Decisions decisions: Jet 12 inch or Hammer 10 inch

[Adam Levitt]

Hello to all and thanks for all the great content.
I have the opportunity to buy one of two J/P machines and I have a dilemma. Either a 12 inch Jet, jpp-12, or the Hammer A3 10 inch.
The hammer looks to be the better machine, but the jet has 2 extra inches in size.
What would you suggest? Price is the same.

[John Coloccia]

Let us know how you like the new Hammer.

Seriously, you shouldn't even think twice about this one. There's nothing particularly wrong with the JJP-12, but the hammer is just a better machine. This is coming from a JJP-12 owner. I wish I'd bought the Hammer instead, though my JJP-12 works for me.

[Gilbert Grenier]

Hello to all and thanks for all the great content.
I have the opportunity to buy one of two J/P machines and I have a dilemma. Either a 12 inch Jet, jpp-12, or the Hammer A3 10 inch.
The hammer looks to be the better machine, but the jet has 2 extra inches in size.
What would you suggest? Price is the same.

I went through a similar dilemma and I'm going with the Hammer A3-31.

[howard s hanger]

+1 Looked at both. Got the A3-31 with the spiral head. Never looked back. Cuts as smooth as glass and is very quiet. 4 HP doesn't bog down, either.

[Adam Levitt]

Thanks for the replies. Your answers and a few threads from posters not happy with their jet, including one trying to throw it out of the window, have convinced me to drop the jet option.
I'm going to check out the Minimax offering today.

[John Coloccia]

Thanks for the replies. Your answers and a few threads from posters not happy with their jet, including one trying to throw it out of the window, have convinced me to drop the jet option.
I'm going to check out the Minimax offering today.

That was probably me. The Jet tables can be a real bear to align sometimes.

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's how I see the width issue... I want a jointer wide enough to face-joint the lumber I find in my lumber dealers. 6" is too small; there's lots of lumber wider than that. 8" is better, but still too small. 10" is good; there's not much lumber wider than that nowadays. 12" is better, but you're really reaching the point of diminishing returns. So if I were you I'd buy the better machine -- the Hammer. It is wide enough to tackle almost all boards.

To be fair, if you're considering Minimax, I think the smallest they make is a 12". It should be more comparable to the Hammer 12" than the Hammer 10".

[Rod Sheridan]

Adam, without a doubt the Hammer, however go with the A3-31 not the 10 inch version....Rod.

[Daniel Hartmann]

We had the jet machine in the co-op I used to belong to, it was loud and it clogged very easily. It also lost its adjustments easily.

[John Coloccia]

We had the jet machine in the co-op I used to belong to, it was loud and it clogged very easily. It also lost its adjustments easily.

Clogged easily mostly in planer mode? I don't know if you noticed this, but there's a little hole on the side of the dust shoot. In planer mode, you have to stick something in there to keep the baffle inside from getting sucked up by the dust collector, completely blocking off the outlet. It's not mentioned in the instructions, and I think it was a complete afterthought, to be honest. I use one of the allen wrenches that came with the unit. It took me some time to figure out just what was going on. If I recall, the first one they sent me didn't have that feature, but maybe my memory is incorrect.

It's just another one of those annoyances that simply shouldn't exist on a unit that expensive, especially considering the competition.

[Chris Padilla]

MM 16" j/p.

[Rod Sheridan]

MM 16" j/p.

elitist :-)

[Chris Padilla]

Future-proofer and "while I had the money"-er.

[Jim Becker]

Here's how I see the width issue... I want a jointer wide enough to face-joint the lumber I find in my lumber dealers. 6" is too small; there's lots of lumber wider than that. 8" is better, but still too small. 10" is good; there's not much lumber wider than that nowadays. 12" is better, but you're really reaching the point of diminishing returns. So if I were you I'd buy the better machine -- the Hammer. It is wide enough to tackle almost all boards.

To be fair, if you're considering Minimax, I think the smallest they make is a 12". It should be more comparable to the Hammer 12" than the Hammer 10".

I agree with this. I use my MM J/P mostly for flattening lumber (face planing) and thicknessing it. A wider unit not only can handle the beautiful wider boards, but it also provides more utility for other things, like cleaning up the edges of irregular shaped assemblies and skewing highly figured material to help reduce the chance of tear-out.

[Kent A Bathurst]

elitist :-)

No - just another wise-guy show-off.