Jet Jointer - Any Tips ??

[kenmil]

Just took delivery of my new Jet Jointer. Anyone out there with one or had experience with one ? Any tips/traps/suggestions etc appreciated.

[Rocker]

Ken,

I have had one for four years and am very happy with it. I think you will be very satisfied with it, so long as it is properly adjusted, i.e. with the surfaces of the infeed and outfeed tables parallel to one another, and the outfeed table set at a level such that a straight edge resting on it and on the blade is moved back about 3 mm, when you rotate the cutter block by hand. I have had no problems at all with my machine.

Rocker

[craigb]

I've had mine for a little over a year. I found it very easy to set-up, the instruction manual is excellent.
Like Rocker I've had no problems with it. I like it a lot.
The only downside is being only 6" if you have any wider boards you have to rip and rejoin, unless you're gung ho or foolish enough to remove the gaurd.

However as I don't have room for an 8" jointer it's not that big a deal for me.

I'd buy it again.

Craig

[Rocker]

Craig,

I know this may be regarded as heresy, but I find I seldom use my jointer to flatten boards, since, unless the board is bowed or twisted, the job can be done on the planer, which is quite capable of dealing with cupping. I certainly have never ripped and rejoined a board just to put it over the jointer. I use my jointer almost exclusively for jointing the edge perpendicular to the face of the board, after flattening it on the planer.

Rocker

[craigb]

Rocker,

Well whatever works for you.
My understanding of the sequence though was: joint the face, joint one edge, plane to thickness, rip to width, square the ends.

Craig

[kenmil]

Hmmmm.... my troubles began when I tried to fit the Jet Castor set, which I had bought in lieu of a mobile base. Due to a couple of design faults, the small metal threads used to clamp the castors to the base have a tendency to point themselves toward the ground as they are tightened. You guessed it - they scrape on the ground !

Solution; Cut them off with a hacksaw. Next problem, the base is sheet metal; strong, but sheet metal nevertheless, so as the weight of the jointer itself is applied to the base the castors want to deflect, and the weakest point is the sheet metal, so it flexes to the point where the whole thing is like a mattress - decidely "springy".

By now I have lifted the jointer on and off five times, each time trying to solve various performance aspects of the castors. I am totally knackered - it weighs about 80kg. I am also kicking myself for not buying a mobile base as I had originally planned, but then I couldn't have as they were out of stock.

Resigned to the fact that this whole situation was not getting any better today, I set up the jointer, and ran a piece of timber through. Excellent ! Very nice machine, but hate those castors.:(

[craigb]

Ken,

I bought those castor thingies for my Jet bandsaw and I wish I hadn't. I had the same problem with the screws that you mentioned only I solved it by putting a scrap of wood between the mounting bracket and the cabinet. The saw is mobile enough now but is not nearly as stable as a dedicated base, which fortunately I bought for the jointer.

If anybody is thinking of getting the castors my advice would be don't.

Enjoy you're new jointer, I bet you grow to love it.

Craig

[Bob Willson]

My whole workshop is on castors bought from Jet and they all work perfectly. There are no bolts used in them at all as they rely on sprung plungers to fix the framework in position.
I can only assume that you purchased the small castors that attach to the sides of the machine? I rejected them as being too small and unstable for the job.
They also supply another type of castor frame that is joined together with numerous small nuts and bolts. This does not seem to me to be of nearly the same qualuty as the heavy duty frame work that I purchased.

[Pete J]

G'day Ken

I suspect I am like a few reading this thread who would be very interested in how you came to the decision to buy the Jet - did you do some comparisons, and if so, how did the opposition measure up, and why did they get the flick?

We will value your thoughts.

Thanks in advance

[kenmil]

Originally posted by Bob Willson
My whole workshop is on castors bought from Jet and they all work perfectly. There are no bolts used in them at all as they rely on sprung plungers to fix the framework in position.
I can only assume that you purchased the small castors that attach to the sides of the machine? I rejected them as being too small and unstable for the job.
They also supply another type of castor frame that is joined together with numerous small nuts and bolts. This does not seem to me to be of nearly the same qualuty as the heavy duty frame work that I purchased.

Bob,

They are by no means small wheels. They are model#708120 as shown on this;
http://www.jettools.com/JETWood/Accessories/708115.html

There are no spring plungers involved, so I guess you are talking about a different type. Bottom line is they don't work, so it's a mobile base for me. (I have written to WMH about them and if their technical people reply I will let you know what they say.)

[kenmil]

Originally posted by Pete J
G'day Ken

I suspect I am like a few reading this thread who would be very interested in how you came to the decision to buy the Jet - did you do some comparisons, and if so, how did the opposition measure up, and why did they get the flick?

We will value your thoughts.

Thanks in advance

Pete,

It's a "no brainer" for me. I buy Jet whenever I can, because I trust the brand and believe they are a better quality machine than the generics that others sell.

[Bob Willson]

Those wheels are exactly what I was thinking of Ken, I just recollected them badly. And I fully agree about the no-brainer with Jet. Every time I buy a tool on price I regret it. Every time I buy Jet, I get continuing pleasure from using their tools.

[bitingmidge]

I'm another Jet Disciple,

Have been down the el cheapo route, and to be frank, that was all I could afford at the time.

I have shimmed, filed, jigged and adjusted the el cheapo stuff till it worked quite well, then I'd move it and have to go through the exercise again.

The Jet stuff is just loverly, and after buying my first Jet product, a table saw, I haven't bothered "shopping" for alternative brands, and actually sold everything else to replace them.

Total investment in terms of a lifetime hobby is not significant, (less than the average boat owner spends in a year). And I am a firm believer that one should never confuse PRICE with VALUE.

I think I own pretty much one of everything except a mini lathe, (and I have a birthday coming up in a couple of months), and have had not one misalignment from new, nor any troubles.

Cheers,

P

[craigb]

bitingmidge,


Total investment in terms of a lifetime hobby is not significant, (less than the average boat owner spends in a year).

I agree with you. Our hobby just seems expensive because we have high up front costs.

I relate it to what a mate pays on his golf club membership every year.
To join a private club in Sydney, and I guess it's similar in the other capitals, would cost between $10,000 and $15,000 joining fee (after you'd waited who knows how long for a vacancy to become availbale).
Then annual subs are around $3000. Then there's the weekly comp fees and we haven't even started to talk about equipment, clothes shoes and balls.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bagging golf I think it's a great game.

I just make the point that it's a much more expensive hobby than ours.

So far I've probably spent around 5 or 6 thousand dollars on my tools and machines and although I'll probably buy a few more things, I very much doubt that I'll be spending $3000 dollars every year.

I also doubt that when I loook at my Jet gear in 10 years time I'll have a clue how much I paid for it.

Cheers
Craig

[silentC]

I just make the point that it's a much more expensive hobby than ours

Not necessarily. My wife pays a couple of hundred a year for membership at the local golf club (not private but one of the best country courses in NSW). She wouldn't even be close to $5000 in outlay for sticks etc. I can guarantee you that if she had to pay anything like $15,000 up front and $3,000 a year she'd be playing netball instead ;)

I bought cheap Chinese and Tawainese stuff from Hare & Forbes because I couldn't afford a name brand. It was a choice of buying something cheap now, or waiting a year until I could afford something better. No doubt I'll have to upgrade one day but it does me OK for now.

[craigb]

Darren,


My wife pays a couple of hundred a year for membership at the local golf club (not private but one of the best country courses in NSW

Fair enough but I was talking about Sydney clubs.

Also I didn't mean to imply that one should only buy expensive gear, by all means buy what you can afford and what does the job for you.

And sure you can play on a public course in Sydney on a weekend if you don't mind spending over 5 hours for a round.

I was just making the point that compared to what others spend on their hobbies/pastimes ours is really not that pricey.

That's what I tell the missus anyway :)


Craig

[bitingmidge]

I bought cheap Chinese and Tawainese stuff from Hare & Forbes because I couldn't afford a name brand. It was a choice of buying something cheap now, or waiting a year until I could afford something better. No doubt I'll have to upgrade one day but it does me OK for now.

I don't know that you will HAVE to upgrade, it's just nice IF you can. Having been there, I agree with getting the cheap stuff first, "one day" has a habit of being a long way off!

As an aside, I sold every el cheapo machine for substantially more than I paid, to people who appreciated that they had been tuned to withing an inch of their lives, (wouldn't have come close to paying for my time though) ;) .

I like mucking around with models and small scale things, and when I had my (very) cheap equipment my hobby largely revolved around tweaking machinery to make it more accurate. In itself that was pretty satisfying albeit time consuming, and I have never had any urgency to produce "stuff" anyway.

Now that I have a swag of good gear, (which I really love owning and using) I don't think I am REALLY having any more fun than when I built my first boat using a cheap jigsaw, a drill, hammer and chisel, but that's not the point!. ;)

Playing golf on a rough course with third class clubs, will probably make a better golfer out of you, and it's still the same game!

Cheers,

P

[silentC]

Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread, I just wanted to have a light-hearted dig at Craig for his golf analogy ;)

Jet looks like great gear and I'm going to get a catalogue from them. My next major purchase will be a table saw, probably in the year 2010 :(

[kenmil]

Originally posted by silentC

I bought cheap Chinese and Tawainese stuff from Hare & Forbes because I couldn't afford a name brand.

Don't make the mistake of lumping Chinese machinery & Taiwanese machinery together. Some of the best machines (Jet, Delta etc) are made in Taiwan. Not all Chinese machinery is junk either, it depends upon who they are making it for and what QC standards are in place.

[silentC]

Fair point Ken, I know a lot of the good stuff comes out of factories in Taiwan. What I meant was I bought cheap stuff, period ;)

[craigb]

Darren,

As an aside, I asume your SO plays on Pambula/Marrimbula course?

Which I understand is a very fine course.
I thik they may have played the NSW open there one time?

Also, isn't that the one that has "Hogen's hole" where they filmed the old Winfield cigarette comerciial?

For those forum members that are old enough to remember ciggie advertising on TV .

Craig

[silentC]

Craig,

Yep, Pambula Merimbula is the course. She played in the Pro Am a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure about the NSW Open but they play the Von Nida tour there, which is sort of the next level down.

Haven't heard of Hogan's Hole. I'll have to ask one of the old timers at the club about it next time I'm there. Most of the people who play it these days are visitors or retirees from Melbourne and Canberra, who wouldn't know Shark Hole from Aislings Beach ;)

[kenmil]

Sorry to revert to the subject, but here is the response from WMH (Jet) in its entirety.

"we would actually recommend that a full mobile base be used for this machine. however for the casters to work with this stand you will have to remove the metal tabs.


Thank you,

Customer Service
WMH Tool Group "

This, despite the fact that an example of these casters on their website shows them being fitted to a jointer ! Their machines are fantastic, their customer service not so good.:(