I have reached an age where I am able to spend my winters in Florida and
have been trying to set up a small shop in my garage, leaving my machinery
in my main shop up north.

I was tempted by a cheap Harbor Freight 6-inch joiner at the irrestible
price of $189. I am old enough to know better so I really have no one to
blame but myself for ever buying this piece of junk.

First of all it took two full days to assemble it due to the instructions
which had to have been written by a non-English speaking person who no idea
at all of what he/she was doing.


I also bought a Rigid table saw for $569. At least it had clear
instructions and was easy to assemble. Its fence has a visible bow in
it--so far out I didn't even bother trying to just how far it was out. I
can correct that by fastening a baltic birch plywood fence to it. I suspect
that table is out and am waiting for a machinist straight edge to see just
how far out. Their cust. service says that if the table is more than 12
thousandths out they will send me a new table but they didn't say how far
out the new table might be. The one positive thing I an say for it is that
is is fairly vibration free for a saw with a motor hanging out the back.
(Cabinet saws usually have multiple belts which are short because the motor
is below and very close to the arbor and this really reduces vibration. I
dont
feel quite as stupid with the purchase of the table saw as the joiner but I
wish
I had just gone for quality instead of price.

I'd sure like to hear from any one who has succeeded in really tuning up one
of
these HF cheap joiners and would like to know how they were able to set
their
blades without jack screws or springs to raise the blade. I suppose it is
possible
that I just got a defective unit where they forgot to install the jack
screws or springs
in the cutter head.

Joe