Thread: Feedback sought on NEW JET 18 inch bandsaw

I know someone who bought that one, I'll flick him a PM so he can comment.

Mine has been sitting in the garage for some months with only limited use, but I have no complaints except the tapes for the fence are glued on to read imperial only. To read metric they need removing and replacing with repositioned tapes which I am waiting for. They are obviously set up for the US with no regard for anyone else. I have also found it has just about zero drift with the standard blade which is a plus in my book. Having used only old bandsaws before, this is a revelation on how good they can be.

An update on my 18" Jet. I used it to cut some finger joints in some 100x100 and thought, that's funny why is there a gap at the inner end of the joint only on one side? It turns out that the table is not square to the blade in the direction of feed and there is no adjustment that I can see. This means the blind end of a cut is not square. Shim time me thinks.

Originally Posted by Mini

This means the blind end of a cut is not square. Shim time me thinks.

Maybe not. The roller guides could be pushing the blade out of position (or allowing it to be pushed), as could the general blade alignment on the wheels. You could find yourself shimming an awful lot, especially after a blade change.

I have the same saw, works great. Use it for resawing with a 1" carbide tip blade. I also have a power feed for resawing. There is a photo in the back ground on this page https://www.woodworkforums.com/f62/year-off-the-what-45003

Good saw

Dennis

Originally Posted by Groggy

I know someone who bought that one, I'll flick him a PM so he can comment.

Any Progress?
Brian

Originally Posted by warmtone

Any Progress?
Brian

Hi, That would be me, sorry for the delay, been o/seas for a week.
My Saw has only had minimal use also unfortunately.
Mine had a little vibration when I first set it up but changing the belt to a link belt seemed to fix that. Ditto the useless scale on the fence. The metric is completely unusable with the stock tape and pointer. I have a starrett stick on tape but have not got around to putting it on yet.
I got a 1 1/4 ,1tpi resaw blade from Henry bros and it motors thru everything I have thrown at it so far. You need some blades as soon as you unpack it as I don't think the blade it came with would cut a pound of butter- not straight anyway!
Mine came with a standard 10A plug but I always plug it into my 15A socket anyway.( my other 3hp machines all have 15A plugs)

One point to watch is that even though it is supposed to take blades from 3mm- 38mm aparrantly it needs different guides to use anything under 6mm- so I've been told anyway, I ended up getting a much smaller saw for any fine work.

Also It dosn't have a quick release lever for the blade tension.

I got mine from GPW at the melbourne show and he had sold the 3 he had by sat lunchtime.
WWW didn't have any of the 3hp model at that stage and were less than complimentary about GPW comming down and selling them.

Bruce T.

Originally Posted by Kiwibrucee

Hi, That would be me, sorry for the delay, been o/seas for a week.
My Saw has only had minimal use also unfortunately.
Mine had a little vibration when I first set it up but changing the belt to a link belt seemed to fix that. Ditto the useless scale on the fence. The metric is completely unusable with the stock tape and pointer. I have a starrett stick on tape but have not got around to putting it on yet.
I got a 1 1/4 ,1tpi resaw blade from Henry bros and it motors thru everything I have thrown at it so far. You need some blades as soon as you unpack it as I don't think the blade it came with would cut a pound of butter- not straight anyway!
Mine came with a standard 10A plug but I always plug it into my 15A socket anyway.( my other 3hp machines all have 15A plugs)

One point to watch is that even though it is supposed to take blades from 3mm- 38mm aparrantly it needs different guides to use anything under 6mm- so I've been told anyway, I ended up getting a much smaller saw for any fine work.

Also It dosn't have a quick release lever for the blade tension.

I got mine from GPW at the melbourne show and he had sold the 3 he had by sat lunchtime.
WWW didn't have any of the 3hp model at that stage and were less than complimentary about GPW comming down and selling them.

Bruce T.

Hi Kiwi Bruce
First off thanks for your post which is the sort of feedback I was looking for
ie the good the bad and the ugly.

I've had a closer look at this machine today in action at WWWH. Some observations:

1. The fence system could be improved as you mention above.
2. Motor vibration was next to nil - and overall quiteness/smoothness of operation couldn't be faulted (2HP version). The improved high strength column assembly coupled with serious weight does seem to put this saw in another class compared to the 14 inch alternatives under consideration ie industrial feel vs domestic
3. Re-sawing some Qld "hardwood" about 6 inches thick confirmed the ease at which this saw can deal with very hard timbers - even with a relatively quick feed rate. I noted the The re-saw pattern was smooth, regular and accurate- performed with a 3tpi high quality bi-metal blade. The stndard blade was conspicuous by its absence
4. Very substantial roller blade guides and as expected improved tensioning sysem.
5. Overall fit and finish typical JET

I also met by chance a very happy JET 18X Bandsaw Customer who had owned one for 18 months........ he confirmed the observations above.

I have only one question to finalise my decision of the Powermatic 14CS vs JET 18X. Is there ANYTHING the smaller machine does better than the larger one???

Originally Posted by warmtone

...The stndard blade was conspicuous by its absence

The blade that comes with it is there to show you where to put your new blade.

Originally Posted by warmtone

......Is there ANYTHING the smaller machine does better than the larger one???

Fit in the shed maybe?
I don't have a powermatic so I can't comment really.

i am waiting for the brisbane wwws to get a jet 18"bs. can anyone tell me if there is aything better in the same price range.?

Originally Posted by Mini

An update on my 18" Jet. I used it to cut some finger joints in some 100x100 and thought, that's funny why is there a gap at the inner end of the joint only on one side? It turns out that the table is not square to the blade in the direction of feed and there is no adjustment that I can see. This means the blind end of a cut is not square. Shim time me thinks.

Hi Mini did you fix your problem??

If so pls advise what was needed