Hello,
I purchased Felder Hammer A2-26 jointer/thicknesser in November 2023. I am overly happy with the machine, but I have some issues that I think have to do with my technique, not with the machine itself.
I would like to illustrate it with an example. I am now jointing oak boards for the tabletop for an adjustable office desk. When I was doing everything by hand, I just planed off the high spots and done. Now when I start to join a board, it self-creates any reference plane it deems fit and follows it along the whole process. It then takes much more material than I would, if I did it manually because the machine has no discretion.
Here is a recent example.
I have 50 mm thick, 150 - 200 mm wide oak boards, which are 1,5m long and have a bow in the middle.
I orient the board bow side down. I apply pressure only on the outfeed table (just safely behind the knife) as I was taught on youtube. I also experimented with applying pressure on the infeed table and on both infeed and outfeed table and by the sound of cutting it makes a difference.
When I am finished, the board is 30 mm thick on the front edge (which went to the jointer first) and 45 mm thick on the furthest edge. I would like it to be even, so I minimize the wasted material. Also jointing one face takes me around 20-30 minutes, which is ridiculous (with a 2 mm cutter setting). I would probably have done it faster by hand. What I might be doing wrong to even out material consumption and also how can I joint boards faster? In the manual, there is a warning that partially feeding material into the machine without making full front-to-back passes is prohibited.
Thank you for any suggestions.
I purchased Felder Hammer A2-26 jointer/thicknesser in November 2023. I am overly happy with the machine, but I have some issues that I think have to do with my technique, not with the machine itself.
I would like to illustrate it with an example. I am now jointing oak boards for the tabletop for an adjustable office desk. When I was doing everything by hand, I just planed off the high spots and done. Now when I start to join a board, it self-creates any reference plane it deems fit and follows it along the whole process. It then takes much more material than I would, if I did it manually because the machine has no discretion.
Here is a recent example.
I have 50 mm thick, 150 - 200 mm wide oak boards, which are 1,5m long and have a bow in the middle.
I orient the board bow side down. I apply pressure only on the outfeed table (just safely behind the knife) as I was taught on youtube. I also experimented with applying pressure on the infeed table and on both infeed and outfeed table and by the sound of cutting it makes a difference.
When I am finished, the board is 30 mm thick on the front edge (which went to the jointer first) and 45 mm thick on the furthest edge. I would like it to be even, so I minimize the wasted material. Also jointing one face takes me around 20-30 minutes, which is ridiculous (with a 2 mm cutter setting). I would probably have done it faster by hand. What I might be doing wrong to even out material consumption and also how can I joint boards faster? In the manual, there is a warning that partially feeding material into the machine without making full front-to-back passes is prohibited.
Thank you for any suggestions.
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