I need to be able to quickly and accurately see my jointer cut depth for switching back and forth from some of the operations we do and the tiny scale is not cutting it. Have any of you been able to use a dro on your jointer to accomplish this? If so, how did you do it since the table doesn't exactly go straight up and down like the planer? Just one of those irritating things... Thanks in advance for any help!

A dial indicator mounted underneath, with the pin touching the underside of the table perpendicular to the table surface. Just a thought.

A dial indicator sounds like the ticket, but really, the jointer just isn't the kind of machine that I'd ask more than reasonable accuracy from- not that they're not capable of it, they're just not end finish machines.
Of course, YMMV........

A good Joiner can split hairs. The Northfield Patternmaker's joiner - with the large ship's wheel - is extremely accurate.

But your observation is correct - since the table does not move up and down but laterally also, no typical DRO will work. First, I would go to the Accurate DRO people and ask them if they had any suggestions.

I do not need super accuracy, but need to know about what the depth of cut is as I walk up to a joiner. I made a fixed pivot point on one side of the way, and a loop on the other, with the pointer passing thru to a small scale. It is all just wire, so easy to adjust. Once it is working and snug, you can calibrate the scale.

A long read dial indicator either indicating off the table itself or an accurately trammed reference face would be a good solution and the same logic could be applied to a slightly modified Proscale or other to read elevation with a button head that slides along a reference surface.

The shop I trained in had one of the 16” Northfield. That was a beautiful machine. My boss bought it used and had it refurbished. Tables ground and repainted. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t buy some newer Italian jointer. Until I used it. The fence could be racked so you were getting more of a shearing action. Like turning your handplane. This was before spiral inserts.

The digital DRO should solve your problem. The only issue would be the max cut exceeding the range of the indicator. Going from 1/32” to 1/4” should be doable. As long as it’s indicating on a surface that is exactly parallel to the infeed table it will work.

Stewart:

If your jointer fence is rigid and does not move when the infeed table is moved, then you could mount a dial indicator on the end of your jointer fence and leave it there, or even on the back of the jointer fence. It would be out of the way yet always in view for adjustments.

My dial indicator has moveable arrows on the perimeter of the face that can be set for repeatable settings, so an easy glance would let you move quickly back and forth between multiple different settings.

Just a thought.
TonyF

All very good ideas - that's why I like this forum so much. I'm very intrigued with the dial indicator idea especially if I can figure out how to reference the infeed table or an area that is parallel to it. I think I will call Accurate as well - I'm sure they could shed some light on this too.

A dial or digital indicator, or even a digital caliper rigged up to a fixed bracket could work. That being said, any real accurate cuts like that are done now in our shop with a straight cut insert head like a terminus/tersa/chicklet insert carbide on the shaper with a DRO on the infeed fence jaw.
A pretty simple deal on a quality shaper with a good fence. We run a couple Martins with Aigner fences, but most of the euro machines now can do similar.

I wonder where laser measurement devices are for accuracy? Then you'd just need a fixed point for it to bounce off of.

Getting whatever the laser is hitting parallel to the infeed table would be paramount, but probably not that hard to get real accurate.

I guess you'd also have to tram the laser so it was perfectly 90º to the deck as well.

Jointer is a rough tool for me, I don't know that I've ever even checked the scale on my 12" but the little 6" is pretty close

I use a 12" Oliver and we have it super dialed in - it's within .001 across the width. I do a lot of final panel sizing with it so that I am only removing .015 at a time but when I need to hog something off and then come back to that setting, I don't want to stand there with a pair of calipers everytime trying to dial it back in. It's been an incredible tool for us - on both the finish and rough side of things. The indicator only needs to register from 0 to .5". Thanks for all the feedback!