I purchased the 6" model last week and had the weekend to put it
together and try it out. In general I am happy although some things
were disappointing.

Here are my thoughts:

Shipping was quoted at one price but when the shipper called to make
delivery arrangements they asked $35 more than was quoted. Called
Wilke to fix and they did, although they told me there would be a fuel
surcharge which was not mentioned when the order was placed. Not a lot
of money but one of those annoying lack of paying attention to details
things that makes a difference.

Jointer arrived with all the shipping containers undamaged and properly
palletized. When opened I found a dime size dimple in the stand and
the blade guard paint was chipped, as it if had been dropped even
though it was bagged in plastic.

Assembly was straightforward with the single exception of putting one
allen screw into the base from under the stand. The only way to get
this screw in was through the dust chute and it was impossible to see
anything. It all had to be done by touch, including getting the bolt
started and inserting an allen wrench. Man, that was a real bitch.
And if you have big hands it would only be worse.

The unpainted metal surfaces were coated in grease - mineral spirits
and a wide putty knife cleaned it off quite well. There was no
oxidation on any surface. The knives were beautifully set and required
no adjustment at all. The pulleys also lined up fine, although I don't
like the belt and will probably swap it out for a link-belt in the
future. I have yet to check the runout on the pulleys - have to do
that soon. The fence was about .025" out of plumb and about the same
for the 45 degree settings. Not particularly hard to adjust but time
consuming to get right. I did not like the amount of play in the
vertical stop but there was no way to reduce it and practically
speaking the play had no impact on the reliability and repeatability of
the setting.

The motor was advertised as USA but it was Chinese through and through.
I liked the mounts and the adjustments - easy to access and easy to
use. It is a cap start motor but with only one cap, so it is not a cap
run. If you look at the Delta motor in their online user manual it is
clearly USA cap run and cap start. Probably one of the reasons for the
diff in price between the two. I wired it for 220VAC with the wiring
diagram found inside the motor cover.

The tables and the fence were dead flat except for one small crown in
the right rear corner of the infeed table. That created a dish in the
table of about .005" which Wilke said was in spec and that seems right
to me. I could probably stone this little rise down but I am going to
wait to see if I notice it making a difference first.

The Wilke Machinery webpage advertised the USA motor and a "thumb
release locking lever." Mine had neither. A call into Wilke found
them surprised that their online catalog advertised those things and
they said they would remove the erroneous information but did not offer
to replace either the motor or supply the lever. They did offer to
replace the blade guard and to send me an extra set of knives to make
up for the dented stand.

As for operation, this is my first jointer so I was not sure what to
expect. I like the rack and pinion adjustment and after considerable
adjustment and tuning it is very smooth. The switch position on a pole
is unnecessary in my opinion. The infeed table adjustment lever works
efficiently but I think I would prefer a wheel - not a big thing
really. The built-in mobile base is truly great and makes it very easy
to move. I wonder about the life span of the adjustable legs as they
don't appear all that sturdy. The tool works very well indeed and I
made about 50 passes with walnut, sycamore and mahogany and found no
discernible difference. Each of these boards was around 4 feet long
and there was no problem balancing them on the tables. They were 6/4,
5/4 and 8/4 respectively. I trued up an edge first and then flattened
one side. The sycamore had about a 1/4" twist/cup in it which came out
very well. There was minimal tearout. The motor never even hiccuped,
but I had to retighten the belt after about a dozen passes.

When all was said and done my thoughts were it is a good product but I
questioned my decision to save a few pennies. The final price came in
at $425 with shipping. The Delta version from Amazon with free
shipping, the $50 rebate and the Amazon $25 credit would have landed on
my door for about $35 more. Factor in a 5 year warranty, the USA motor
and locking lever (but admittedly no mobile base - another $50) and I
can see the value in Delta. As always your mileage may vary. Hope
this helps and I have some pix of my experiences, if you would like to
see them let me know.


Ken Dibble wrote:
Yorkcraft YC-8J Jointer

Price 649
Shipping 280 includes liftgate delivery
Shipping Assistance -40
Total Price 889

Ordered 11-22-04
Received 12-3-04

Arrived in 2 boxes on pallet.
One box contained stand.
Other box contained everything else.

Lower box arrived with minor fork lift dents.

Assembly required about 3 hours.

Manual shows a picture of the Delta Professional Jointer and
is accurate mechanically, but has problems with spelling
and grammar.

Jointer is manufactured by JINTENG and appears to be a clone
of the Delta 37-380.

The first (ultimately non-) issue was the mismatch between
the documentation and expectation.

The documentation says the motor is 110/220 wired 110.
The jointer is actually pre-wired 220.
The plug on the jointer motor is 110. The switch has a 220 plug
and accepts a 110 for the jointer motor.
A check of the motor wiring (by removing the cover) and the switch
(using a Voltmeter) showed that the switch passed 220 and the motor
was wired 220. As long as the switch is only used on the jointer
it shouldn't be a problem. Plugging in any 110 device to the 110
looking plug would probably be a disaster.

The shipping grease was easily removed.

The stand has a built in mobile base which requires one caster to
be attached to it with 3 bolts.

Putting the bed on the stand was an adventure. It is heavy!

The bed attaches to the stand with 3 bolts. The front bolt is
accessed through the dust chute. I dropped a piece of thread
through the hole to lift the bolt and installed it upside down
(per the instructions).

It took some time to line up the pulleys, with a second issue
presenting itself. The bottom pulley has .034 runout. I
called Wilke to ask them about that and they responded by saying
that they would ship out a replacement pulley. The top pulley
runout was less then .002.

The dust collector connector (4 screws) and the rear panel(6 screws)
attach easily into threaded holes.

The fence (6 bolts) and electric switch(2 bolts) connected easily,
as did the cutterhead guard, although you have to make sure the
spring tensions in the correct direction.

As far as I can tell, the beds are flat. I was unable
to find any 6 inch distance that was more than .001 different in
height.

The fence has a .008 twist on the outfeed fence. I'm going to ask
Wilke about it, but I don't think it is a big deal.

The base seemed pretty solid, but starting the jointer made it
rattle.
How much of that is caused by vibration from the bad pulley I don't
know, but I suspect most of it.

The test board was a 3 foot piece of twisted hickory. Feeding it
into the cutterhead with pressure on the infeed table and
transferring the pressure to the outfeed table while feeding the
board resulted in a nearly perfectly flat board. Laying it on the
infeed table it almost felt like it was being sucked down to the
table.

Fit and finish are pretty good, not a high gloss Delta or Jet finish
but a nice soft gray. It looks good in the mostly gray garage.
Everything went together fine and the machine seems to function well.

A 37-380 (1049) and mobile base (90) from Amazon would be $1139.
Liftgate delivery usually adds another $75.
I figure that puts me ahead $325.

Well, actually not ahead, but the difference paid for a
Grizzly G1029Z dust collector.

As a side note, had Delta responded to me (who had never bought
anything but Delta until this year), in the two days time they
promised to (YES,I AM STILL WAITING), this purchase probably
would have been a 37-380 and a 50-850.

BTW, SWMBO insisted I buy both. She's the best.

Ken Dibble