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Flawed Design - can NOT joint a board Review by Dr. Y

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The Jet 10 inch jointer-planer is not capable of properly jointing a board. The in-feed and out-feed tables are not co-planar. This is not a small deviation from parallel planes, but a LARGE one. The out-feed table slopes away from the blades, and the in-feed table slopes up toward the blades. I contacted JET and was promptly emailed the instructions for adjusting the out-feed table. The in-feed table can not be adjusted. The adjustment on the out-feed table diminished the slope by about 1/2 of the distance it was out of position. Obviously, this did not fix the problem. In reality, there isn't really an adjustment built into the out-feed table. Jet is simply using the fact that the holes bored into the out-feed table sides, two on each side and which are used to attach the table to the bed of the jointer, are a bit loose. The four bolts (two on each side) are loosened, then the end of the out-feed table is lifted up, pivoting the table around the two bolts nearest the blade and sliding the other two sloppy sized holes upward around their bolts (see video). The bolts are then re-tightened to complete the "adjustment." Unfortunately the end of the out-feed table would need to move about 1/2 inch to correct the problem, and the "adjustment" yields only about 1/8 to 1/4 inch movement. As this was not a designed mechanism for adjustment, but rather a stop-gap utilizing sloppy machining, the method is NOT included in the manual.

It seems apparent that this is a design and/or manufacturing flaw. If all of the machines have the bolt holes in the same position, then NONE of the machines could possibly properly joint a board. The machine really should not be sold if this is the case, and, frankly, anyone who purchased the machine and, due to inexperience, did not realize that the machine was not putting flat faces on stock, should be given a refund and/or a new machine when the manufacturing process is corrected. As a matter of fact, I feel owed some compensation for the hours of time spent messing with a machine which any, even remotely objective, quality control process should have identified as irreparably flawed.

It is very disappointing, as the idea of a small footprint 10 inch joint-planer was very attractive, especially at this price point. We will have to wait for another company to do this, or for JET to re-design this item. As it stands, it will not joint boards. See my video review on "the south american river" site under "Dr. Y", or on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6SWk7i61IM

(Posted on 3/15/11)