Help with troubleshooting a Jet-JWP16OS Planer

[Joe Workman]

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I recently acquired a 16-inch Jet Planer that I understand is about 15 years old. I believe that the previous owner was having issues with it and decided to upgrade to a helical model instead of figuring it out. The Planer is only capable of taking very thin slices of wood off. For example, I am primarily using planers to remove the finish off of reclaimed wood. My Dewalt DW733 was able to do this, on a 12-inch wide board, in one pass (2 if I didn't want to make it struggle). The Jet is taking 8+ passes to remove the finish without binding the wood. The first thing I checked was the blades, which I found had been sharpened to a "banana" shape. The center of the blade was not even above the blade holder. I ground the blades straight, resharpened and reinstalled. That resulted in only a very minor improvement. The board appears to be binding on something before it gets to the blades. I first suspected the chip breaker, but moving that up as high as it goes did not help. The anti-kick back mechanism is moving freely, and I reduced the tension on the feed rollers. Also adjusted the table rollers so that they are barely above the table. Still binding. When I get home tonight, I am going to check to make sure the feed rollers are set to 0.02" below the blades, as stated in the manual, but it doesn't seem like an issue here would cause binding... Is there anything else I should check?

[glenn bradley]

Waxing the beds is the most common fix folks seem to miss on planers. If your feed rollers are serrated metal, reducing the pressure should not be an issue; mine are backed way off. If the feed rollers are rubber they can be cleaned with alcohol. While cleaning you can check to see if they are damaged or burnished (have a hard glossy feel). Let's start there and see how we do.

[Joe Workman]

I've solved the problem. I believe my original diagnosis regarding the misshapen blades was correct; however, upon reinstalling the blades there was a second problem, caused by operator error. The lever that selects the feed rate was between gears, so the feed roller would advance the wood, until it encountered resistance from the chip breaker, blade, etc. Upon correcting that, I found that the Jet JWP-16OS is in fact a significant upgrade from a Dewalt DW733. Hey, I guess there is always a learning curve...

[Geoff Crimmins]

Good news! I'm glad you got the problem fixed and that the planer is meeting your expectations. I bet it's also much quieter than the Dewalt.

[Mike Kees]

Always pays to check the simplest most obvious stuff first. DAMHIKT.

[Joe Workman]

Ok, so the planer was working well on small, narrow pieces. But, just tried a 14" wide board and had all kinds of trouble. The biggest issue is that it seems impossible to control the depth of cut. The hand wheel turns while i am cutting and I can see and sense the depth of cut changing. I assume that the friction pieces on the depth of cut locking knobs are worn/useless, but there is no indication in the manual on how to remove/replace them... I eventually got it to work by putting a bar clamp on the hand wheel while I ran the board through, but then on the next pass I decreased the depth of cut by a 1/4 turn (should equate to 1 mm, per the manual) and the planer hogs off about 3/16", ruining my board, and then stalls out half way through. WTF. The other issue, and I assume this is related, is that the board is pulling hard to one side while its moving through the machine.

Just thought it through and am wondering if the locking knob on only one side is seized/rusted in place, seems like that could cause it to pull and would also make depth of cut control difficult? Does that make sense?

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

[Joe Workman]

Sure wish I hadn't sold my DW733 already... I guess its time to bust out my civil war era hand jointer. Typically only use that on real small projects.

[Meryl Logue]

Joe, I have that machine. It was a mess when I bought it. I would recommend the longest route as the quickest route. Lift off the motor and head assembly. I used a friend’s come-along to lift that beast. I found multiple broken parts. If you get lucky and none are broken, you’ll still get it back together in spec. It will also allow you to find the problem at root cause.

I even had to remove the gear box and shaft. I took that to Barbo to rebuild... lots of metal in the bottom of the gearbox and a one-time learning curve. They did the whole thing for a reasonable price. I put it all back together and even had to make a wooden adjustment block for setting it up. (Maple firewood and bandsaw and wood rasp and was able to make the critical surfaces really close.) Had the blades ground as well.

I’m really glad I did it all. It’s a good planer now.

[Joe Workman]

Rona, I did find several broken parts, which I have replaced, and am hoping I have solved the problem...
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I found that 3 of the 4 nuts that attach the unit to the corner posts were broken. I JB welded one of them (the first one that I found) and replaced the other 2 with OEM parts from Jet. That allowed me to get the upper unit parallel with the table and also explains why it wasn't holding adjustment initially. I ran a couple of narrow boards through it this morning and it seemed to be working great. The true test will be when I run something closer to its 16 inch capacity through. If it still having issues I will take your advice on pulling the motor and rebuilding.

By the way, I bought a Harbor Freight 12-inch planer to continue some of my projects while I worked on the Jet. I was initially very impressed with its ability to take some pretty hard wood (that sentence would be very inappropriate if typed anywhere else but here). But, the outfeed roller started to disintegrate by about the 6th board and by the time I finished with what I needed to plane there was barely anything left of the rubber. So I will be getting my $300 back from that. Would have been a great backup if they had used more durable rubber...

[Mike Kees]

Joe if you wanted to keep the HF planer you might be able to get the roller rebuilt by Western Roller. Maybe worth checking out ?