the depth is beneficial.
RE: Jointer Design question - TGW - 04-30-2017
Personally I don't like the kind of jointers that has a rather short dovetailed way directly on the table casting. The ways wear over time and as the way is short in proportion to the table even a minuscule amount of wear will result in noticeably drooping table ends. The ways are very difficult to correct by scraping as there is nowhere one can adjust the table in relation to the way once it is scraped tight.
Shimming the ways is nothing but a temporary stopgap sulution as the shims will sooner or later fall out when the tables are adjusted.
My 24" Stenberg has paralellogram movement and that's good. The excenters are quite far apart so a little wear doesn't make such a great difference on the table end. Though they are a little tricky to rebuild once the excenters are worn out so regular lubrication is mandatory.
Pedestal jointers with four separate ways one in each corner of each table are usually easy to rebuild if worn and as the ways are far apart a little wear doesn't cause much missalignment.
Old American style jointer with very long dovetailed ways and separate tables bolted on top are said to be a lot less prone to wear than modern ones with short ways. They are also a lot easier to rebuild once worn as yoy can scrape the ways to fit and then shim the tables coplanar. As the shims are placed between the tables and the way blocks they will never fall out. I have no own experience of this type.
Do I have to say that all stationary machines I have ever owned were bought secondhand and rebuilt?
RE: Jointer Design question - Dave Diaman - 04-30-2017
Personally I would take a parallelogram jointer 10 out of 10 times. They adjust much faster and easier for one. Another big advantage is if your beds are not coplaner adjusting a dovetailed jointer is a royal PITA. I'm sure it is a breeze for anyone who does it all the time but for me who has only adjusted one a few times not so much. A parallelogram jointer is ver simple to adjust. You will pay a little more for one up front but I think ultimately you will like it more in the long run.