I have a Jet JWBS 10OS that works great. The only problem is related to the use I have for the saw. I use it, primarily, for cutting pen blanks. I want to cut some of the blanks at various angles, using different sleds, which are guided by the miter gauge slot, but the miter gauge rides in a narrow "T" slot, not the conventional 3/8" x 3/4". I then found that there are no other miter gauges or bars available for the narrow "T" slot. I went online with Jet to look for parts for the saw, yet they do not include the JWBS-10OS in their parts listing. I emailed Jet 4 days ago to inquire about purchasing an additional Miter Gauge(s) (to use the bar for the sled), but I have received no response. I realize its early in production, but the issue of spare and replacement parts should have been included in the original production plans. Other than that, from a mechanical point, it works quite well. Jet JWBS-10OS 10-Inch Band Saw with Stand
As was the case with several other reviewers, this saw arrived in a carton that was in dreadful shape. I weigh just slightly more than the saw itself, so it was quite an ordeal to hoist it up to my assembly table, assemble it, and then lift it back down to the floor. So just imagine my dismay when, after all that work, I found the upper blade guard assembly was broken.
However, the return/replacement process with Amazon was remarkably easy and uncomplicated. I simply logged on to Amazon, clicked a few buttons and within seconds had printed out a return shipping form. I was not charged for the return shipping and a UPS driver arrived the next day to pick it up. A few days after that a replacement saw arrived. The shipping carton for the second saw was in slightly better shape but I checked most of the moving parts before taking it out of the box and would recommend others to do the same. But even so, the plastic guard over the motor housing was crushed and the plastic end cap for the fence was broken off.
Since I didn't think these things would affect the performance of the saw, I tried it out and was pleasantly surprised. The saw almost effortlessly resawed a rough piece of 2X4 into a nice 3/4 inch thick board, with minimal saw marks. It also maneuvered around some rather tight turns. I think I will keep this one.
I'm an amateur woodworker, and I bought this tool for small-medium sized projects. The throat and depth-of-cut limitations of this saw are adequate for me. However, anyone buying this saw should realize that both the throat and depth-of-cut dimensions for this model are a slightly smaller than some saws in the $300-$400 price range, and this will limit the size of projects you can use the JWBS-10OS for.
I bought mine from a store, so there was no shipment issue. The packaging seemed adequate to me, but since mine never went through a residential delivery service, I can't really tell if it would have survived the journey or not. The box for my saw was strong and in-tact, and the Styrofoam padding seems also strong and nothing was broken or out of order inside the box.
I appreciate the way the saw was mostly assembled in the box. There was some minor assembly required, mostly the base, but not much. And nothing requiring very much skill or effort. With a little tweaking and measuring, I was able to get the table flat enough and true enough to the blade to satisfy me.
The only real problem I had with the saw was the tire on the bottom wheel. It seemed to be stretched out or something, so it wouldn't stay on the wheel. It wasn't terribly stretched out, and I couldn't tell that it wasn't right until the saw had been running for a minute or two. It slowly got looser and looser until it pulled the blade off. It was pretty easy to fix though, with just a couple of dots of contact cement. Now it runs fine. Though I would prefer a brand new saw not require contact cement on the tires.
Overall, I think the saw is very good, and I am absolutely happy I bought it. But there are some obvious cut corners. Which I think is to be expected in a budget-level saw.
Every knob on the saw is made of plastic, and every one of the plastic knobs has a plastic cap that fits on the end of it. Every single plastic cap on every knob on my saw has fallen off. I'm not sure how it was ever supposed to work to begin with. They just fall off. They don't screw on or click into place, they just sit on the end until they fall off. I had to super glue them all back on. Which wasn't much work, though I would prefer to not have to do it. The caps are just for appearances anyway, and serve no purpose other than making the knobs look nice and rounded on the end.
The clip on the fence that holds it to the back of the table was slightly bent so that it wouldn't engage. So I had to bend it a little bit by tapping it with a hammer. Again, not a problem, it was two minutes of work, though I would prefer that I didn't have to do it when the saw is right out of the box.
I found the table to be of good, solid construction. It feels heavy and adjusts easily.
The fence is adequate, though not great. It engages to create a solid connection for guiding your work pieces. You can make minor adjustments to it with a hex wrench in order to true it up with the blade. However, it does not slide easily from one position to the next. I don't consider this to be a problem on a $300 saw. When I need to move the fence I just take it off and put it back on in the new position.
The housing of the saw is very good. The doors are of thicker, heavier material than I expected. The door latches are clever and solid, though made of plastic. I appreciate the dial for tracking adjustment, as my last bandsaw required me to keep up with a particular hex wrench in order to make tracking adjustments.
The tension adjustment mechanism is adequate. There is a tension gauge inside of the housing which is supposed to tell you when your saw is tensioned correctly based on the width of your blade. The gauge looks cheap and gimmicky though, and I seriously doubt that it is more than vaguely accurate.
The depth adjustment knob works smoothly. The guide assembly has a lot of adjustment knobs, and they all work well. It is kind of difficult to see the adjustments for the bottom guide assembly, because the housing is in the way. I was able to make all of the adjustments I needed to, though. So it wasn't prohibitive.
The stand is very solid, though the rubber feet on the bottom are too soft and have already started to wear through after me moving the assembled saw just a few times.
The miter gauge works, though it is hard to imagine a cheaper adjustable miter gauge. It is made of light plastic. It does fit relatively tightly into the miter slot, though. So it works.
The adjustable light is a single LED on the end of a plastic snake. It creates a small focused circle of blue light that you can point anywhere. I would prefer a small lamp to illuminate the whole table.
The saw runs very smoothly, and it "feels" stronger than I expect a saw this size to be. The motor is quiet, although the guide bearings do make a surprisingly loud ringing/vibrating sound when the saw runs.
This is probably the nicest 10" bandsaw I have ever seen. I am under the impression that Jet cut obvious corners in order to make the core saw very good at a particular price point. So, you wind up with a very good saw with some cheap knobs and accessories. I would recommend this saw to a friend, and if it was stolen, I would replace it with the same saw.'
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