What part of the cutterhead is being referred to here, when you mention the outfeed table is to be parallel with the cutterhead.
Also, what is meant by making sure the outfeed table is even with the cutting circle of the knives?
The cutter head axial axis must be parallel to the plane of the tables.
The cutting circle is the arc formed by the edge of the knives.
I am not familiar with the hinging mechanism on the fold away tables of the combo machines.
As far as setting up a regular jointer, I use a straight jointed piece of hardwood about 2' long 4" wide and an inch thick. Set it on the inch thick side, on the outfeed table with the end aligned with the end of the infeed table. Turn the cutterhead by hand till the knives pick up the board and move it toward the infeed table. It will stop moving as the knife drops below the outfeed table plane. Draw a pencil line on the infeed table where the board stops. Repeat this across the cutterhead width. If the cutterhead is parallel with the outfeed table, the pencil lines will be the same distance from the end of the infeed table across the width.
After the outfeed table is parallel with the cutterhead, use a straight edge and get the tables co-planar, using whatever mechanism Hammer has for this.
Finally set the outfeed table height-set up the jointer for small cut. take a inch long cut on the end of the straight board, on the edge, and make a hard deep pencil mark on it. Flip the board end for end and take a full length cut. If the tables are co-planar and the outfeed height is correct, half the pencil line will remain.
If the mark is cut away, the outfeed is too low.
If the mark is untouched , and there is a little bump there, the outfeed table is too high.
In forty years of woodworking, I have found this much faster and easier than using indicators. A benefit is it measures what the tool is actually cutting, not what it "ought" to cut based on measurements.