Jet 10" jointer / planer combo $299 at Woodcraft

[dewi1219]

The Jet JJP-10BTOS will be on sale for $299 at Woodcraft over Thanksgiving weekend. My local store is already "pre-selling" them for this price. I ordered one yesterday (they didn't have any in stock even though they told me they did when I called). Reviews for it online are mixed, and people seem to either love it or hate it. But I took a chance on it because:
1) I am very limited on space in my garage shop. I had dedicated machines before but sold them because they took up too much real estate.
2) $299 is dirt cheap for a combo machine with a stand. I am limited on budget since I also need to buy a new SCMS and stand.
3) It sure will be nice to have a 10" jointing capacity. I know the tables are shorter than a standard jointer but that's part of the appeal to me - see #1 above.

I have realistic expectations for it, and I'm willing to deal with the compromises it requires - assuming that there aren't any issues with table parallelism, etc. So hopefully it will fit my needs very well.

[LCHIEN]

That combo and the similar 8" one have been discussed recently and even some time back. Here's the most recent thread:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread...r+planer+combo

[dewi1219]

Yeah, Loring, I've read the previous threads here and the reviews elsewhere on the net. Like I said, you will find several negative reviews and several positive ones. I don't expect it to be the "perfect" machine, and I am willing to put extra time in to adjust it, build extensions for the planer bed, etc. as needed. For the price, the footprint, and the amount of planing and jointing I do (not a great amount), I'm willing to give it a whirl.

[jonathan55]

Do you know if this is at all stores or just your local store? With a small shop I think this sounds interesting!

Jonathan

[dsinger]

Although this unit is not constructed as well as my JET 6INCH Jointer and my Jet 13inch planer/molder I have in my year around home in Fl. Like those considering it for its small footprint I bought one 2 months ago for work redoing our cottage in Northern Michigan. I threw some old teak on the jointer and to my surprise it finished beautifully. If you can handle some cheap plastic knobs that really are not needed for a functioning machine don't hesitate on this deal.

[dewi1219]

Do you know if this is at all stores or just your local store? With a small shop I think this sounds interesting!

Jonathan

I was under the impression that it was on sale at all stores, but I'm not 100% on that. You can call your local store to confirm.

[jtrcy]

I just looked at that at the tool store yesterday. The most amazing thing to me was that the fence trunnion appeared to be made out of stamped 14ga aluminum plate.

Careful how much pressure you put on that sucker. Obviously a very useful machine, but lower your expectations as to the fit and finish and quality of construction.

JT

[toolguy1000]

a multifunctional tool for $299 has the potential to be an outstanding buy. the only downside to the latest woodcraft offer is that it's for a walter meier group (powermatic, jet and wilton) tool.

[dbhost]

I am a bit torn on this tool. I have seen a LOT of write ups on the 8" benchtop unit, and NONE of them are good. I have seen lots of write ups on the 10" unit, and they are hit or miss, and then of course the write ups on the big 12" floor model almost all glowing reviews...

IF this tool lives up to its promise, it can end up being a fantastic machine for a guy (or gal) with a space challenged shop. Not sure how useful it is on a stand, but as a bench top unit, it could sure be a shop space saver...

[dbhost]

Did anybody end up with one of these?

Hey guys, it's been almost 2 months now, so how about some reviews on these things? I'd like to see if the Amazon reviews are goofy or if these things really might be worth considering...

[dewi1219]

Well, I've been wanting to post a review, but I just haven't used it enough yet. I will say that although it is to soon to make a complete judgment, so far I LOVE it.

I put mine together a couple of weekends ago. When I went to check the jointer table parallelism, I couldn't find my feeler gages. So, I broke out my Wixey digital angle finder just to do a quick check. Side to side I was able to get alignment to 0.0 degrees. However, end to end I was only able to get it to 0.1 degrees. It only reads in 0.1 degree increments, so this may have been anywhere from 0.05 to 0.14 degrees off. Converted to thousandths that would be about 16 to 44 or so at the farthest edge of the infeed table. Not insignificant, but it didn't seem to affect jointing performance (see below) and I'm not sure how reliable an angle finder with a 2" or so base is going to be anyway. The jointer knives were dead flat to the outfeed table though.

I had some poplar laying around, but I have a project in mind for it so I didn't want to hack it up. So I tested the machine on an old 2x4 that had been in my garage for a couple years. Length was about 30" or so, and this is the only board I have jointed and planed so far, so take my results for what they're worth (which ain't much).

Jointing: I face jointed the board making about 10 passes, taking off 1/32 each pass. I made so many passes just because I wanted to work on my technique. I can already see where that 10" jointing capacity is going to be REALLY nice. The jointer fence isn't terribly long but I had no trouble with it. And the jointer table length is going to be fine for me I believe. If there is a problem I will add some infeed / outfeed support. After face jointing the board, I edge jointed both sides again making multiple passes. After all this, I checked the board on a table top (not a granite surface plate but it is very flat from my checking) and the board was dead flat on the face and both edges. Maybe my results should have / could have been worse based on the jointer table parallelism, but I made sure to transfer the pressure on the board to the outfeed side as soon as possible while jointing. Also, I understand that there is a way to adjust the parallelism, but I won't worry with it unless it begins to affect my results.

Planing: This was the real surprise. I again made 10+ passes on the planer, removing 1/16 or so each pass. I checked the board after each pass, and there was ZERO snipe at either end on every pass. I couldn't believe it. But after thinking about it, there may be an explanation. Snipe on a normal planer is usually caused by the cutterhead rocking when the board goes through the first set of rollers. Since the cutterhead in this machine is fixed, it does not rock - the planer bed goes up and down to adjust the thickness. So maybe this is why I get no snipe. Also, the instructions for the machine said to lift slightly on the back end of the board as it goes into the planer and the front end of the board as it comes out to reduce snipe, and I did this. Longer boards may be more of a challenge, but I don't see why the results would vary drastically. I was already planning to build an infeed / outfeed bed extension but now I may not need it. The only drawbacks I found here were that obviously the planer width is only 10" (no problem for my projects) and you feed boards into the planer just below the jointer outfeed table. So if your planing very short boards it might be a little cumbersome.

Again, this is based on my very limited experience so far, but for $299 right now I would rate it one of my best woodworking buys. If my opinion changes as I use it more I will update this thread.

[dewi1219]

A couple more thoughts I forgot: As mentioned before, the knobs are plastic and they do feel pretty cheap. The lock levers for the jointer fence and planer bed are my biggest concerns, but I think if you just don't go crazy tightening them they'll be ok.

The jointer fence, fence bracket, and tables are all aluminum. This is ALMOST a plus for me as it makes the machine light enough to move around my shop without too much trouble. It's not so light that I would worry about it tipping over while I was planing or jointing a long board though.

Just wanted to add these because they might make a difference to someone who would be using this machine every day. Of course, if you're jointing and planing every day, this isn't the machine for you anyway.

[toolguy1000]

the 07/09 issue of wood amgazine did a tool test of 12" jointer/planers. fwiw, they chose the grizzly as top tool.

[dewi1219]

the 07/09 issue of wood amgazine did a tool test of 12" jointer/planers. fwiw, they chose the grizzly as top tool.

There's no comparison between this $300 10" benchtop unit and one of those $2000 12" production type units. But if you have the coin and space for one of those, it seems to me it would make more sense to buy a really nice stand alone jointer and a really nice stand alone planer. Just my opinion.

One more nice thing about the Jet - it only takes about 30 seconds to switch from jointing to planing. You only have to move the dust chute from above the cutterhead to below or vice versa. FYI - there is a safety switch that will not let the motor turn on unless the dust chute is attached in one of the two locations. This isn't mentioned in the manual, and it took me a few minutes to figure out why mine wouldn't start up before I realized this.

[dbhost]

My interest here is in home workshop usage. I find VERY infrequently that I am using anything more than 10" on my benchtop planer, and I am often too narrow on the jointer. To have both functions in a small space would sure go a LONG way to keeping me sane...

It looks like Rikon brought one out this year too!