Thread: New Jet combination

Now that's a lot of dosh to replace two machines that do the same job for less than half that cost new! (Assuming a 6" jointer)

Or is it a 300mm jointer too.... maybe I'm getting excited too!

I don't particularly like the thought of combination machines, but maybe this one would be handy, just for the space saving....... Keep me updated knuckles!

Cheers,

P

I had a look at it at the Brisbane wood-show; it seems very nice for the money. It's been out in Europe for quite a while, you can follow the early problems being ironed out on the UKworkshop forums. IIRC the only major problem was with the fence, which has been changed. It received a solid grade in the current (until next week) issue of AWR.

In case you hadn't guessed, I would really rather like one. Oh, and yes, it is 310mm in both planer and thicknesser modes.

I have had a play at the woodworking warehouse and its an absolute cracker. Very heavy duty and ooozes quality. I prefere seperates but if space is limited and the price is in reach, then this is a great buy

Midge unfortunalty the new workshop is of shoe box proportions so one of these compromise machines in propably the way I'll have to go.
I agree with the price being steep, but from the look it is really competing againts the Minimax type equipment rather than entry level stuff. I believe the Minimax is selling for about $5000.

Sissors, I wasn't aware that they were out in Europe. Funny thing is google only returns modest hits for the new machine. I thought it would be big news.

I might even scare the moths out of my wallet and by a copy of the magazine.

Yeah - I looked at the new Jet at the Wood Show, too, but it was just a passing interest at the time. I did think it looked like a decent bit of metal, unlike some of the other 12" over/unders that have ultra-short jointer beds & pretty lightweight construction all round. The Jet looked like it won't fall over if you feed it a chunk of Ironbark.

Would you believe, the very next week my 20-something year old Hitachi F1000 blew up. At first I thought it was a bearing on one of the cutter heads, but slipping the drive belts off soon showed it wasn't that. It's either the rear motor bearing, where it mates into the feed-roller gearbox, or something worse. I'm still trying to get it apart - Japanese puzzles are even more cunning than Chinese puzzles, it seems.

I have a sinking feeling it might be terminal, 'cos I've just spent a couple of years trying to get new blades, let alone any more difficult parts. I have to say that Hitachi Australia were less than helpful - they only sold a few of that model in Aus, and just couldn't give a rat's about my problem. I managed to get a new set last year, at no small cost, when visiting a friend in Canada (who has the same machine). I haven't even used them, yet!!

So now my interest in the Jet may be much more serious - I would like to have the same planing as thicknessing capacity - the old Hitachi does (did!) a great job, but only having a 6" buzzer was often a big nuisance. The Jet certainly looked solid enough for a serious amateur/light commercial user - I will watch to see if a few brave souls take the plunge and report back after using one for a while......

Cheers,

There was a review in AWR #54. Philip Ashley reckons at $3000 it represents a $1500 saving over two seperate machines of the same capacity. They also tested the Byrd Shellix cutter head in the same issue. The Jet with the Byrd cutter would be one very nice machine.

Hi Dan - yes, I read the review and he was positive about it, which is partly why I'm interested. However, reviews don't always pick up problems that surface after a bit of use, so as I said, I will be keeping an eye out for any user-reports.

(I once bought a tool strictly on the basis of a rave review, and was not anywhere near as impressed as the reviewer when I started using it!)

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Dan

Philip Ashley reckons at $3000 it represents a $1500 saving over two separate machines of the same capacity. They also tested the Byrd Shellix cutter head in the same issue. The Jet with the Byrd cutter would be one very nice machine.

----I haven't actually read the review yet so this may be out of context----
I don't think that its comparing apple with apples. There is no way that I would buy a 12 inch jointer (or even 10). But if I did I would expect a lot more out of it than the Jet can supply. As for the after market cutter head, a quick price check showed a 12 inch powermatic planner blade to be $1000 US. So I reckon the Jet combination would be around that sort of dollars. Unfortunately there is no way that I'd be willing to pay that at this point in time.