All Replies on What is a lightly used 12 year old DJ-20 37-350 worth

Pardon me, but I don’t recognize this number, or make. Could you be more specific?

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

Delta DJ-20 37-350 8 inch jointer

Wouldn’t pay that for anything without a helical head.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

The only thing that I can think of with a helical head for around 1300 to 1500 would be a Grizzly and from what I have been told (not what I know) it is not in the same class as the DJ-20…am I wrong here?

I’m talking used prices here. I’d never expect to pay more than half retail for a used tool. Unless it’s like NIB or some rare item of course.

-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.

It is worth roughly half of that. I would move on, if he starts at that price, there will be no negotiation with him. It is like those people who post 30 year old Craftsman RAS on Craigslist for $500 because they saw a new Delta goes for $2500.

Make him an honest offer of what you feel it is worth, be polite about it and request that he keeps your contact info around in case he does not find a buyer. You could buy the X5 equivalent for about $500 more than what he is asking.

I challenge anybody to find a DJ-20 that in good shape for half of $1300. $650? That’s wishful thinking if the person knows what they are selling and has maintained it well. Rockler has them for $1899 right now, Amazon $1499, but don’t forget shipping costs, could add a hundred or two.

$1300 is a bit high IMO. They go for $1000 maybe $1200 tops around here.$650? Not realistic. I paid $1300 new for mine after the $250 rebate, so if he bought it when I bought mine he may be trying to sell it for what he paid. Be interesting to see his original receipt. $1000 would probably be a reasonable price.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

I said “roughly”, I should have qualified that. $650-$900 as a used price. There is no way I would pay over $900. If I buy used, and a decade old, I will pay 50% of the new price if it is immaculate. You can buy the Grizzly version for $1,095 delivered. http://www.grizzly.com/products/8-Jointer-with-Parallelogram-Beds/G0490

I look for deals though. If I cannot get it at 50% for used, I will buy new. You never know what some putz could have done to it while he owned it.

I paid about 75% of new for my 2007 Powermatic. In retrospect, I got a terrible deal. I think this jointer is quite overpriced by quite a few hundred bucks. $800 to $1000 sounds reasonable to me. If it’s pristine, I’d probably go on the higher end of that to avoid the shipping $$. I’d still rather have a 12 year old one than a new one, so I wouldn’t fault you for paying a tad more than it’s “worth”. Good luck!

-- My dad and I built a 65 chev pick up.I killed trannys in that thing for some reason-Hog

You know I should be adding (feel dumb for this) but he has the mobile base and a magna set included in that price.

I am also a little confused on the model because it is a 37-350 and the price a lot of you are quoting for a new one on like amazon is a 37-365X which is more then the 37-365 that is on amazon and for the life of me I cannot figure the difference. One is 1500 and the other is 1800 before shipping.

John Mulzer. Do you think that the Grizzly is in the same league as this machine? I would love it if it was because I love the idea of getting a Grizzly with a helical head but many have said not a chance on the quality comparison.

Jon, years don’t always matter, just because it’s 10 years old it’s worth less? Not necessarily. The hobbyist that wants to do woodworking and has to have the best of everything and used it 3 times in ten years for a total of 15 minutes of run time?

Don’t laugh, I know of a DJ-20 that when it reaches it’s 10th birthday won’t ever have been plugged in, it’s half way there and still hasn’t. And a Unisaw. And a 15” planer.

Years don’t always enter into the equation. There are putz’s but there also are people that take extremely good care of their machines. So the blanket statement “half of” may not always apply. It works for you and that’s ok, but it’s a case by case basis and the condition of the machine should be a factor not just the age and original price along with what it now costs new. I can’t believe when I compare what I’ve paid for machines when I see the current prices and absolutely nothing on them has changed!

Still like to see anyone selling a DJ-20 in good shape under 15 years old for $650. It that were the case everybody would have one.

And Grizzly never enters into my equation, I could care less if they were giving them away, but that’s my opinion. I go for old American made iron and would and have sought it out instead of what is sold these days. Do like restoring old machines though and don’t expect it to be working perfectly when I get it and don’t mind getting it back to factory spec.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Tdog, the 350 and 365 are exactly the same. Pull up the parts breakout on DeWalt ServiceNET and you get the exact same documents for both. The X means X-series that included the 5 year warranty. The number change came right around the time of a price hike, don’t know if that was the reason though, you’re paying more because it newer. :-)

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Thanks, Blank man on the model issue.

Here’s a little more data to add to the equation. I’ve been watching CL in Atlanta for several years. I saw a DJ-20 for $800 a year or two ago. I think it sold within a few weeks, but not lightening fast. I didn’t think it was a crazy good deal or I would have jumped on it.

Personally, I bought a hardly used 8” powermatic jointer for $650 last year. I too have managed to stick by the 50% of new retail rule for most of my equipment purchases. I can’t always buy what I want at that price, but I have found some good deals if my patience holds out. One other plus to used purchases is that you usually save a bundle by getting them to include any accessories for a few dollars more. Again, I try to stay around the 50% mark.

Good luck and be patient.

-- Working on a retirement hobby, only 30 more years to practice!

To me, age does matter. Unless I know the person, and know that they bought it new and never even hardly used it. In that case, I would still be leery. Manufacturers defects happen and it would be way out of warranty without anyone ever finding out what was wrong with it. Used is used. My personal basis for used is 50%, and it goes down from there. I might go a little higher, but I will be damned if I will pay more than 60%. I will just go buy a new one. When I buy used, I expect a deal.

That is me though. It appears quite a few people agree with me on this though. But a machine is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. If I am willing to pay $700 and you are willing to pay $900, then you will have the machine sitting in your shop and I will keep looking. As always, there are two sides to every coin.

And yes, I have known of DJ-20’s being bought for $700 or less that were in very good shape. I would have bought one of them if only I had the room. Deals are out there to be had. Most of my shop was outfitted for well under 50% of retail. I have a $50 Delta mortiser that I bought NIB for $50, a JET 17” drill press for $20, 12” disc sander for $20, just sold a 6” Craftsman short-bed jointer I picked up for $25, JET 14” bandsaw for $100, etc. The deals are out there to be had. You can either have patience or spend more. Neither option is a bad one.

As for the Grizzly, from what I have heard, that model is a carbon copy of the DJ-20. I don’t know, I don’t own one. I would not be afraid to buy that jointer though, Grizzly has excellent customer service and I am sure you can find some reviews on the web. I think they make good tools, different strokes for different folks.

Went to 1150 with the stand…sounds a little better

TDog, keep working him. :-) And um, I’m pretty sure the stand is integral, not an option, at least I wasn’t presented with that option when I bought mine… It came with it.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

If I wanted it for personal use I’d offer $800 and tell the guy
to keep my number. I don’t consider a guy asking for
more than a grand for a used 8” jointer to be a serious
seller.

But I don’t want that jointer – I don’t see much advantage in
paying a premium for the parallel thing. A used 8”
jointer goes for $400-$600 in my area. Powermatic sells
for a bit more due to brand bias.

Loren, having had other 8” jointers of the wedge design, I do see an advantage in the parallelogram table design. A big advanage. And was why I wanted one and when I could finally afford one and was sick of dealing with the wedge design I got one. Shimming the wedge runners to get it level and parallel, PITA. That and the fence adjustment design that they used, the wedge ones, that H bracket/casting, PITA. Always had to fiddle with it. Always had to adjust the fence to be square. The table lift design and the fence mounting design on the DJ-20 are superior. Can’t remember the last time I adjusted it and when I check it it’s still square and the tables are parallel.

I want a machine that holds adjustment, whose stops are repeatable and accurate. I don’t want to be spending time adjusting machines I want to be making sawdust. And that’s where the DJ-20 and Unisaw fit the bill. But I’ll admit, I am somewhat of a perfectionist.

Oh and maybe DJ-20’s sell for a little bit more due to model bias…

And as a siderbar, I’ve owned Powermatic machines when they were still Powermatic and I have to say I was disappointed with the fit and finish for a Powermatic that had such a good brand name at the time. So I’m kind of surprised they command a premium.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Blank Man, on the DJ-20 are there four cam type bolts around the perimeter of the infeed to get the adjustment similar to like a PJ-882 powermatic?

Four on the infeed and four on the outfeed. But they’re not bolts, T shaped bushing that are eccentric and you spin them thus moving the shafts connected to the tables that then move the tables. So you align the tables level and parallel to each other and parallel to the cutterhead. Then align the knives parallel to the outfeed table. Or align the outfeed table to the cutterhead then align the infeed table to the outfeed table then align the knives to the outfeed table.

What you don’t want to do the very first time you do the alignment is align to the knives because the knives could be cocked. So you align to the cutterhead then in that way when you align the knives to the outfeed table they should be relatively parallel to the cutterhead. Forever more. :-)

I put up the doc for the alignment procedure in PDF form here if you want to read it.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Thanks again and I will read the PDF. It makes sense in my head and seems really straight forward ,possibly time consuming as I am sure that moving one point will in turn slightly move others on that table and it can be a little of a dance I am sure but doable. I know sometimes when I use my old school surveying tools I float around a setup point but I always get there and I like it to be almost perfect; that does not mean that I enjoy tuning so I can appreciate things holding tight as long as possible like your DJ-20 does. I am feeling more and more confident on pulling the trigger on this one.

Yeah it was time consuming, no doubt about that. Don’t remember how long exactly, I’m thinking maybe a couple hours but I’m a perfectionist, I dialed that thing in to perfect. I found out long ago that if your machines aren’t dialed in no way can you make something square so I take the time up front. The machine that gets me is my 12” RAS, I still consider those the alignment from h to really dial in perfectly.

I did get a 3’ Starrett ground straight edge though to do the DJ-20, a 2’ thin one wasn’t cuttin’ it.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Oh by the way, I didn’t really follow the instructions myself, kind of winged it. LOL I understood the concept and the interaction on the table of moving any single cam so I did it my way. Mainly because I wanted it as accurate as possible and I got the impression the directions were a good enough way. But I thought you’d like to see the instructions anyway.

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

He agreed to 1050 and I will head out tomorrow to pick it up if all checks out ok. Thanks for the help everyone.

Good luck!

-- -Curt, Milwaukee, WI

Thanks

Well, I bought it and now I feel a little stupid. I spent soo much time checking out the tables, motor, bearings etc that I did not bother to look at the table stamp to notice the “made in Taiwan” sticker….shat. I looked at the motor before purchase and it is made in the U.S but I figured with it being 12 years old it would be Brazil but alas it is not.
According to delta they have only ever made the older models in taiwan or brazil and never the U.S.A. The thing was set up to about .002 coplaner but the thing that bothered me was the fact that on the infeed table it does have about a 3-4 thousandths cup over about 12 inches on the near middle third but that is still under spec by 6-7 thousandths. This guy was a long ways away and I did not want to spend another 40 in gas so that I could have time to come back and get some advice from the “Jocks” so I went ahead and plopped the cash and took the chance. Now I wish I would have consulted here first but I will say it looks hardly used.