Jet 12" Planer / 12" Jointer

[Scott Holmes]

Has anyone used the Jet 12" Planer / 12" Jointer?

Thinking about getting one to replace...

13" Rockwell planer (~700lbs) 5HP & Craftsman 6" Jointer

[Jim Becker]

There are a number of SMC members who have the Jet J/P combo and they generally like the machine. I visited one of them awhile back and got to see the machine up close and personal. Very nice for the money.

[Barry Vabeach]

Scott, I got one a short time ago. The main benefit for me was space ( and cost ) Prior to the Jet, I had a 6 inch jointer and a lunch box Dewalt planer on a flip up stand. It took more time to roll it out, flip up the planer and plug it in than it does to switch over to planing on the Jet. Overall it is a nice machine, though I can be picky as to what I think are a few design shortcomings - the planer table is pretty short - I would have designed a roller extension for infeed and outfeed to make it easier to plane shorter boards ( I am doing some drawer sides for a jewelry chest and on the Dewalt I could feed in one after another and then retrieve them on the outfeed side - on this machine there is very little outfeed support so they will just fall to the ground - I plan to make an outfeed extension but haven't got around to it ). Some people are big fans of a helical head and that isn't available yet, and may not ever be. The benefits include quieter operation and the possibility that the original carbide cutters would last your life, saving the cost of a back up set, sharpening, and the time in setting. Other options include the Grizzly J/P and the Laguna - the price point on the Laguna was good for the 10 inch platinum series, but I didn't want to buy one without seeing it in person and couldn't find one near me. You might find an full size used European combo at exfactory machinery - I haven't dealt with them but they have had an SCMI they have been trying to unload for a while - I would guess they would let it go for $1250 - 1,500. I bought my Jet from Surplus Sales and got a great price. If you have the space, and since you already have a big planer, you might be better off looking for an older 12 inch jointer - I have seen them available at great prices - though they would probably need a lot of work to get in top shape. For most hobbyists, I think the J/P combo is a good deal - for ex. the 12 inch spiral head jointer from Grizzly is about $2,000, for only $200 more you get a spiral headjointer planer- while the tables are shorter, you get a 5 hp motor, and longer tables are overated in my opinion. Plus, for most of my work, I use the jointer 5 to 10 times as often as the planer, so I am not converting from one to the other that much and a regular planer would just be taking up space most of the time.

[jason lambert]

Do a search, I was going to get one but I felt it might be trouble the real thing that turned me off is the blades need to be adjusted to the plainer table underneeth. But there is no way to adjust them that way. Then the joiner tables need to be set tot hte blades. Tere is no adjustment on the plainer table at all.

I then looked at fidler and was ready to buy one when they started palying pricing games and with all the bad PR with fidler I decided to let it go.

Minimax makes one that is quite nice but it was getting $$$ so I am sticking with seprates till a better option comes out.

[Curt Harms]

Do a search, I was going to get one but I felt it might be trouble the real thing that turned me off is the blades need to be adjusted to the plainer table underneeth. But there is no way to adjust them that way. Then the joiner tables need to be set tot hte blades. Tere is no adjustment on the plainer table at all.

I then looked at fidler and was ready to buy one when they started palying pricing games and with all the bad PR with fidler I decided to let it go.

Minimax makes one that is quite nice but it was getting $$$ so I am sticking with seprates till a better option comes out.

Table adjustment (and other goodies)http://content.jettools.com/manuals/708475_m.pdf

[Dick Sylvan]

I then looked at fidler and was ready to buy one when they started palying pricing games and with all the bad PR with fidler I decided to let it go.


Fidler, who's fidler? Must be Felder, but you must have not looked too hard because there is lots of positive response on this board about the Hammer J/P. I have one and think it's great. There is no negative publicity about Felder, only one person's trying experience with getting back a non-refundable deposit.