Good idea - poor product quality
Written: Jul 17 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Compact unit that, conceptually, is a reasonable design suitable for hobbyist with a small workshop.
Cons: Poor manufacturing quality control renders the machine essentially useless
The Bottom Line: This may be the machine for you if you get lucky and find one without manufacturing defects.
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| grkelly7's Full Review: Delta Shopmaster Bench Top Jointer JT160 |
My experience with this jointer is reflective of those others that had a bad experience with this machine. In general, I have the feeling that the problems that exist with it are ones of poor quality control. I purchased two of these machines both of which I returned.
On the first one, the distant end of the in-feed table was slightly high when it was raised up to a straightedge that was placed flush on the out-feed table, i.e., there was about a 1/32 gap visible at the cutter. The jointer has no adjustment mechanism to correct this problem. It could be corrected with brass shims or spacers, so I moved on to the next step and that was to make sure that the blades were aligned correctly with the out-feed table. It's a good thing that I did because two of the set screws on one of the blades was loose. After adjusting the alignment and tightening everything, I tried planing a few boards to test it out. Well it became clear that something was out of whack because the boards were being tapered across their width. It took me a while to figure out that the knob used to lock the in-feed table in place after setting the depth adjustment was tilting the in-feed table. That was when I decided to return it. The retailer took it back and recognized the seriousness of the defects by returning it to Delta.
Because I have a small workshop, I really wanted to give this machine a second chance so I had the retailer bring in a new unit for me. This unit had the same issue of the in-feed and out-feed tables not lining up but there didn't seem to be any issue with the depth locking knob. But there was a new problem. The machining of the surface of the cast-aluminum in-feed and out-feed tables was very coarse. So much so, in fact, that when you tried to push a piece of wood down them, it would bind significantly and tended to follow the direction of the machining marks which are curved across the longitudinal direction of the tables.
Since I returned the second jointer, I've checked this machine at several other retailers and they've all had similar problems. The most glaring one is that the machined surface of the tables runs all the way from baby-bum smooth to the roughness of a fine rasp.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
grkelly7
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Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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