Shopsmith Forums

I have replaced the cutter head on my SS jointer and want to be certain that the head alignment is correct. The SS instruction manual makes no reference to this process. I find a lot of cutting blade alignment information in the forum but nothing to help make sure the cutter head assembly is square to the table and aligned with the power train. There is a lot of slop in the hold down bolts of the bearing assembly that hold this in place.
It does not seem plausible to simply align with the edge of the outfeed table as the casting is not perfectly straight or square.
Any suggestion where I may find information to help with this aligment process?

lmcadoo wrote:I have replaced the cutter head on my SS jointer and want to be certain that the head alignment is correct. The SS instruction manual makes no reference to this process. I find a lot of cutting blade alignment information in the forum but nothing to help make sure the cutter head assembly is square to the table and aligned with the power train. There is a lot of slop in the hold down bolts of the bearing assembly that hold this in place.
It does not seem plausible to simply align with the edge of the outfeed table as the casting is not perfectly straight or square.
Any suggestion where I may find information to help with this aligment process?

I align the cutter head to the locked down joiner fence. I use the long side of a small Engineer Square againest this fence and align one of the joiner knives with the short side of the square. I recheck after tightening the cutter head assembly bolts. I also extend each knife past the edge of the outfeed table the thickness of an 12" metal straightedge for the rabbet and tongue cuts. I use the 12" straightedge to set the knives. Contact me offline at my Email address for these instructions.