Jointer acting very strange. Trying to diagnose.

bradleyheathhays

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Basically out of nowhere my little Craftsman jointer starts doing something I've not only never heard of but am struggling to understand. Right now when I joint a board putting the correct back pressure against the fence the jointer makes wedges out of whatever I run over it. By that I mean it takes a lot out of the front end of the board and virtually nothing from the rear, gradually making the front of the board into a point. This picture illustrates what I'm talking about. I ran these 2x4s over the jointer maybe about 25 times with the depth properly set (table adjusted downward first then brought up to the position and locked) between 1/16 and 1/32 and it did the same thing both times. I jointed the top board with the wide side to the fence first so I would have good flat side part of the 2x4 to push up against the fence. I checked the back fence for 90 deg and it's just a gnats hair off with the top leaning in just a little.

Any idea what's causing this egregious behavior?

jointer 2.JPG

jointer.jpg
 

DLJeffs

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My first instinct is that either the feed or the outfeed table are not plumb and parallel, so as the board gets farther out from the blades, it doesn't contact as much. One of the other might also be loose, just enough that when you put a straight edge to check them they look fine, but when you press a board across, they flex downward on the side closest to the blades.
 
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