Save your money
Written: Jun 29 '06 (Updated Jun 29 '06)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: None
Cons: Terrible quality issues. Avoid this one. Read the rest of my review.
The Bottom Line: Avoid it. See my full review.
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| jim-grill's Full Review: Delta Shopmaster Bench Top Jointer JT160 |
I bought this jointer at Lowe's for $199.00. I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever seen. I thought I couldn't go wrong with a tool from Delta. I was wrong and will look closer next time I consider a low-end Delta tool.
I followed the instructions for assembly. At first it seemed rather well made. It was heavy; the in feed and out feed tables were cast iron; the fence brace was machined out of heavy stock.
All went well until I got to the part where you set the fence with a combination square. No matter what I did I could not get the fence to sit at 90 degrees to the tables. I'd get one end set and then the other would be off. I finally took the crummy aluminum fence off and laid it face down on my table saw top. It was warped!
I decided to take a look at the in feed and out feed tables.
I put a long straight edge length wise from the out feed table to the in feed table and found that the in feed table was low on the back side of the blades. This means that even with a perfect fence you would be cutting at an angle all the time. To reinforce this I took a piece of 5 inch wide poplar and ran it through flat on one side. After running it through a few times the board was visibly thicker on one side than the other.
I thought about maybe taking the in feed table off (4 huge counter-sunk Allen bolts) to see if I could shim it up or something. I also thought about making my own fence to replace the warped one. However, I decided that would be a bad idea and that maybe I'd take it back and exchange it. After all, Lowe's and Home Depot will take just about anything back.
When I took it back I asked if I could get a salesperson to open another one up for me so we could look at it before I bought it. It was no surprise to find similar defects in the other one as well.
In my opinion these defects render this tool completely useless. It would screw up your project more than it would help.
I have a friend who has the Delta 6 inch heavy duty jointer, which can be purchased for about $349, and it is great. Save another $150 and get an entry level jointer that will actually work and not ruin your wood.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jim-grill
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Member: Jim Grill
Location: Yardley, PA, USA
Reviews written: 22
Trusted by: 0 members
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