[bahamaboy]

I have been using my new 8" Jet jointer for about a week now and I am pleased with the machine and its performance. Here is a quick review.

Packaging
The Jointer came in a fairly sturdy box. The shippers still managed to damage the bottom of the box. I have a feeling that the freight companies have very little regard for anything that they ship. Oh well. The jointer was fine.

Fit and Finish
The fit and finish very good. Jet clearly has tighter tolerances and standards than some of the other 8" Jointers on the market. You pay a little more for the Jet but its well worth the difference. I picked up my unit during the Father's Day sale so I bought it for 15% off. Total price was $1,215

Motor
The motor is very smooth when you flip the switch. The motor is attached to the jointer via two rubber belt which is different from other machines which only have one belt. I doubt the belts have anything to do with how smooth the motor runs but I thought I would mention it. I ran an 8" piece of maple through the jointer and there was no problem or hesitation of any kind.

Fence
My fence is twisted. When I square the infeed side of the fence, the outfeed side of the fence is off by .012 which is pretty signigiant. No worries though as a quick email to Jet and I should have a new fence within a week or so. Its great to work with a company that stands behind its product like Jet does.

Manual\Set up
The manual is concise and clear. Setting up a jointer is not rocket science. Basically, you have to bolt the jointer to the stand and then connect the motor to the jointer via a belt or in my case a pair of belts. I did have some trouble with the belts with the set up. The instruction tell you to adjust the bolts holding the motor down but there is no way that I could have added the belts by simply adjusting the bolts that hold the motor. I had to loosen all of the bolts that hold the engine support\platform so that I could get enough slack in the belts to connect belts to the motor.

Tables
The tables are dead on flat. I took a straightedge and a feeler gauge and could not find any dips worth mentioning. The tables are also co-planer. I took a two plastic tri-angles to check each table to check for co-planer

Jointing
All of the above do not atter if the Jointer does not joint. I can honestly say that this machine does a very nice job. I am confident that Jet will do the right thing with the fence so I am looking forward to finalizing the installation and making more sawdust!

Now for some photos

Thanks for looking.

WP

 

[redbirdone]

I have the 6" version of this machine. Probably 8-10 years old and still runs like a champ. I would love an 8" but cannot run 220v. I've got one other Jet product (mini lathe) and have not been disappointed. Enjoy!

 

[Fred Hargis]

I have that same jointer, bought new in 1999, and I'll have to say the appearance of yours (fit/finish) is a lot nicer than mine was. Mine came with a small can of the Ivory paint to cover the nicks. Another surprise: I paid $1199 for mine (this was 13 years ago!). Regardless, I've been very happy with it and it has done a nice job. No problems to speak of, I remember I blew a motor cap once and Jet Fed-exed a replacement to me. But it's certainly earned it's keep in my shop.

 

[bahamaboy]

Glad to hear others are pleased with their units. Prior to buying the Jet, I bought the Grizzly and I ended up returning it. I do not mean this to be a dig against Grizzly in any way but I was not satisfied with the quality of the Grizzly. To Grizzly's credit, they were very fair and I have nothing but praise for their post sale support.

So that brings me to my point. I wanted a step up from the Grizzly which is what took me to the Jet. I have read and heard that the Jet comes out of the same factory that the Grizzly does but I do not think that is true. I do not think any of the Grizzly jointers are the same as the Jet. I was also a bit surprised that there are so few reviews on the Jet. Grizzly has a bunch of reviews and most of them are positive which is too Grizzly's credit.

After returning the Grizzly, I realized that I probably got a bad machine but I still do see some very nice differences between the Jet and the Grizzly.