Planer Table Tip

The balancing act of aligning the infeed and outfeed tables with the main bed on my planer has been a challenge for some time. Keeping these surfaces aligned is critical for accurate stock preparation. I came up with a simple solution that will work easily on any planer. All that’s needed is a pair of straightedge guides that are long enough to span your planer’s bed, as well as the infeed and outfeed tables. The guides are used to align the tables. It also requires two straight pieces of hardwood that are the length of the planer bed, plus long enough to clamp in the guides.The boards provide a soft spot to rest the cutterhead while making the adjustments. I started by sliding the boards and guides into the planer opening. I made sure that the board and guide were sitting soundly on the bed of the planer, and there was no debris underneath either of them. Then I clamped a board to each guide as shown in the inset photo. To start the tuning process, it was just a matter of lowering the cutterhead onto the hardwood boards and locking them in place. With those set, I adjusted the infeed and outfeed tables so they’re flush with the straightedge guides as you see below.