In article ,
"Greg O" wrote:

I just fased the same decision. I bought the Jet.
I was NOT impressed with Delta's lever table adjustment, it seemed flimsy.
There is a small cable that unlocks the lever, did not like it. The fence on
the Delta protrudes WAY out the back of the machine and seems to me to be
over kill.

The handwheels on the Jet work nicely. The fence works smoothly, no need for
the extra BS that comes with the Delata.

This all said, I had my mind made up to buy the Delta, then I took the time
to look them both over in person. Then I bought the Jet.
Greg

I had more or less the same conclusion when I bought my Jet 6" jointer a
couple of years ago. Now that I've had it for a couple of years, I
still like the machine, but have come to the realization that I obsessed
over a lot of stuff I really shouldn't have.

Sure, the handwheels work great, but so what? I havn't moved the
outfeed table since I set the machine up, and the infeed table rarely
moves either. It's set for about a 1/32" bite and stays there. So what
if it takes a few more passes on something that's really warped? If
it's a face, I don't want to take a big bite anyway. If it's an edge
and it's really bad, I could clean it up a bit on the bandsaw first, or
just be patient and take a lot of small passes (probably better on the
blades anyway).

All that really matters about the fence is that it's square. I can't
remember the last time I touched the in-out adjustment on the fence. I
guess if I did a lot of rabbeting on it, I might, but I don't, so I
don't :-)

If I had to do it all over again, I think I'd get something with longer
beds. That's the one thing I miss on a regular basis.