I am looking to buy this jointer used. Have not seen it yet but am
told that it is about 5 years old, not much used, in good shape. The
owner has a BUNCH of tools he is selling cheap; he is asking $250 for
this jointer, which sells new for almost $600.

Sounds too good to be ture! What should I be looking out for?

gregj wrote: I am looking to buy this jointer used. Have not seen it
yet but am
told that it is about 5 years old, not much used, in good shape. The
owner has a BUNCH of tools he is selling cheap; he is asking $250 for
this jointer, which sells new for almost $600.


Sounds too good to be ture! What should I be looking out for?


You should go look at it. Bring an engineers square, a set of feeler
gauges and a decent straightedge, preferably as long as one of the
tables. Check for warp or twist on the fence and tables, check
bearings, listen to it run, check the table height adjustments, etc..
You might even try squaring a couple of sides of a hunk of wood. Good
luck! Tom

That's the same model I have and it is a good one. Do a good visual
inspection and look at where the blades are mounted to see if the blade
adjusters look all buggered up - or not. If the small hex heads are well
worn, plan on getting replacements from Jet (low cost item). Look at the
blades for large nicks, small nicks are inevitable and will clean up when
you sharpen the blades.

Move the fence back and forth and see that it will tilt to the 45° mark.
Put it back to 90° and with your Engineer square, see if the fence on the
outfeed side is square to the table. Check several spots along the fence to
see how much warp there may be in the fence. Expect a few thousandths
difference - these are good jointer's - not perfect and most likely the
tables are not perfectly flat. Off by 10 thousandths is typical. The only
"final" cut you'll make is an edge joint and a table or fence being slightly
warped will not affect that. When jointing a face of a board - it's in
preparation of running it thru a planer which makes the final cuts. So
don't get all concerned about the casting being off a few thou here and
there - it won't really matter in the end.

Inspect the motor, belt and pulley by removing the back door. Should be
about 1/2" of play in the belt at the mid-point. Probably will need
replacing anyway but check for abnormal wear indicating the pulley was not
aligned correctly. Turn the unit on and listen. Should sound like a dull
roar and no high-pitched sounds indicating bad bearings.

Move the infeed table up and down by turning the adjuster wheel on the
front. Don't forget to unlock the table in the back before adjusting. Ask
for the manual and follow the instructions. Ask before you adjust the front
table - the owner may have it set perfect and not want that moved. Unless it
looks beaten, that's a hard piece of machinery to screw up.

One tip once you get it home and are adjusting it. The bolt that you adjust
as the 90° stop - take it out and file down the ridges (bolt markings on the
head) until those high points are flush with the rest of the bolt head.
Those little ridges, if positioned just right (and they will be...) can
cause you untold grief in aligning the fence to 90°. Once you see it - it
will become clear.

For $250 that is a steal if it's in reasonable shape and is about 50% of the
price he paid for it 5 years ago. (they were $499). It's top heavy and
you'll need some help moving it. Do not lift it by the infeed and outfeed
tables. If necessary, remove the infeed and outfeed tables to lighten it up
and make it a lot easier to move if you don't have help. Just follow the
manuals instructions.

Be sure to ask him for any spare parts such as replacement blades he may
have purchased and blade alignment tools. Spare belt ? If it needs
replacing, plan on spending $20 and replace it with a link belt. The
factory paint job on these was not all that great. Mine, brand new out of
the box look like some 6 year old was turned loose with a can of spray
paint - overspray on everything. Check the tables for rust and pitting
indicating he may have not taken good care of his iron.

The On/Off switch is not a magnetic switch like what's on your tablesaw
(hopefully) but I think Jet offered a retro kit for that you may want to
check on. I never did change mine out - as I recall they wanted something
like $65 for the replacement switch.

One last item - that jointer was rated as one of the tops several years
running for 6" jointers. After aligning mine, I can edge-joint 8' long
boards and they match up perfectly. Learn how to adjust the outfeed table
and blades and how to sharpen them and you'll have a tool that will last a
lifetime.

Bob S.


"gregj" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking to buy this jointer used. Have not seen it yet but am
told that it is about 5 years old, not much used, in good shape. The
owner has a BUNCH of tools he is selling cheap; he is asking $250 for
this jointer, which sells new for almost $600.

Sounds too good to be ture! What should I be looking out for?

Thank you for your help. Can hardly wait to see this machine.

One more thing: he also has a Delta Model 14-070 drill press for $150.
My reading on this is that it is not so exciting of a deal as the
jointer... what do you think?

AND a Jet 1 1/2 HP dust collector with pre-collector trash can for
$200... that looks like an OK deal but not sure and also not sure I
really need it. Your opinion?

I've got one of these too - paid $300 at an estate auction two years ago.
It's a great machine. If it's in good shape, it will give you great service.

My only complaint about it is that it isn't an 8".....

Nick B


"gregj" wrote in message
oups.com...
I am looking to buy this jointer used. Have not seen it yet but am
told that it is about 5 years old, not much used, in good shape. The
owner has a BUNCH of tools he is selling cheap; he is asking $250 for
this jointer, which sells new for almost $600.

Sounds too good to be ture! What should I be looking out for?

On Thu, 30 Jun 2005 21:26:15 GMT, Nick Bozovich wrote:
I've got one of these too - paid $300 at an estate auction two years ago.
It's a great machine. If it's in good shape, it will give you great service.

My only complaint about it is that it isn't an 8".....

You sound just like my wife...

That would be an odd sized drill press today. I think I would be looking at
a 16" to 17" model but only you know what you want to spend. A good drill
press will serve you well and expect to pay about $400+ for a quality made
drill press with at least a 1hp or better motor.

As for the dust collector, yes you can use one but is that one big enough
for your shop? I have a 2hp Penn State and it works well on my equipment -
except for the cabinet saw. Consider that you'll probably run some duct
eventually to your jointer, planer and TS, plus maybe a sander, a miter saw,
floor pickup etc. and that one will be on the light side for a whole shop
type setup. Certainly good for one machine at a time - move flex hose to
each device as needed. Soon you'll be wanting a better setup. Luckily, my
first one (1 hp Jet) is now dedicated to my 16/32 Performax sander and works
great for that.

The pre-collector, can lid thingy, are $35 items. Metal trash can - $25.
Good heavy-duty 4" flex hose is around $2 to $3 per foot. Dust collectors
are all over the place so do your research first.

Bob S.


"gregj" wrote in message
oups.com...
One more thing: he also has a Delta Model 14-070 drill press for $150.
My reading on this is that it is not so exciting of a deal as the
jointer... what do you think?

AND a Jet 1 1/2 HP dust collector with pre-collector trash can for
$200... that looks like an OK deal but not sure and also not sure I
really need it. Your opinion?