I'm delurking to tell of my experience purchasing and installing a Jet 16"
planer. I've been wanting a 15" planer to relieve my severely abused 12 1/2"
Delta planer. I finally had the money set aside and went looking for a Jet
15". I was surprised to find a new 16" that was cheaper! I ordered it from
Tool King and expected delivery sometime in the next decade as the standard
freight charge was only $7.99. That freight charge was from Colorado to
Kentucky! Much to my amazement the crate arrived 10 days later; all 534 lbs
of it!
The open stand went together easily and all of the holes aligned perfectly.
Parts were well protected and no nicks or chips. All of the bolts, washers,
and nuts were separated in teeny-tiny Ziploc bags....nice touch. Metric
open-end wrenches and "Allen" wrenches were included. A friend had to help
lift the planer unit/motor onto the base........very heavy!!! Steel rods
slide out of the base casting for use as handles to lift the
unit.....another nice touch. The 230 VAC power cord was too short and no
plug is included. I installed a longer 12 gauge cord and 20 amp twist-lock
plug.
Mounting and alligning the infeed and outfeed roller assemblies was a test
in patience. Had to pull up a chair and go through a trial and error
process that took about 1/2 hour for the first set of rollers. It required
a bit of tapping with a mallet and many turns of the three bolt/three
set-screw design to finally get the allignment of rollers with the bed. The
other set went much better.
The manual recommends adjusting two rollers in the bed up for rough-material
and down (almost flush with the bed) for smooth material. The range of
adjustment is from 0 (flush with the bed) to .006" up for roughest material.
The factory setting is .004" and the procedure to adjust the two rollers
looks to be tedious. I'm hoping that I won't find it necessary to change
the setting. It would be a PITA to adjust them every time I was running a
bunch of rough-sawn then had to adjust when the rough was smoothed.
It became obvious that my puny Rigid dust collector couldn't handle the chip
volume when I fired the sucker up and ran a 12" rough-sawn piece of oak
through. A dust collector is absolutely necessary. The planer has 2
feed-speeds and the faster speed handled the oak with ease. It took off wood
that would have taken 3 passes on the Delta 12 1/2". The dust collector's 4"
hose plugged immediately, ergo I bought and installed a Jet 1100 CFM dust
collector last night. So much for saving $.
I've had to do a major reorg of my garage-shop (no room for a car) to fit
the planer in, but it will be worth it as I have mucho rough-sawn lumber; a
big benefit of living in rural Kentucky.
Overall I'm very pleased with the planer and recommend it.
Jim
Max Mahanke wrote:
> You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
> change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct steal
> from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access panel
> on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and puts
> changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette.
I've never used either of them, but it seems to me that the fixed lower
table would allow you to build fixed in/outfeed extensions if desired.
Or are extensions not required?
Wonder if anyone ever made a motor-in-base-but-fixed-table planer....
Chris
"Chris Friesen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Max Mahanke wrote:
>> You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
>> change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct steal
>> from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access
>> panel
>> on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and puts
>> changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette.
>
> I've never used either of them, but it seems to me that the fixed lower
> table would allow you to build fixed in/outfeed extensions if desired.
I have the 15" Delta top mount motor planer and while I agree that the motor
is a little in the way, with the top cover off I cannot see that it will be
much of a problem when removing the blades.
I've changed knives on both. Problem? OK maybe it doesn't rate as a problem
but it is a bit of a struggle to get the new knives set properly compared to
the Jet, and more time consuming.
"Leon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Chris Friesen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Max Mahanke wrote:
> >> You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
> >> change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct
steal
> >> from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access
> >> panel
> >> on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and
puts
> >> changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette.
> >
> > I've never used either of them, but it seems to me that the fixed lower
> > table would allow you to build fixed in/outfeed extensions if desired.
>
> I have the 15" Delta top mount motor planer and while I agree that the
motor
> is a little in the way, with the top cover off I cannot see that it will
be
> much of a problem when removing the blades.
>
>
Good point, I don't know.
"Chris Friesen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Max Mahanke wrote:
> > You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
> > change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct
steal
> > from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access
panel
> > on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and puts
> > changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette.
>
> I've never used either of them, but it seems to me that the fixed lower
> table would allow you to build fixed in/outfeed extensions if desired.
>
> Or are extensions not required?
>
> Wonder if anyone ever made a motor-in-base-but-fixed-table planer....
>
> Chris
You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct steal
from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access panel
on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and puts
changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette. Aside
from that, its a nice planer and I haven't heard anything bad about it.
"Woodhead" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm delurking to tell of my experience purchasing and installing a Jet 16"
> planer. I've been wanting a 15" planer to relieve my severely abused 12
1/2"
> Delta planer. I finally had the money set aside and went looking for a
Jet
> 15". I was surprised to find a new 16" that was cheaper! I ordered it
from
> Tool King and expected delivery sometime in the next decade as the
standard
> freight charge was only $7.99. That freight charge was from Colorado to
> Kentucky! Much to my amazement the crate arrived 10 days later; all 534
lbs
> of it!
>
> The open stand went together easily and all of the holes aligned
perfectly.
> Parts were well protected and no nicks or chips. All of the bolts,
washers,
> and nuts were separated in teeny-tiny Ziploc bags....nice touch. Metric
> open-end wrenches and "Allen" wrenches were included. A friend had to
help
> lift the planer unit/motor onto the base........very heavy!!! Steel rods
> slide out of the base casting for use as handles to lift the
> unit.....another nice touch. The 230 VAC power cord was too short and no
> plug is included. I installed a longer 12 gauge cord and 20 amp
twist-lock
> plug.
>
> Mounting and alligning the infeed and outfeed roller assemblies was a test
> in patience. Had to pull up a chair and go through a trial and error
> process that took about 1/2 hour for the first set of rollers. It
required
> a bit of tapping with a mallet and many turns of the three bolt/three
> set-screw design to finally get the allignment of rollers with the bed.
The
> other set went much better.
>
> The manual recommends adjusting two rollers in the bed up for
rough-material
> and down (almost flush with the bed) for smooth material. The range of
> adjustment is from 0 (flush with the bed) to .006" up for roughest
material.
> The factory setting is .004" and the procedure to adjust the two rollers
> looks to be tedious. I'm hoping that I won't find it necessary to change
> the setting. It would be a PITA to adjust them every time I was running a
> bunch of rough-sawn then had to adjust when the rough was smoothed.
>
> It became obvious that my puny Rigid dust collector couldn't handle the
chip
> volume when I fired the sucker up and ran a 12" rough-sawn piece of oak
> through. A dust collector is absolutely necessary. The planer has 2
> feed-speeds and the faster speed handled the oak with ease. It took off
wood
> that would have taken 3 passes on the Delta 12 1/2". The dust collector's
4"
> hose plugged immediately, ergo I bought and installed a Jet 1100 CFM dust
> collector last night. So much for saving $.
>
> I've had to do a major reorg of my garage-shop (no room for a car) to fit
> the planer in, but it will be worth it as I have mucho rough-sawn lumber;
a
> big benefit of living in rural Kentucky.
>
> Overall I'm very pleased with the planer and recommend it.
>
> Jim
>
>
Chris Friesen <[email protected]> writes:
>Max Mahanke wrote:
>> You"ll wish you had held out for the Jet 15" the first time you have to
>> change knives. The 15" has the motor mounted in the base (a direct steal
>> from Powermatic post aquisition) with a nice big unobstructed access panel
>> on the top. The top-mounted motor is a direct steal from Delta and puts
>> changing knives on par with changing spark plugs on a '73 Corvette.
>
>I've never used either of them, but it seems to me that the fixed lower
>table would allow you to build fixed in/outfeed extensions if desired.
>
>Or are extensions not required?
I've got the 15" and have never required infeed/outfeed extensions.
scott