Jet JWBS-14SFX 14 inch bandsaw

[Tom King]

Are they taking back the other tables?  I would be curious to see what running one with a Surface Grinder would do.

[JohnG]

Can you ‘persuade’ it to be closer? Is it consistent all the way along the split or does it change?

[Gary Beasley]

5 hours ago, Mark J said:

Received the replacement table top a couple of days ago, but left it to acclimate to house temperature.  Opened it today and cleaned off the cosmoline, which pleasantly was not slathered on.  Figured I'd check the flatness before I went too far.  ! it's got a dip at the slot measuring 25 thousandths.  Poop.  I sent Jet an email and will wait to hear from them tomorrow.  

Is that measured with the pin in place? Have to wonder if the pin slot was machined wrong and that is torquing the bed out of level. 

[Mark J]

Yes the pin is in place.  I was going to check the flatness with the pin out, but it's too tight to pull without putting a wrench on it.  

I'll wait to hear from Jet tomorrow.  I haven't given up on them and, frankly, although this is dissapointing, it's not unusual for any company (possible exception of Robust).  

[..Kev]

I'd pull the pin..  You'd have to do that to change the blade anyway and I'm guessing they're going to have you do that in the trouble shooting process.  Probably better to know before the call.

[Mark J]

Jet is sending a second replacement table.  This one they will examine and confirm flatness before shipping to me, so with Thanksgiving  and shipping time it may take a couple of weeks.  I'm fine with that.   

[Chet]

Good to hear.

[Coop]

Mark, have you checked flatness with the pin in and the table off of the saw? Sorry if this has been addressed earlier. 

[Mark J]

Both tables have their pins in.  The original table is mounted on the saw.  The first replacement table was never mounted.  

[Mark J]

The second replacement cast iron top arrived yesterday, which was sooner than I was expecting.  I've been letting it acclimate.  With the Woodpecker straight edge running front to back across the slot there's a dip at the slot measuring 4 thousandths.  There is a second dip when checking left to right accross the back on the left sid of the table which also measures 4 thousandths.  I think this is acceptable.   A test piece of wood and the miter guage both cross the slot without hanging up.

[Randall]

I just had the same problem described in this thread regarding the tensioning assembly disassembling because the tensioning rod Does not have a stop.

After trying in vain to remove the flywheel by hand, I called Jet support who confirmed that I  was using the proper approach (rather than removing the entire assembly from the housing), and I was able to easily remove it using a puller. Not  Including the trip to Pep Boys to buy the puller, it was about a 10 minute fix: pull the wheel, manipulate the parts back in place, and hammer the wheel back in place using a short 2x4. The only issue was that when I tried to steel hammer it back in place, the bearing popped out.  Using the 2x4 took care of that.

And then I followed another poster’s advice and put a label next to the tensioning handle: CHECK TENSIONING ROD VISUALLY BEFORE LOOSENING...

 

[Mark J]

Yes, the placard does help .  When I droped that nut I got it back on to the rod by using a Braille technique with my finger squirming past the freewheel coupled with a number of magical incantations such as "this d*!# mother f#%÷&*$ piece of sh%# and eventually (3 hours) this worked.  But then I had no idea how to R & R the freewheel.  

One thing I've realized since is that I don't have to over loosen the tension knob to change blades.   

[727Jetdriver]

I have been going back and forth between the Laguna 14bx 230v and the jet 14sfx. (Would then convert to 230v)

I thought I had decided on the jet which is about $400 cheaper until I read all of these threads.  
saving the $400 gets me a cyclone and a mobile base with enough left over for a lia Nielsen new block plane.  Nothing worse than limited customer service and a new machine that has issues right out of the box.  Is it worth it???

Help?

[Mark J]

I'm actually happy with my saw and their customer service.  I do try to be honest and thorough with a review. 

Certainly I'm irritated by silly things like screws that weren't tightened at the factory, or including every allen wrench except the 4mm size, because these mistakes are silly and were the easy ones to avoid (and because in my former line of work mistakes like that were not tollerated). 

Perfection out of the box is a reasonable expectation, but not a reality very many are going to experience.  Still there's nothing about the saw that hasn't been fixed to my satisfaction.  

I do want to remind you that my saw is the original version, but if I had to replace it I wouldn't have any reservation about buying a new 14SFX.  

Part of the reason I bought it, though, was because it is 120V.  You mentioned converting it to 240V.  Not sure how that would work, but the Laguna 14BX has a brake and that is one feature I wish I had on the Jet.  

[pkinneb]

I don't have that model but I do have two Laguna bandsaws and both have been great saws with no issues. Having said that if funds were limited and there was $400 that I could use for something else I would have to think long and hard on whether thee was enough difference to justify it.

I agree with Mark brakes are nice!

 

[727Jetdriver]

My last saw was a really old Rockwell Delta.

changed the motor to 1 1/2 horse and did the 230v thing.  It just lets/help the saw draw less amps and better cooling.

Moved a while ago and sold everything so
starting over.  This is the last machine I need and never thought it would be so hard to choose.  It’s only the last machine because it’s the hardest to choose.  I think I’ve read too much?

[Sharkey's End]

Mark, thanks for this extended review.  I have three more days to decide whether or not to buy this saw while it's on sale.  Now that you've had it for a while, anything new to report?  I've watched as many videos on it as I could find (including one by Alex Snodgrass himself!), and the only thing that looks like it would be annoying long-term is the fence.  I don't love the idea that removing the fence is a two step operation.  How rigid is the fence?  Do you find yourself using it in the rip position more than the lower one, or are you switching back and forth a lot?

How is the dust collection working?

Again, thanks for both the review and the gotchas with setting it up.  And thanks to everyone for the comments.

[Mark J]

Hey @Sharkey's End. 

I have nothing new to report.  Overall I like the saw and am happy with the purchase.  If I were doing it again I'd buy it again.  It's not perfect, but having been held to a high standard in my professional life, I tend to return the favor, and few things are "perfect" to me.  

What I like best about the saw is that it is a large capacity design 14" that runs on 120 volt power.  If 240V had not been an impediment there are several other nice choices.  

Now as to your specific questions, recall that my saw is an earlier version then what is now being sold.  So I have an entirely different fence and fence rail.  So what I have to say may not apply.  

I usually have the fence mounted in the tall position.  I think I used it flat once, but your cutting needs aren't the same as someone else's.  I have always used it to the left of the blade, but have never found it onerous to remove.  I loosen the "wing nuts" holding the fence and slide it toward me until it clears the spine, then slide it to the left until it disengages from the rail.  I have never stressed the fence, but I can't imagine it bending with reasonable pressure.  I will say the alignment of my fence was not perfect--again I have the original design and remember my definition of perfect.  Fence alignment is probably not as critical on a bandsaw as on a table saw, but I fixed it with one or two layers of packaging tape judiciously placed between the fence and its mounting.

Dust collection.  Well it's pretty much as good or bad as any other bandsaw.  Same plan, two 4" ports that keep the case cleaned out, but only a fraction of the dust transits the no man's land from the table to to the case opening.

Last spring I acquired and have been using the Ripnado dust collection system with the Jet.  I like it and think it's a big improvement.  It's not perfect--I never think anything is, but I'd buy it again.  I was going to write up a review of the Ripnado, which I guess I sort of just did.  

[Sharkey's End]

Thanks again!  I think I'm going to pull the trigger and order it.

I also think I'll switch it to 220V since I already have it run and I prefer the lower amp draw.  I know there are other choices but I can't find anything better at $1,000 with free shipping.

I have a Harbor Freight DC and I built my own Thien baffle for it - I love it.

Thanks again for the quick reply!

[RichardA]

3 hours ago, Sharkey's End said:

Thanks again!  I think I'm going to pull the trigger and order it.

I also think I'll switch it to 220V since I already have it run and I prefer the lower amp draw.  I know there are other choices but I can't find anything better at $1,000 with free shipping.

I have a Harbor Freight DC and I built my own Thien baffle for it - I love it.

Thanks again for the quick reply!

If the original fence is a problem, Kreg makes a fence that's well worth looking into.

[roldogg]

I recently bought this saw, and it was delivered on Friday. I’ve spent the weekend putting it together as this is my first bandsaw and I’ve put the whole thing together by myself, which was quite a task. Last night, I put the blade on, set the tension, tracking, etc, but in the manual it says to put the dust block back in behind the dust chute in the lower compartment. I don’t know if I’ve setup something completely wrong but how can the dust block be put back in as the blade comes right down through where the dust block was to meet the lower wheel? Can someone please tell me if this dust block is supposed to fit without contacting the blade? I’d greatly appreciate it.

[Mark J]

Yeah, I remember putting the saw together--fun time, but then so was every other big tool I've bought .

On mine the "dust block" was this odd piece of plywood with a slanted slot cut in it that was just loose in the shipping carton.  I had no idea what it was for and I didn't see anything about it in the instructions.  It was too weird to toss so I hung onto it, but it was months before I figured out what it was for and where it went.  Here are photos of the dust block in place and partially removed.

It is not a critically important component.  

By the way after using the saw for a while and determining that the lower guards served no function other than to block access to the lower guides, I left them off.  And that additional small hose you see hanging there is part of the Ripnado dust collection system.

If these pic's haven't answered your question, then hit me again, maybe with some pic's of your problem.

[roldogg]

That’s exactly what I needed to see. If the blade was around both wheels without a cut in the dust block, I was going to cry. Thanks a ton!

[Debbiew0820]

On 11/11/2019 at 2:21 PM, Mark J said:

Well thanks for the nudge, @drzaius.  I had this written down in the "sucks to be me" column, but Jet is sending out another top.  

Turns out the center of the table is 8 thousadths higher than the leading and trailing edges on the slot side of the table (3 thousandths on the spine side).  

So new top is coming .  Oh boy, I can't wait to have to clean off the cosmoline..

 

 

On 6/20/2019 at 11:14 AM, Mark J said:

Well the only positive thing I can say for myself is that it only took me 3 hours to put the saw back together when, having forgotten this post, I loosened the tensioning knob, too much.  

I have since placcarded the saw.

Hi Mark J

i just got my jet band saw for Christmas and I think I loosened tension knob too much also. Now my top wheel will not move up and down anymore. I see the mechanism behind wheel moving but not wheel. I can not get blade on.

what did you do to fix this?

thank you 

 

[Mark J]

@Debbiew0820, I'm not entirely clear about what difficulty you're encountering, but let me start here.  

There is a nut at the end of the threaded rod operated by the tension knob at the top of the saw.  If you loosen tension too much that nut will come off.  Earlier in this thread I posted a close up photo of the nut at the bottom end of the tesion mechanism that was taken through one of the holes in the upper wheel. 

Is that nut still in place on your saw?  If not look for it in the bottom of the upper case.  If you don't see it it may be hung up on the wheel mount and a little shaking should dislodge it.  

Once you have the nut make sure the tension release lever is in the release position.  Now using your finger tips and your entire lexicon of swear words you have to snake the nut through the holes in the upper wheel and hold it in position long enough to get the threads of the tension rod engaged.  This probably took me fifty tries. 

There is probably a way to dismount the upper wheel, but the manual was silent on the subject and I was shy about trying to dismantle my new saw not being sure I could return everything to normal.