Originally Posted by
Derek Cohen
Julie, are you expecting the fence to hang out in space, beyond the table?
What I was expecting was, when I move the fence to full width jointing, I could switch from face jointing to edge jointing without having to either square the fence up or move the fence forward to find a spot where it squares itself.
But mostly I was expecting the fence to slide easily along the rail and not encounter hangups or pinch points.
To achieve something close to that I
a) shimmed up the hinge cover - that stopped the stand-off washers from snagging.
b) moved the rail as far back as possible - that reduced the degree of "fall off" created when the rail clamp moves past the end of the rail. But it still hangs off the end. The rail is simply too short.
c) backed off the plastic adjustment screws in the rail clamp to the point they effectively serve no purpose. The clamp knob effectively negates one of the screws anyway, making those two adjustment screws useless.
d) and ran plane sole wax along the contact points between the guide rail and rail clamp.
It is now at the point where I cam move the fence back and forth without the plastic stand-off washers snagging. And, if I put pressure in the fence clamp while moving the fence back and forth, binding or jamming issues are minimal.
Fixing these issues, between engineering and manufacturing, should have been a no-brainer, that is if you truly care about the quality of your product and protecting your brand name. But absolutely, the guide rail should have been long enough to allow full seating of the T-nut at one end and keep the fence clamp fully on the guide rail at the other end. That fence gets moved all the time. It should move easily and without binding, jamming or snagging. And it should stay square through all 310mm of range. At this price point, all these issues should have already been resolved before leaving the factory.
If this was a Scorpion and I had these issues I would think, "You get what you pay for." But this JP is one of the most expensive 12" JPs on the market. Precision and quality should be expected. You should not expect to spend the first few days of ownership fixing all the deficiencies Felder left behind.
About 20 years ago I bought a Delta Contractor saw. I opened the boxes and assembled it and started sawing. It's been running great ever since. I paid about $900 at the time.
A few years later I bought a Jet 18" bandsaw. I uncrated it, set it up in my shop and started sawing. It's been running great ever since. I paid about $1,000 at the time.
Pretty much every machine I have bought over the years has performed, right out of the box, the same.
For the price I paid for the A3-31, I expected, at the very least, that same kind of experience. I don't think I'm asking too much.
Next up is getting the beds where they should be. Is it any wonder why I'm upset?
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain