July 10, 201114 yr A good friend of mine recently gave me an almost new Jet 10" jointer/planner combo machine. When he called, I thought he was joking."Didnt you just buy it last month?", I asked."Yup. Worst $400 I ever spent," he replied."Whats wrong with it?""Its junk," he exclaimed. "Do you want it? Maybe you can fix it up?""Sure. I have tons of room in the shop for a new machine (not at all)."So I picked it up yesterday and fired it up when I got home. It hummed. I ran a piece of scrap 4/4 walnut over the jointer. Junk.It was straight as an arrow before. Now it is curved. I jointed a curve into this innocent piece of wood on a brand new machine. Wow. I called Jet. They were very helpful. They instructed me on how to true the top and boy was it easy. Thanks Lucy at Jet customer service.Next piece of wood. This time it was white oak and it was straight at the beginning. Junk! Another curved piece. After calling Lucy again (she had a friendly voice) we decided that I was right. Junk. She offered to have a repair rep come out to fix it ( I thought I just did?). I told her no and said bye-bye.On the upside, it works well as a thickness planner. I am giving it to my young friend/apprentice Shawn with instructions to use it only under adult supervision (yea right) and only as a thickness planner.The lesson learned here is that if something seems to be to good to be true, it probably is. I agree that there are some nice combo machines out there. They dont cost $400 though. More like $4000 ( see-Feilder). I am not trashing Jet. I have a nice Jet drill press that is very dusty and takes up needed space in a handtool shop.Has anyone else spent money on a lemon? I have. The first woodworking machine I ever bought was a Ryobi thickness planner. It was $170 or so. It was junk. Brand new junk.So if you have bought something you thought was great but found out it was junk, lets hear about it.Dont be shy. I have bought more junky tools in my life than I have great ones. Lessons are learned all the time in all sorts of ways. Mine just seem to cost me money.... Adam WelkerRed Car Construction and Fine Woodworking
July 10, 201114 yr I have been there, got the t shirt. Lots of things I have bought over the years. Not so much junk, just not useful. Some dovetail jigs, some power tools, some marking things, planes, etc. They work, just not the best. One question, why not take Jet up on the offer to come fix your jointer table? If it doesn't cost anything, it would be interesting to hear what they could do. Just asking. bobBob Kloeswww.bobkloes.com
July 10, 201114 yr Author After reading dozens of reveiws, I found that even after it was fixed, it continued to have the same problems. The infeed and outfeed tables are aluminum and will go out of true if you look at them wrong. I have a Dewalt 13" planner and a Grizzly 8" jointer. My jointer is dusty. I prefer tp joint by hand (suprised?). If my young buddy's parents approve of him having the machine, I may call Jet back. Otherwise, I will post it on Craigslist as is and make enough cash to buy a new chisel or something.Bob Kloes said: I have been there, got the t shirt. Lots of things I have bought over the years. Not so much junk, just not useful. Some dovetail jigs, some power tools, some marking things, planes, etc. They work, just not the best. Â One question, why not take Jet up on the offer to come fix your jointer table? If it doesn't cost anything, it would be interesting to hear what they could do. Just asking. bob Bob Kloeswww.bobkloes.com Adam WelkerRed Car Construction and Fine Woodworking
July 10, 201114 yr Author Also, good call on the dovetail jigs. That might make an interesting discussion. I made the same mistake a few years ago when I had a kitchen cabinet job and had to make 20 dovetailed drawers. The jig sucked and argued with me. I ended up hand dovetailing alot of drawers. Bob Kloes said: I have been there, got the t shirt. Lots of things I have bought over the years. Not so much junk, just not useful. Some dovetail jigs, some power tools, some marking things, planes, etc. They work, just not the best. Â One question, why not take Jet up on the offer to come fix your jointer table? If it doesn't cost anything, it would be interesting to hear what they could do. Just asking. bob Bob Kloeswww.bobkloes.com Adam WelkerRed Car Construction and Fine Woodworking
July 11, 201114 yr AdamI think we have all been there at some point. Kind of surprised to hear this about Jet. I thought they were good tools from the rating. Being in the market I will have to further research this. Thanks.Wayne MahlerGod bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.
July 11, 201114 yr Probably several other things but this is what come to mind at the time. I purchased a Craftsman "Professional" router several years back. I thought it was a nice router. It had a lever locking mechanism. It would never stay locked. You could set the depth, lock the lever and star routing and it would pop open and the router move. I ruined several pieces before I just set it aside and purchase a PC router. I did take it back to Sears once and they replaced it with the same model, and guess what. Same problem so it now just sits on the shelf as a reminder.John MoodyJohn Moody Woodworkshttp://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com
July 11, 201114 yr Author Jet makes incredible tools. I have owned a few. This one in particular is part of a line of tools meant for "jobsite use". They also make a drill press that is meant to be "jobsite portable". It may work alright for a construction site, but not for a serious woodworker. I currently own a Grizzly jointer and , if you are in the market, it works perfectly fine and is built to last. They are inexpensive as far as jointers go. About $900 for a 3 knife cutterhead.Wayne Mahler said: Adam I think we have all been there at some point. Kind of surprised to hear this about Jet. I thought they were good tools from the rating. Being in the market I will have to further research this. Thanks. Wayne MahlerGod bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free. Adam WelkerRed Car Construction and Fine Woodworking
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