Like many starting woodworkers, I really needed a jointer and wanted a planer, but both did not fit into my budget. So I considered buying a jointer and just doing without the planer. Then I saw this product, but buying it without a review was a real gamble. I was really concerned that as a jointer it might not be very precise and that would just be a waste of money (I can hand joint a board fairly precisely - it just takes longer). In the end I decided that it was about the same price as many portable planers, and if it did a decent job planing, I would just use it as such.
The machine arrived promptly and was well packaged. Good thing, as is usually the case, the outer packaging was pretty battered. One caveat, the planer extension table and jointer blade guard are placed loose in the cavity of the planer and bang around some. The red paint on the guard was chipped around the corners a bit.
Set up was about a 1-hour job. These are things to consider:
1. I would recommend two people to get the main unit out of the styrofoam. It weighs about 75lbs. and tends to stick in the packaging.
2. The directions recommend tightening all of the nuts for the stand and then placing the unit on it before running the bolts up into the unit. Don't do this. Flip the unit upside-down onto the styrofoam packing and place the stand on the bottom. That way you can actually see all of the bolt holes and adjust the stand so all of the holes line up.
3. The directions fail to mention the three lock washers that go with the hex cap screws for fastening the planer outfeed extension, but they are in the exploded parts diagram (and come in the hardware bag). I recommend putting in all three screws loosely. Then, starting at one end, align the top of the extension just barely below the outfeed table - tightnen lightly. Then do the other side. My first efforts were to do the center screw first, but then every time you lower one side, the other pops up too high. Lastly, don't tighten thes down until you adjust the set screws that adjust the angle of the outfeed (I stripped one that way - but I always make sure to find at least one excuse to go out to the hardware store :-)
OK now for the bottom line - performance.
As a jointer, I was impressed. I jointed some very rough walnut and it came out smooth, straight and square - but only after about 5 passes. the directions advise taking light cuts (1/16" or less) and as I've only had this for a short time, I haven't tried breaking it yet.
Same deal as a planer or surface jointer: nice, but it is a bit underpowered - take light cuts. After all, if you realy want a powerful tool, and could afford it, you'd buy a stationary 15" planer and an 8" jointer. Not much snipe (any?) with these light cuts and the surface is nice.
Four small con's:
1. The 2" dust connector is just barely too big for my Rigid vac - fixed with some sandpaper.
2. One of the extension table holes had to be drilled out to get the bolt to go through (but all of the tapped holes are spot-on.)
3. The stand is a little flexible. I'm going to bolt a peice of ply onto the lower brackets as a shelf - that ought to help.
4. the jointer fence does not have any adjustment for moving it across the table, so all jointing operations occur at the same side. That will end up wearing the blades uneavenly. I'll probably end up making up some spacers with mdf.
I recommend this product. Jet JJP-10BTOS 10-Inch Bench-Top Jointer/Planer
I purchased this jointer/planer two weeks ago. This was to be my first joining/planing tool beyond a handplane and I was quite encouraged by the reviews. Beyond Amazon I had a hard time tracking down any major woodworking magazines that had done any reviews on this tool, that should have been a sign.
I received it, spent the next several hours assembling it, became very frustrated with the poorly threaded nuts and bolts and especially frustrated aligning the unit, I could only get 3 of the 4 base screws tight, the 4th would not thread in. Before firing the unit up I threw up an engineers square and my infeed table was horribly out of alignment. After some inspection I noticed that a piece of the infeed table was snapped off. So I called up Jet customer service who did a fine job in getting me the proper replacement part. I wish they would have detailed that this would be a difficult job... it was very difficult.
I received the new infeed table 4 days later and had to completely remove the gears, chain and split the machine open in order to get the new infeed table in. This wasn't too bad, the problem became aligning the cutterhead, two rollers, a lock bar, and a chip guard all at the same time while attempting to hold up the new infeed table while tightening a bolt. After much frustration I finally had the unit back together.
I threw the engineers square back up and all looked well. I fired up the motor and that worked also. All seemed good. I adjusted my depth of cut, tightened the infeed table lock and PING, the shaft that locks the infeed table snapped. This tiny shaft, approximately 1/8 inch diameter ran from one side of the machine to the other and was locked by a handwheel that you used to snug it, mine was hardly able to take finger tight before snapping.
In the end I was able to use Amazons excellent return policy and it is going back to them. It is unfortunate that Jet has made a product that is targeted at entry level woodworkers which cannot accomplish the very simplest of tasks. I would not recommend this tool to anyone.
Jet 10" Jointer/Planer Combo. It makes lot of sense to have both jointer and planer build into one machine. I have tried the jointer with hard red oak, and some soft wood for the planer. Both worked fine to my satisfaction. But there are a few "small" things that needed to be taken care of at the beginning after received the machine thought UPS:
(1) Shipping box is broken badly, luck me that the contents inside is not lost.
(2) The instruction manual (pictures and instructions) is not clear; it says the extension table should be installed higher than the planer but it does not say how much higher it should be. Also, for people never used a jointer or planer (like me), the manual should mention the basics steps operating a jointer and planer to get fine results. I have to find answers from other sources.
(3) This was the most bothering thing for me at the beginning: the out-feed table and the in-feed table are not parallel to each other (off by about 2 mm), and the manual does not mention how to fix it. After contacted the customer service, I got instructions to get it fixed (take both plastic panels off and there are 2 screws on the out-feed table which can be adjusted), even though I cannot say both tables are dead-parallel now, it is very close.
(4) While operating the jointer, the cutter guard keeps touching the surface of the out-feed table; there seems no way to adjust it. I guess the rotating axle is probably not perpendicular to the guard so as it turns, it getting closer to the surface of the out-feed table (but not 100% sure). I have sent email to customer support; hopefully will get some help on that. I think the worst case for me to get it work is to re-drill 2 holes and raise the guard.
(5) The fence could be designed to be a bit sturdier. Would be nice if it could be moved across the tables so that the cutter can be fully utilized.
(6) Would be nice if a shelf is design into the supporting frame/stand which cost basically nothing but would be useful for those with limited space.
(7) The quality of the cutter seems is not top of the line. After short period usage, I noticed a few small notches.
(8) The way that the planer extension table get installed (by 3 screws) and "adjusted" (by 2 smaller screws) is kind of joke. Even a non-professional woodworker like me can see its ridiculers.
(9) Some screws are too short, they are barely long enough to hold the tightened nut and washer.
Issues above are just some small imperfections I have noticed and which I can live with, over-all, I like this machine very much and I think it is well worth the money ($420). - Stationary Jointers - Jointer - Stationary Planers - Planer'
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