# Longest length of board on a jointer



## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

I have a Bench Top Jointer and wanting to know the longest board that can accurately be jointed.

So not to start another thread on Bench top jointers, has anyone modified the dust collection on one? I have Powertecs BJ600 which is the cousin to the Craftsman 21788 6" jointer.


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## Rebelwork Woodworking (Sep 11, 2004)

You can joint the longest board you can support. After that you need support before and after...


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## gdonham1 (Oct 31, 2011)

The bed is short and it would be best to limit length to about twice the length of the bed. However you can joint as long as you want if you support the board. Supporting a long board will be difficult because you have to have the support at the exact same level as the bed of the jointer. You could add some boxes the correct height of each side to make management of the feed of the board easier but the support if too short or too tall will make your edge joint U shaped.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

D) All of the above

the standard rule is 2x the table length, but you can make the table longer. I was able to joint some 6' long stock on an old, 4" King Seeley jointer when that was all I had. If the tables on that were 18" long I would be surprised.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

kp91 said:


> D) All of the above
> 
> the standard rule is 2x the table length, but you can make the table longer. I was able to joint some 6' long stock on an old, 4" King Seeley jointer when that was all I had. If the tables on that were 18" long I would be surprised.


That's interesting, Doug. How did you go about making the table longer?


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## Rebelwork Woodworking (Sep 11, 2004)

You just need a roller on each side of the jointer. One to support it as you start and the one on the end to catch the weight after it make the pass over the cutters....


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

I'll let you know how it works


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Set the support up using the longest straight edge you can find. The infeed and outfeed tables are at slightly different heights, so the straight edge needs to be flat on either in or out table. A good 3-4 foot level will help, use a weight to hold the end down on the table(s). Making fine adjustments on support rollers is difficult to do precisely, more so if the stands fold. If you replace or change the height of the blades, the outfeed height changes as well, so another adjustment to the outfeed support height will be necessary.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

chessnut2 said:


> That's interesting, Doug. How did you go about making the table longer?


Used a plywood box and a piece of old formica countertop. Simple, cheap and effective.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

kp91 said:


> Used a plywood box and a piece of old formica countertop. Simple, cheap and effective.


Thanks, Doug.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

kp91 said:


> Used a plywood box and a piece of old formica countertop. Simple, cheap and effective.


When or if I ever get situated I would like to go that route. Yesterday and today have both been "One of those days in the shop" for me. Every and anything I attempted to do was a problem that led to another problem which ate up a lot of time and almost all of my patience. It started with changing the planer blades. Where's the manual where's the special little blade holder, where's the new blades and OMG how did I put all of those scratch's on the table of the planer bed? Here let me see if I can sand some of those out and wax it up when I'm done and may as well clean it all up while I'm here. Then it was on to the jointer. Similar problems plus I will never tell how long it took me to get the knives lined up, embarrassing. After re adjusting the fence I took it for a test drive... perfect! Wait a minute.. where are all of these chips coming from? Had to again modify the already modified dust collection which ran in to the dreaded how come these 2 fittings don't fit? They're suppose to. Oh and let me not forget the DC separator was full which filled up the bag which clogged the flex line which clogged the jointer. Then finally everything was fixed and running right, time to joint 14 boards. Ok since they are longer I'll set up a roller Stand on each end as suggested that should work. @%@#%[email protected] the roller stands are too short! I opted for a large box to sit the jointer on to lower it rather than putting the stands on something. I did get 5 boards jointed before calling it a day. They came out "Pretty Good".. worth the effort. Odds are in my favor that tomorrow will be a better day.... that's right it's put up the Christmas decorations day..... actually that sounds like a fun day with my better half.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Rebelwork Woodworking said:


> You can joint the longest board you can support. After that you need support before and after...


Might need a helper or two to do it, but I totally agree with that.


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