JET JJP-10BTOS, 10-Inch Planer-Jointer, 2 HSS Knives, 1Ph 120V (707410)

This is quite a lengthy review, please skip to the end if you wish to get a quick idea of my thoughts on this product.Being relatively new to woodworking, I really wanted to find a machine (on a budget) that would help me complete more tasks in my confined garage shop. I read the reviews on this tool, naively siding with the few positive ones out there. I would like to be able to say that in the 5-6 that this unit has been on the market that many of these issues would have been resolved, but that is sadly not the case.Here is a quick synopsis of my progression from excitement when it first arrived, to a week later, where I gave up and decided to return it:- Upon opening the package, I found an instruction manual that was far more detailed than some reviewers have stated. Mine indicated that it had been updated as of 8/14, which I assumed included tons of revision to aid the assembly. I was excited this might be a better outcome than others have experienced.- After pulling all the pieces from the styrofoam, I experienced some brief disappointment with the overall quality-feel of it. You know when you get this bad feeling; the plastic feels thin and brittle, the lettering on knobs feels like it might just rub right off, and decals that indicate depth/measurements are applied obviously crooked.- During assembly, the nuts and bolts were pictured actual-size in the manual. I found this very helpful.- As the assembly continued, I was attempting to screw in the handle that locks the planer table into position. This handle had marred threads all along it, preventing me from screwing it in. Ok, I have a replacement screw and I can make it work.- I was then attaching the planer outfeed table that was indicated to be "slightly higher" than the planer table. I do not know how high this should actually be, and it's not indicated in instructions. It also mentioned there should be 2 set screws that would help with this raising/lowering of the outfeed table. Those were absent from all packaging.- The off-white shroud on the front and rear of the unit had been cracked where it met the metal frame due to over-tightening at the factory. Minor, but I was bummed.Now on to the most frustrating part - the final adjustments.The manual suggests that adjustments to the machine are unlikely. This is far from my experience (and I think many others). I first needed to get the tables coplanar. This was a massive undertaking, requiring me to lift up on the outfeed table with my knee while I held it with one hand and tightened screws with another (screws which, as noted by others, are hidden and require the plastic surrounds to be removed). Even after this, I was still experiencing a sag in the outfeed table. I was also still able to move the table up and down with my knee, but it did not seem possible to get it to stay in a position that made the infeed and outfeed coplanar.Once I had made the tables as parallel-ish as I could, I took a look at the knives. They were badly out of alignment and needed to be reset. This was an experience I wish I never had gone through. As soon as I loosened the locking bolts on it, the blade popped out, slid out the side (fence was not put on yet) and hit the concrete all while gaining a nice knick on the corner. Phew.Finally I thought I was ready to make a cut - after I had removed the fence's locking handle and put it on the planer table, I locked it at 90 degrees with a screw I luckily had.I screwed down the handles that lock the infeed table. When I went to jiggle the table to make sure it was tight, the table still jiggled. I had tightened the knobs all the way and there was still far too much play in the table than I was comfortable with.Then, I found that on the outfeed side of the table, there was a bump. A little, tiny, almost invisible piece of the cast table that had not been fully milled down flat. This little tiny bump prevented me from smoothly and easily pushing a workpiece through the machine, and started making little knicks on the corners of the wood being fed through.It was also at this time that I saw there was pitting throughout the outfeed table, further lowering my disappointment.In conclusion:I felt defeated after spending close to 4 combined hours of assembly and adjustment on this machine. Once I was ready to make my first cut, I discovered there were elements on the machine that still required readjustment. I believe others have shared the sentiment that it just does not feel fair to have to spend so much time fiddling with a new tool when that time could have been used much more effectively with a tool that was higher quality (and almost certainly more money).If I felt like my time was worth the effort, I would probably try to tough it out with this machine and make it work. However, I will be sadly returning this item and replacing it with tools that will take up more floor space, but provide a much better user experience.

The Locking mechanisms on the infeed table are very odd and hard to get to work properly, one just spins and as you move the table up and down, it becomes out of parallel with the outfeed table once you get it all adjusted...for the money it's an alright joiner, the vacumn attachment seems to rub and if you lower it, the switch shuts the thing off, so I had to go inside and bend the lever that turns the switch on and off inside, with pliers, so it would function properly, the blade holder originally rubbed and cut into the plastic, due to the setting of the switch. I think it has decent power, and with a lot of tweeking as I go, I can make it work, but even the fence is not true from one end to the other, still trying to figure that one out...the holding mechanism is tricky to get to hold well, the handle broke loose the first time I went to tighten it down...super glued it back on, seems to be holding... in general I think if you are on a budget, and I was on this tool, it will get you through some work, with regular tweeking, I'm a 30 professional cabinet maker who needed a small home tool to do a few things, and was hoping for better, or by now they would have worked some of the bugs out, which to me, all seem as if they would be easy fixes for Jet, if they would just use a little more heavy duty bolts and things of that nature. I can say that it would make me seriously question buying a heavy duty 10" joiner from them, if they can't get a small version to do some of the most basic things that need to work properly, dialed in right...After the early comments of problems I figured after all this time they would have them worked out. I'm really surprised, as I've heard good things about Jet stuff, but this is the first I've owned. Yes I'm spoiled from years of SCMI equipment I owned, but even the Shop Fox stuff seems has some really great equipment at their low to medium end. I guess I just expected this to at least be accurate at what it was supposed to do, I expected shallower cuts and things, but making mechanisms to keep a nice lightweight table aligned seem pretty basic to me. Joiner tables do seem to be milled very flat, the infeed table just does not lock down properly and stay true, at all. As you loosen the infeed table and lower it, it lowers different from the left to the right?? But you can push on it, and kind of correct it, then tighten it, and it gets a bit better, but does not hold well...Happy to update as I find other tricks that may help others. Jet, if you read these, I'd say for about 25.00 more, you could totally dial this little guy in and re-release it as a new model and fix all this stuff...Not a lot of joiners this size at this price, might be well worth the effort....a couple side extension bars, facing the front of the infeed table to add an additional tightening bolt, spaced farther out, may be a huge addition to the machine, and a flat fence, that one has me totally stumped? I'm not even sure how you could bend a piece of aluminum that short built so strongly, maybe they need to be lightly machined flat before shipping too?