Steve in Phoenix Posted December 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2018 No more troubleshooting with this one. It is right on factory specs. It's simply going back (so is the jointer for that matter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 On 11/30/2018 at 9:52 PM, Steve in Phoenix said: Dealer is sending someone over next week. We'll see how it goes. If it's a simple fix, I will swallow my pride and report what I have learned... 23 minutes ago, Steve in Phoenix said: No more troubleshooting with this one. It is right on factory specs. It's simply going back (so is the jointer for that matter). So what did the guy from the dealer have to say? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Sawdust Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 Yeah this is a head scratcher. I have a relatively cheap Dewalt planer and it doesn't even give snipe. Worked right out of the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 2 minutes ago, Mark J said: So what did the guy from the dealer have to say? No point in bothering, it's the exact same issue on the replacement machine. They already looked at the first one and had no idea what could cause it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 4 minutes ago, Chip Sawdust said: Yeah this is a head scratcher. I have a relatively cheap Dewalt planer and it doesn't even give snipe. Worked right out of the box. Too much money spent to waste this much time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chip Sawdust Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 Yeah sorry you've lost the time and had the frustration. Must be a lesson in there somewhere but danged if I know what it is. There are good planers out there that'll do what you want but the universe is telling you "something else." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 1 hour ago, Chip Sawdust said: Yeah sorry you've lost the time and had the frustration. Must be a lesson in there somewhere but danged if I know what it is. There are good planers out there that'll do what you want but the universe is telling you "something else." Yeah, Powermatic this week. The price difference is negligible at this point. Bummer about Jet. Their 10" disc sander is fantastic. That's what sold me, funnily enough. Yeah, I know Powermatic is Jet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 10 hours ago, Steve in Phoenix said: No more troubleshooting with this one. It is right on factory specs. It's simply going back (so is the jointer for that matter). I don’t believe it is on spec, but that does not help you. It would take over 20 hours of driving one way to substantiate my doubt. I strongly suspect they are going to find a batch that were assembled wrong and won’t let the feed roller travel along the spring path. I put seven years on a Jet planer at a former job. It worked quite well. Having said all of that, I am glad they will take the machines back. I also think you will be quite happy with PM. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 2 hours ago, Tpt life said: I don’t believe it is on spec, but that does not help you. It would take over 20 hours of driving one way to substantiate my doubt. I strongly suspect they are going to find a batch that were assembled wrong and won’t let the feed roller travel along the spring path. I put seven years on a Jet planer at a former job. It worked quite well. Having said all of that, I am glad they will take the machines back. I also think you will be quite happy with PM. Thanks. I'm grateful I didn't mail-order this one...And the feed rollers do move freely along the spring path... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 Well, we're still gonna need a happy ending to this story. So what are you gettin' now and how does that work out? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 1 hour ago, Mark J said: Well, we're still gonna need a happy ending to this story. So what are you gettin' now and how does that work out? I will keep you posted... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isaac Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 May be unnecessary, but just confirming even lower end bench type planers should put out significantly better results. My makita, with knives, leaves pretty smooth results, after several years, and I’ve spent minimal time doing any adjustment at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnG Posted December 4, 2018 Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 3 hours ago, Isaac said: May be unnecessary, but just confirming even lower end bench type planers should put out significantly better results. My makita, with knives, leaves pretty smooth results, after several years, and I’ve spent minimal time doing any adjustment at all. Agreed. I just have a Ridgid lunchbox planer and it gives better results. Definitely something wrong with that batch of Jets. Bad luck, Steve! Glad the dealer took them back for you to get something else that will work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 4, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2018 The dealer has in invited me to inspect the PM machines, and run boards through at their shop on thursday. I couldn't ask for better customer service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 So I went to the dealer to check out the PM machines. The planer does the same thing as the Jet. I found the owner and showed him the issue. He took a pass on slab cut maple and got the ripples, then sent it in reverse-grain, and the ripples were really minimized. Sent a piece of fir through and there was barely a ripple. Sent a piece something like redwood, slab cut and got some ripples. Sent a piece of quarter sawn mahogany through and it came out glass-smooth. Long story short-ish, the issue seems dependent on the wood going in. But why is it happening ever, and why on the left side? Its still a mystery. And after 2 Jets and now a Powermatic, which may be made in the same factory, but on different production lines, with some different components (including the cutters), what to do? I need to get to work. If the issue is peculiar to certain slab cut species, I'm just going to deal with it. I could spend the next year exchanging machines, and I am convinced I would not resolve this issue. AKA, discovering the actual "root cause". I can't say this is a reflection on any brand. I certainly would not disparage Jet or PM over it. It just is what it is. I will say for certain that given the moderate price increase, Powermatic wins my vote, having used both the planers and jointers. I will post my results with different species of wood so I can show you what I am seeing over here. A little long-winded, but there it is... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 This makes zero sense. Zero, zip, nada. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 1 hour ago, bleedinblue said: This makes zero sense. Zero, zip, nada. exactly what @bleedinblue said, wood should come out very good with no ripples at all, its not like these are cheap planers, that i would expect but something is going on here that i don't understand, wood species should have nothing to do with it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 OK, I dug some fir, alder, and hard maple to run through the Jet: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 Did you make the appropriate sacrifice to the planer gods? Also does it do this when you take a heavy cut? Is the amount of material being removed contestant between all the boards? This does concern me because i'm hoping to buy a 15"HH planer in 2019. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 Is this dealer setting up their machines incorrectly? This should not be happening... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treeslayer Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 something is seriously wrong, those boards are terrible. stuff like this drives me nuts until an answer is found and i didn't even shell out the hard earned dollars for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bleedinblue Posted December 6, 2018 Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 You can literally go to Home Depot, or even Harbor Freight, buy the cheapest lunchbox planer there, open the box, plug it in, and get better results than that. I'm dumbfounded why the PM did the same thing and I really wanna know what's up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: Did you make the appropriate sacrifice to the planer gods? Also does it do this when you take a heavy cut? Is the amount of material being removed contestant between all the boards? This does concern me because i'm hoping to buy a 15"HH planer in 2019. Photos show 1/16 cut. I don't think a heavier cut made a difference. I'll have to see...in fairness, what you see on the maple sands out with 150 grit by hand...thickness dimensions across the board are good. As far as the purchase goes, besides this issue, it's a quiet, powerful planer without tearout. I plan on using highly figured wood, and I put most things go through a dual grit drum sander anyway. I went into this with extremely high expectations, and it's defininitely a bummer. Is it a total deal-breaker? Jury is out at the moment. 1 hour ago, Art said: Is this dealer setting up their machines incorrectly? This should not be happening... Everything was bang-on from the factory. Not much for the dealer to do other than wings and bed roller height. I checked everything with a Oneway Multi-Gauge. Weird part is that the feed rate has no effect on the spacing of the ripples... 1 hour ago, treeslayer said: something is seriously wrong, those boards are terrible. stuff like this drives me nuts until an answer is found and i didn't even shell out the hard earned dollars for it. New Belgium Trippel Ale helps... Honestly, worrying about this, dealing with the manufacturer, the exchanges, my work being at standstill has all added up to worse than sanding out 0.001" ripples! Believe it or not... I still want to figure out what's going on, but I plan on doing some actual work next week too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve in Phoenix Posted December 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2018 55 minutes ago, bleedinblue said: You can literally go to Home Depot, or even Harbor Freight, buy the cheapest lunchbox planer there, open the box, plug it in, and get better results than that. I'm dumbfounded why the PM did the same thing and I really wanna know what's up. I'll give a another call to JWP for sure. These 15" planers are all made at the same place. There must be others out there that have seen this...or will see it very soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted December 7, 2018 Report Share Posted December 7, 2018 Do those planers have rubber feed rollers, or some sort of all-metal feed system? It seems to me that if the ripple spacing is the same at different feed rates, it must be some impression made by the feed mechanism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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