Quickly finding parts (Worm Drive) for older Jet JWP-15. In a pinch...

[Andrew Nemeth]

Does anyone have any advice for quickly tracking down and acquiring parts for older Jet tools? I have a (mid 90’s blue vintage) 15” Jet Planer (JWP15HO). Unfortunately, during my recent move from VA back to Ohio, a lumber rack collapsed on top of the planer while in transit. When unloading the mess into storage, the planner appeared fine. Today, when moving my equipment into the new house, the height adjustment knob fell off. Upon inspection, it appears as the worm drive shaft sheared off slightly inside the worm drive casting. I have found the part number (JWP15H-055) but have not had any success finding the part readily available. The part is out of stock directly from Jet. eReplacement parts has them listed on their site as being available to ship in 9-14 days, however, once placed in the cart the item is listed as backordered with no estimated release date. Any other reputable sources I should be looking at?

I’m in a time crunch, next week I’m picking up some wormy white oak that I had sawn and kiln dried specifically for our stair treads, I need to finish the stairs soon as we are on a tight schedule to finish the house as we will need to be moving in four weeks time. I’d love to buy a new helical head 15” planer but I’m not sure that’s in the cards at the moment. I hate to buy another 15” straight blade planer over a $20 part. Would any lunchbox planers be able to handle 10’x13” wide roughsawn white oak?

Thanks for any advice that can be provided,

Andrew

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check with Grizzly as many parts interchanged on those four post planners

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks Bruce. As it’s a possibility they will fit, I just ordered the corresponding Grizzly worm drive shaft. I also picked up the matching gear incase their toloraces and/or design are any different. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[glenn bradley]

Also, Cut your stair tread boards to more manageable length before milling. There’s no need to mill them in 10 foot Lengths.

[Gary Ragatz]

These guys say 1-2 weeks, and it didn't change after I added it to my cart. Might be worth a try.

http://www.toolpartspro.com/jet-parts/jet-708538-parts/jet-jwp15h-055-worm

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks for the lead Gary. I will try giving them a call today and seeing if they really have access to an available part.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Find a local machine shop, if they get right to it, you'll be running in hours.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks Glenn. I have a follow up question for you. Are you implying that I should be able to do 13 (12.5”) of rough stock through a portable planer if I cut the boards down in length? I’ve never had a problem with long stock on my 15” Jet planer as it has plenty of weight and stability to handle any 10’ boards I have presented to it. However, I am intreasted in knowing if a portable planer would be up for the job should the part situation comes up empty handed prior to my need to get the treads produced. FYI- I don’t mind cutting the boards to a shorter length to make them manageable through a portable planer.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I had thought of having a cabinet shop plane and sand them for me, but I neglected to consider having the broken part made. I assume the worm threads are what make this complicated. Any guesses on a price range I might expect to pay for a part like this?

http://cms.toolpartspro.com/DynamicContent.ashx?ProductId=209227&q=getProductImage&mode=rtphttps://sawmillcreek.org/blob:https://sawmillcreek.org/231be9f0-3a49-48d0-8e74-90d8265a76d3

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Thanks for the reply Steve. I had thought of having a cabinet shop plane and sand them for me, but I neglected to consider having the broken part made. I assume the worm threads are what make this complicated. Any guesses on a price range I might expect to pay for a part like this?

http://cms.toolpartspro.com/DynamicContent.ashx?ProductId=209227&q=getProductImage&mode=rtphttps://sawmillcreek.org/blob:https://sawmillcreek.org/231be9f0-3a49-48d0-8e74-90d8265a76d3

Pricing will depend on what equipment they have, and where it's broke. If they can just repair the old one, $50 maybe, if they make a new one in the $200 range I bet. Those prices may be quite different in your area.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Thanks for the info Steve. While I have not taken it apart to see if there was any damage to the threads, the break that I can see is on the unmachined portion of the shaft on the end away from the worm threads. It would seem an idle place for a welded repair.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks Glenn. I have a follow up question for you. Are you implying that I should be able to do 13 (12.5”) of rough stock through a portable planer if I cut the boards down in length? I’ve never had a problem with long stock on my 15” Jet planer as it has plenty of weight and stability to handle any 10’ boards I have presented to it. However, I am intreasted in knowing if a portable planer would be up for the job should the part situation comes up empty handed prior to my need to get the treads produced. FYI- I don’t mind cutting the boards to a shorter length to make them manageable through a portable planer.

I ran a lot of stock through my DW734 before I sold it to a pro shop that also ran one. They had two large floor planers but preferred the finish from the. . . uh . . . finish planers. :) My comment about milling stock larger than required is based on some folks tendency to amplify irregularities by not breaking things down a bit prior to squaring up. I don’t think this will increase the machine’s lifetime per se. My large planer has no issue with long stock. A small planer should be fine as well as long as there is adequate indeed and outfeed support.

[Mark Bolton]

Find a local machine shop, if they get right to it, you'll be running in hours.

If your talking about a machine shop machining a new worm gear and associated parts in a molecule of air you'll be beyond the cost of a new planer. $100+ an hour plus materials is not uncommon. We were in a pinch a while back and had a 16 groove serpentine sheave bored, bushing turned and pressed in and welded, faced both sides and broached key way. $500 bucks to rework a sheave that fits in the palm of your hand.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

If your talking about a machine shop machining a new worm gear and associated parts in a molecule of air you'll be beyond the cost of a new planer. $100+ an hour plus materials is not uncommon. We were in a pinch a while back and had a 16 groove serpentine sheave bored, bushing turned and pressed in and welded, faced both sides and broached key way. $500 bucks to rework a sheave that fits in the palm of your hand.

I guess I did make the assumption that it was probably a broken shaft when I gave the prices, and timing, if they can just grind, weld and clean up on a lathe or even by hand, easy peasy. We have a really great machine shop close here, it's amazing what a creative guy let loose with some good tools can do. You can fully expect Alan's work to be better than the original. I completely agree with what you say about the sheave. Had a couple huge reeves drives used to transfer 350hp in combines rebuilt over the years, couple thousand each at the machine shop, $10k new from John Deere. Not much to it, but LOTS of setup in the machine shop and some heavy iron.

[Richard Coers]

$50 in a machine shop around here will get you a cup of coffee and not much else.

[Bill Dufour]

Should be easy enough to press off the old gear and press the gear onto a new shaft.
Bill D.

[Andrew Nemeth]

Should be easy enough to press off the old gear and press the gear onto a new shaft.
Bill D.
I was thinking the same thing. Too bad the worm drive shaft that broke appears to be machined as a single piece (although, I have not pulled apart the planer to confirm) according to all the exploded parts diagrams I have seen. But, if the grizzly shaft and worm drive fit, but the threads don’t match, hopefully the gear swap out will be straight forward. Parts should be here Tuesday. I’ll be sure to post an update about how it goes.

Thanks again for everyone’s input!

[Andrew Nemeth]

UPDATE, the Grizzly worm shaft fit my older Jet planer perfectly.
For anyone who may run across this in the future, the worm shaft, worm shaft bearing, and internal retaining ring are all compatable between my older Jet JWP-15HO and the current Grizzly G1021Z and G1021X2 .

It’s also noted, the mating worm gear that mounts on the vertical shaft with the chain sprocket is NOT compatable between the older Jet and the current grizzly. The Grizzly gear is almost twice the diameter of the Jet gear and the shaft is significantly larger in the newer Grizzly planers. There is not enough room to mount the Grizzly gear inside the Jet worm drive housing (casting) even if a bushing were made to allow the Grizzly part to fit appropriately on the Jet shaft.

Fortunately for me, there was no damage to the original Jet worm drive gear and the threads line up perfectly between the new Grizzly worm drive shaft and the old Jet worm drive gear.

Looks like I’m back in business!

Thanks to everyone who contributed!!!