Got new Bandsaw today

[Jim Dwight]

I bought a Jet JWBS-14SFX on August 31 just as their $200 off sale was ending and took delivery today. I got it set up but the blades I ordered from Blades.com haven't arrived yet (shipped Thursday) so I have more to do before I can cut anything. I took the packing out of the top wheel and turned the motor on to be sure it worked.

Jet has a lot of models, this one is a steel framed saw that can resaw up to 13 inches wide boards and tension a 3/4 inch blade. It has a high/low fence and I think the top, but not the bottom, guide bearing can be adjusted without tools. Wheels are cast iron. Weighs 272 lbs, shipping weight 316. It just fit length wise in the short bed of my 2019 Ram 1500. Box was also short enough the tonneau cover would go over it.

I got concerned about the weight with no helper real handy. So I borrowed an engine hoist from my son. But I did not use it. The saw ships largely assembled minus the table and the base and a few other smaller pieces. The base is sheet metal and has to be bolted together then bolted to the saw. I did that with the saw laying in the bed and extended out over the tail gate. I slide it out then tilted it down to the ground, got in the bed, and tilted it upright. Then I walked it into position in my shop. Without the table attached it was significantly under it's full 272 lbs. It wasn't either terribly hard or very easy to manuver but I got it done.

All I have is an impression so far but I think it's a solidly built saw that should serve me well. Everything seems sturdy but possibly not real refined. The trunions, for instance, are stamped steel about 3/16 thick. Stamped steel is not terribly impressive but 3/16 is pretty thick and sturdy. There is a log bolt sticking out of the bottom of the table. I wondered what that was about until I put the table on the saw. The bolt is the 90 degree stop.

I think I have about 2 hours in it so far to get it off the truck, into the shop and assembled. Still have to install a blade and get the guides all set. I don't move terribly quick so that may take another hour.

I was seriously looking at the Laguna 14SUV and the Rikon 10-326 but this Jet, on sale, was $200 less and has pretty similar specs. I think it's heavier which may make it a bit sturdier. If blade setup goes well I will be very pleased with my choice. All the glade guides are ball bearing type.

[Paul F Franklin]

Congrats on the new saw! The long bolt for table stop is pretty common; simple and does the job. Getting the table square to the blade and the miter saw lined up with the blade will add some more time to setup, but will help get the best performance. Usually have to fiddle with the fence to get it square as well. Enjoy!

[Jim Becker]

Congrats! That looks like a very nice tool.

[glenn bradley]

Congrats. My 17" saw has steel trunnions with hardened steel teeth for the tilt gear. The current model has cast iron trunnions but, I have never been adversely effected by the steel ones in all these years.

[Bob Jones 5443]

This saw is on sale today (for two more days at Woodcraft, unclear how much longer elsewhere) for $120 off list, or $1,079 with free shipping. You need to pay the full $1,200 to get "free" shipping from Amazon. In-stock status varies.

[Jim Dwight]

I got it at Woodcraft and they said it will go on sale again for $999 for Black Friday.

[lowell holmes]

I have a 14" Jet with a riser block. It is a great saw.

[Jim Becker]

I have a 14" Jet with a riser block. It is a great saw.

This one is different than yours, but yes, what you have is a great tool.

[Jim Dwight]

My blades from sawblade.com arrived late yesterday so I completed the setup and have a few more comments. I still do not have the DC setup I want for it but it will cut as is.

I set up the blades as Snodgrass suggests, as close as possible but not touching the blade. The top ones are easier, you don't need tools and it is a knurled screw to loosen for adjustment and then rotating an eccentric to set the gap - for the sides. I don't remember the thrust but it wasn't hard. Below there are guards, not sure why, that I removed although the instructions say you can work through them. It's just a couple screws to take them off. The saw comes with the allen wrenches you need for all the adjustments (but I found my metric T handle allen wrenches handy). The bottom thrust bearing adjustment is a combination of an allen head locking screw and a small handwheel on the back. I did not need to change it. The side bearing adjustment was an allen head locking screw and then sliding the bearings in their bracket. That works OK but is a bit fiddly. I did this part yesterday night and make a few cuts with no dust collection hooked up. It built up dust pretty quickly but cut fine. I just cut up some softwood scraps I had laying around including one about 6 inches tall. I had on a 1/2 hooked tooth blade and it cut fine.

Today I completed the setup with getting the table and rip fence aligned. Both are more fiddly than even the bottom bearing adjustment but the should not need to be revisited frequently if at all. The table was pretty badly not parallel to the miter gauge slots. I don't think that has to be extremely well aligned or needs to be on a bandsaw but this was off about 1/2 inch front to back. You just loosen four allen head screws that hold the table to the angle adjustment mechanism and then shove or tap the table around. Not real precise but also not very hard. I also squared the table to the blade. The bolt used as a stop was not where it needed to be so it got loosened and the table made square and then the stop reset. It has a pretty well marked angle scale on the back but the amount I was moving the table was within the amount that could reasonably be read as 0 degrees. Not a lot. Last I set the fence. Getting the fence square vertically to the table top and thus parallel to the blade was perhaps the worst from the standpoint of needing to do it repeatedly. There are locking screws and adjustment screws in the fence but very small changes have much larger impact due to the height of the fence. But I eventually got it. After all the adjustments I then cut a piece of 6mm luan into a push stick and tried the same ripping cuts as last night. The fence being square helped the ripping quite a bit. Didn't go bad last night but went well today. I still need to try the 3/4 and 1/4 blades I ordered but I am pretty sure they will be OK. The half inch is working fine.

I also brought a long 4 inch DC hose over. It has the Rockler handle connection on it which doesn't fit he dust port but I just put it over the port anyway. I didn't tape it or anything or do anything with the other 4 inch port. Even this poor setup got most of the dust. I am confident that with my planned two 4 inch setups dust collection will be good. I should have those parts by this weekend.

I'll post if I notice something major in my use of this tool but I don't expect any issues. It seems to be pretty well made and thought out. I am a bit curious about full 13 inch cutting in hardwood and will probably try that before too long. But in half that thick softwoods, I can easily cut off a 1/8 veneer that is quite consistent. I did that with the 1/2 inch blade. I am not sure I will really need the 3/4 blade but will try it. The force required to tension the 1/2 inch blade was quite low and the deflection of the saw undetectable. I am thus pretty confident I can tension the 3/4 adequately, I am just not sure I will need it versus a low tooth count 1/2.

The instruction manual is OK but recommends high tooth counts for thin material. Like 10 or 14 for 1/4 stock. I cut out a push stick of 6mm plywood with a 1/2 inch blade with no higher than 4 teeth per inch (might be 3). It may catch up to me but I plan to use this low tooth count 1/2 blade as my all around blade until I notice a reason not to. So I think the manual may not be the greatest in the case of which blades to use. But it could be right, haven't used it close to enough to be sure.

The only thing I had to drag out a cutting tool for was the width of the miter gauge slots. Neither my SawStop miter gauge or my Osborne gauge would slide through either slot. So I ran a file oriented vertically through the slots, 10 strokes per side and they are now usable. Seems they were machined a little tight or maybe there was paint on them (although there was not noticable buildup on the file). They are still a little snug and I might touch them up a little more but the main thing I think I might use them for is a little sled to cut domino tenon stock to length (I don't love doing it on the table saw). The runners are wood so for that use it won't matter.