John Coloccia
10-03-2009, 1:44 PM
For kicks, I decided to measure the snipe on my JP12 joiner/planer combo. The way I measured is I slid the board along my table saw bed and used a dial indicator to measure the deviation from one end of the board to the other. Then I flipped the board around and measured again to detect any trapazoid.
Results:
The entire board is planed to about +/- .003", including the ends. The snipe is about .006" and extends about 1" or 2" into the board (that's less than 1/128"). The rest of the board is pretty much dead nuts...about +/- .002". Accurately measuring down to .001" is difficult. It doesn't take much pressure on the table or the wood to knock stuff out that much. Also, the board itself can move that much just laying it down in a different position. Bottom line is that it's accurate enough that it challenges the limits of my own measurement precision. Ideally, I'd place the board on a large granite table, and then slide the indicator over the board. Oh well!
This was a mahagony board, approximately 10" X 5'. No infeed or outfeed support. I did lightly support the outfeed side with my fingertips as the board came out, although it was completely unescessary until after the cut was complete. I just did it to keep the board from falling on the floor.
I post this because the topic of snipe and precision comes up from time to time on this particular unit. It performs pretty well. I know that there are planers out there that perform even better, but for the price and the shop footprint, this is a really nice unit and I'm pleasantly surprised that it works this well. Honestly, I didn't expect it from a Jet combo unit. I just wanted something that could get me in the ballpark.
As I've said previously, though, none of this applies to the JP-10. I believe the JP-10 is a much flimsier unit and without seeing it and measuring for myself, I have to believe that it's not near the quality of the -12.
Results:
The entire board is planed to about +/- .003", including the ends. The snipe is about .006" and extends about 1" or 2" into the board (that's less than 1/128"). The rest of the board is pretty much dead nuts...about +/- .002". Accurately measuring down to .001" is difficult. It doesn't take much pressure on the table or the wood to knock stuff out that much. Also, the board itself can move that much just laying it down in a different position. Bottom line is that it's accurate enough that it challenges the limits of my own measurement precision. Ideally, I'd place the board on a large granite table, and then slide the indicator over the board. Oh well!
This was a mahagony board, approximately 10" X 5'. No infeed or outfeed support. I did lightly support the outfeed side with my fingertips as the board came out, although it was completely unescessary until after the cut was complete. I just did it to keep the board from falling on the floor.
I post this because the topic of snipe and precision comes up from time to time on this particular unit. It performs pretty well. I know that there are planers out there that perform even better, but for the price and the shop footprint, this is a really nice unit and I'm pleasantly surprised that it works this well. Honestly, I didn't expect it from a Jet combo unit. I just wanted something that could get me in the ballpark.
As I've said previously, though, none of this applies to the JP-10. I believe the JP-10 is a much flimsier unit and without seeing it and measuring for myself, I have to believe that it's not near the quality of the -12.