Thread: New Jointer - Carbatec / Jet

kosh - I got the JET long-bed 6" jointer a while back (I think that is the model number you mentioned). I'd definitely recommend the long-bed over the standard 6" jointer, whatever you get.

Very happy with mine - all tables perfectly flat, fence is flat and easy to keep at correct registration, machine went together easily and was perfectly aligned out of the box. Very quiet and smooth running. Of course, you pay a little more for the JET (I haggled the price down a bit), but I'm glad I went this way.

I have bought one new set of blades for the machine (JET ones), and I'm pretty sure they are specific to the 'quick-set' cam adjustment. Blades are double-sided, so you get two goes out of a set. I find the cam adjustment an advantage; it is easier to set the blades precisely using the cams rather than tapping them around to get the correct height as with a standard jointer. Not as good as the Felder system (which requires no alignment at all.......), but a worthwhile improvement IMHO.

thanks Mr. Brush for the info - much appreciated. I'll definately go for a long bed version and I think the Jet is the way to go. Just have to see how much extra it is to freight the Jet from interstate.

Just one more question about the knives - can they be re-sharpened by a sharpening service or are they 'disposable'?

kosh - I haven't had any done yet by a sharpening service, but the JET blades certainly have enough meat on them to do this. They are a full 3mm or so thick, NOT the 'stamped out' disposable kind like my nasty Ryobi thicknesser has....

The cam system allows a reasonable range of adjustment on the blade height, so they would still setup correctly even with a fair bit of material removed.

I was just running some wavy-grained brushbox across the jointer today, i.e. grain reversing all the way along the boards. Just touched up the blades before I started using a honing tool (Carbatec), and completed the job with no tearout at all.

Hi Kosh.

I've got the long bed 8" Jet, and it's fabulous. If you can go the extra price, you'll get an industrial machine for not much more. (No, I don't work for Jet!). I agree with the other posters. When all is said and done, Jet is a very fine brand. You get nearly European standards without the European price tag, and these are not toys. Have fun with whatever you decide to get, but be careful. This is one of the most dangerous tools in the shop, and you must use safety gear! I recommend using a pair of rubberised pushers for all work. Much cheaper than new thumbs.

Michael

Originally Posted by kosh

Hi,
I've been lurking on this great forum for a long time but this is my first post . I'm looking to buy a 6'' jointer and am looking at the following models:

Carbatec: CTJ-196
CTJ-150 (long bed version)

Jet: JJ-6CSDX (deluxe)

I was wondering if anybody who has any of these models would mind sharing their experiences (good or bad) - in particular I'm interested in how easy the machines are to maintain accurate adjustment etc.

Also, the Jet-deluxe uses a 'quick set' knives with cam-adjustment - does this present any disadvantages; for example do you need to use special knives?

thanks in advance,
bye for now,
Paul.

kosh - if you get the JET jointer, mine came with a pair of nice rubberised pushers included I definitely recommend using them at all times.

eeeee....luxury !

Kosh

I don’t want to throw a spanner in the works but here we go:

I have the Jet 6" long bed (purchased Dec 2007). Infeed and outfeed tables are flat and on the same plane, the fence is flat as well. I was having some troubles getting things exactly square. I put this down to my inexperience at first. But after a while out came the feeler gauges.

I set fence set at 90 on the back feed table just behind the cutter block.

I then measured the fence 10mm in from the end on the outfeed table side and found it to be out at the top by 0.2mm

I then measured the fence 10mm in from the end on the infeed table side and found it to be out at the bottum by 0.08mm

I attempted all adjustments to no avail.

0.08 is good enough for a $700 machine, but when I queried about the 0.2mm I was told that that was in spec. So my options now (to get it truly square) are to machine the fence, or get some counselling for being too picky.

Overall I am fairly happy with the machine, but I do get variable results with it over longer lengths. Means more time in checking things after they are done though.

If your really anal you might be disappointed, but then again do you want to add another zero to end of the price tag?

erga - in practical use, with moderate sizes of stock, that probably means an error of 0.1mm at full fence height. In terms of an error in the 90 degrees between tables and fence (depending on the size of timber) that would be maybe 0.1 degrees or less. I crunched a few numbers, assuming timber size of 80mm x 40mm......errr tan x = opposite over adjacent...ummm

If you want anything much better than that you are definitely looking at the wrong class of machine. Get along to see Mr Felder, and re-mortgage the house while you are at it. Alternatively, the Powermatic (i.e Taiwan-made) should also be better than the JET (China-made), but for at least 2x the price

Maybe I just got lucky with my JET jointer. Mind you, I tend to base this on the timber that comes off the machine. Measured with a precision machine-setting square, I'd say I'm getting 90 degree angles to better than 0.1 degrees. I can understand where you're coming from though - I wasn't so lucky with my JET ProShop saw, as one of the cast table wings has a dip of about 0.3mm in the middle. This is within the spec of 0.4mm, so I'm stuck with it. Fortunately one cast wing was perfectly flat, so I just put the best one on the LHS (facing the saw), which gets the most use.

Trouble is, with these larger machines, I can't imagine the seller allowing you to completely assemble the machine in their showroom to check all these things out

thanks guys for all the advice and information - I really appreciate it.

The slight inaccuracy of the fence doesn't worry me too much as I agree with Mr. Brush's calculations that the error would be around .1 degrees assuming the fence is 100mm high. The jointer I have access at the moment is my Dad's Durden 'Junior Joiner' - it has a 4inch 0.5 HP buzzer that is fairly well made but the fence is totally inadequate (and very bowed from front to back too!); its done alot of work over the years - mainly cleaning up old timber but getting two surfaces square is nearly impossible. So whatever I get will be a major upgrade from this ( hopefully ).

I do understand your disappointment though, erga, as there is nothing worse that buying a new tool or machine and then discovering some unexpected 'defect'. Even it doens't always make alot/any difference to the performance it can be quite unsettling. It all comes down to price I guess, the most expensive brands such as Felder and such probably have the surfaces hand scraped/lapped to get the surface absolutely flat adding alot to the price. The only machine I have bought which I feel is 'perfect' is my Vicmarc lathe but I expect that will probably be the most expensive machine I'll ever get (even though I bought it second hand )

Cellist, I have considered getting the 8inch version as the extra capacity would be useful from time to time but that is stretching the budget a bit - I'll have to see ... how have people who have the 6inch jointer found the capacity?

Mmm no feedback on the Carbatec jointer. does that tell us something?

I have had a couple of instance where 6" wasn't wide enough, so if you can stretch up to the 8" over time the extra expense would be forgotten.

My theory with the 6" was that if I needed to plane wider than 6" I could use a sled on a thicknesser to get the 6"+ board flat and then do a square side back on the jointer. The difference in price between the 6" and the 8" could then be used for extra funds to buy the thicknesser.

You really need to consider what you intend to do. Think about what your likely sources of wood will be and your intended projects.

I'll second that - I thought the 6" jointer would meet all my needs, but there have been a few times when the 8" would have been useful. In a couple of cases, I've had to modify the design/construction of a piece to stay within the limits of the jointer ! The sled+thicknesser approach suggested by erga is always another way around this if you don't expect to be using really wide boards too often.

munruben - I'm sure the Carbatec jointer has the POTENTIAL to be the same quality as the JET, as they are both Chinese-made. For me (living a fair way out of Sydney) JET's QA is worth paying that small premium, giving a better chance of getting a good copy 'out of the box'. No doubt many people have Carbatec jointers that were spot on when assembled, but its a major hassle to have to disassemble and cart such a heavy beast back to Carbatec if you get a bad one . I bought a Carbatec 12" disc sander at their recent sale, only to find when I got it home that the table couldn't be adjusted to 90 degrees with the disc. Rather than flog all the way back to Sydney in the hope of changing it, I ended up taking it to bits and filing off the rough edges on the casting that were causing the problem.... I believe that JET employ a little man at the Wun Hung Lo Machinery plant to do that sort of thing for you, but you pay for it !

I guess you make do with what you have or can afford. I bought the carba-tec 8" and its a good machine. At the time i had the chance to buy as ex demo 12" for $600 more and regretting it ever since. If i had the 12' maybe i would want a 16"
However the wider you go remember the extra pressure you tend to need pushing through and your blades need to be very sharp for wide boards or it will simply skid over. If your blades are not sharp and you push down hard on your boards you tend to distort the boards anyway.
Having said all this i did my apprenticeship using 20" jointers and they were just great. If i have the chance to get a cheap 12" down the track i wll for sure.
Before i could afford a long bed jointer i flattened my boards with a router and it should never by under estimated just how flat you can get boards with a 2-3hp router and large dia cutter. Sure you need to make rigid jig but its not hard at all and it can get quite quick to do.

It might be an idea to ask the salesperson what the tolerances are with regard to flatness of tables and fence.
I would be interested to find out how much they know, or more to the point how much they don't know.