Jet 18" Band Saw, good deal?

[Dave Chrudimsky]

Looking at a jwbs-18x-3 for $900. Is this a good deal? It seems that there were quite a few complaints here about 18" Jets a while back. Any comments to help me out?

Thanks!

[Joseph Tarantino]

here is my jwbs-18. a $40 craigs list purchase:

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos

the 1/1/10 videos represent the saw's current state. the 8/31 and 9/26/09 videos show the blade loping problem that was only solved, after much grief and inadequate customer support from jet, by getting a properly welded lenox blade from iturra design (i'll never even look at timberwolf blades again). IMHO, there are plenty of saws out there that are less than $1000 that can do what an 18" jet can do. there are several grizzly units and the rikon 10-325 has a resaw capacity in excess of 12". i think woodcraft sells the rikon for $799 (it was $699 arouond christmas). why not pay less and get more?

also, the square column welded frame jets apparently had a reputation for flexing under load. i got this from both lou iturra and mark duginske. this means that as the saw is loaded with tension as the blade is tensioned, the wheels are pulled out of coplanarity. this could add to saw vibration with the resulting decrease in cut quality. lack of coplanarity could also add to blade movement problems (like i had) and poor blade tracking. the move by jet to the triangular support column in more current saws is an attempt to remedy that problem.

if all you want the saw to do is rough resawing and circle cutting, it will do that. but if i had paid anywhere near what you are looking to spend on that used jet, i'd be kicking myself right now. the grief i had to go through to get the saw to perform like it does now was considerable. the only thing that made it palatable was the $40 price. HTH.