POS, and there's no barcode...
A rather large proportion of time in woodworking seems to be spent making decidedly irregular pieces of wood square. At least square in the sense that faces are parallel to one another, and perpendicular to edges. The operations then proceed from this reference form into any manner of angle and curve, but the starting point by necessity is the “4 square” form. The machine responsible for the reference surface and reference edge is the jointer. The planer addresses the surface opposite the reference surface. The table saw commonly addresses the edge opposite the reference edge.
Given the relative importance of the jointer in establishing the first two reference planes, one would surmise that any jointer is designed to achieve both flatness and perpendicularity. As with many things, reality is inconsistent with the theoretical. As a feature, the fence on many jointers are adjustable. Akin to an adjustable sole plate on circular saws and jig saws. There are conceivably instances where cutting or jointing at angles other than 90° is desirable. This would be a great addition in functionality were the primary function of cutting at 90° not compromised in doing so.
Redemption, Chips & Dust
In the end everything worked out, but not without some frustration along the way. Everyone (the manufacturer, distributor and tech) said the right thing, but only one party ended up doing the right thing. I have to say I am reassured by the service tech, but don’t expect I’ll be buying too much from either Laguna or the local distributor any time soon.
All that said, the jointer/planer is up and running. There are a few small annoyances already with it, but I don’t think they’re game breakers. The fact that it’s a single machine definitely mitigates the annoyance. My basement is looking pretty crowded already. I’m not really sure how all the wood and equipment is going to fit into half the space when the basement gets finished someday. When the unit runs purely as a jointer, it’s mostly good. I’m not really happy with the quality of the fence, but I think I can live with or replace it relatively easily. The problem is in using it as a planer. The planer bed needs to be lowered nearly all the way in order to switch back to jointing. That fact combined with the questionable scale for the thickness setting means that repeatability for different batches pretty much turns into a crapshoot. Lastly, there’s a stop switch accessible from the feed side of the planer, but no start switch. Seems like an odd exclusion.
I managed to pick up a used 2HP dust collector yesterday. I had originally hoped to use my Festool CT22 with the jointer/planer and tablesaw. Given the rather copious amount of chips and dust generated, the 2HP collector looks like a stroke of genius… or common sense.
Have the ash for the Moxon Double-Screw vise nearly milled. Couple more passes through the planer, jointing the edges and cut to length remain. So really, I’ve only started. The aforementioned piles of chips and dust stopped the operation a bit short.
Milling, Spouse and More Setup
So the pile of woodchips is reaching epic proportions. Not quite, but I suppose that’s what you get trying to mill a couple 8” wide 8/4 boards. Of course, I am now forbidden by order of the spouse from milling until I get the dust collector up and running. Minor dilemma of whether to put it on a separate circuit or not. I wouldn’t think the circuit would trip with one of the machines and the dust collector running, but I guess better safe than sorry.
Back to milling. I’m not able to get the board edge jointed at 90° to the face. It’s off by maybe 0.5°. The fence and the feed/outfeed tables are definitely at 90° so that leaves the cutter head as the only suspect in the misaligned cuts. Well, the cutter head and my technique.
