14 Inch Jet Bandsaw

Dano,

I have the saw and it is really good. One think you should do is replace the belt with a “link belt”. It makes the saw quiet and removes most of the vibration. Also, you definitely want the reiser block. The saw is powerful enough to resaw 11” material without too much fuss.

As far as the fence and the miter are concerned, I do not see much use for them. Without pretty good angular adjustment, a fence is not very useful (it is hard to position the blade very precisely on the wheels, which would be required to adjust the angle of the blade). The same problem with the miter. I find that it is easier to learn to cut straight without a guide with the saw.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

I have been looking at this saw as well. Thanks for the review. I hope it works well for you. Let us know how things turn out as time goes on. (I’m waiting for my tax $ so I have some time) :)

congrats Dano,

I have an older model of that saw and I am pretty happy with it. The only problems I have had with it are that the piece of UHM plastic on the clamp for the fence rail falls off all the time. It is annoying. I put a piece of plywood under the base and put bolts through so I could adjust the level. that worked pretty good. It is also a royal pain to adjust the belt on my particular model.

It looks like they have moved the dust colection port over to the right hand side of the saw. That was a good move on their part.

I have personally never had a problem getting the fence to adjust parallel with the blade. I have the re-saw fence from FWW #159 and use this saw all the time for that. Here is a discussion of how I use it.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

Alin, good idea on the link belt, I have one on my table saw.

Scott I can see what you are talking about, I will watch mine to see if they start to come loose.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Congrats on the new saw. You might want to try to file down the burr on the weld of the blade. It could damage your thrust bearing if you use it much before you put the riser block and new blade on.

I basically have the same saw except older. The only problem I’ve ever had with it was I left a 3/4” blade in it tensioned over the winter and it bent and cracked the upper axle assembly. It’s nice to see a quick release on the new saws, I may have to see if I can order one for my saw if it will work. One note about the old axle assembly is when I recieved a new one I compared it to the old failed one and JET has beefed the new casting up considerably where the old one had failed. Without hearing the thumping sound you describe Dano, I’ll mention that it could maybe be the V-Belt has a set in it.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I’ve had the upper axle assembly problem too (bending to the point you couldn’t tension the blade), but was a $20 fix. Also, although I really like the saw, I have always felt that the guide adjuster set screws and all the knobs on the saw are just too small.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

$20 fix ? I think the new part cost me about $50. I couldn’t just buy the axle, I had to buy the axle and the mount that it pivots in. I wasn’t real happy about it, especially after I seen that they had beefed up the new part considerably where the old part failed. Customer service and I went round and round about not takeing the tension off the blade. I told the gal that if that was the case why isn’t it printed in the manual and why is the new part beefed up ? Well needless to say to be on the safe side I now back off the tension when I’m done for the day, and a quick release would sure be nice.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

woodchuck – yep- we’re talking about the same part. I got mine from an outfit that sells new and surplus jet equipment in my area. The part I got was new…and I needed the whole assembly too…

Give them a call in the future…they’re pretty good guys…

Equipment Sales and Surplus (I have no affiliation to them, with the exception that I give them my money in turn for equipment) Not sure the site is the most up to date, but…they usually don’t list near as much surplus equipment as they actually have, because it comes and goes so fast.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Thanks for the tip Dorje, I’ll have to snoop through the site later. I’m e:mailing JET about the quick release. They say it won’t work, but if I look up the upper arm part number for both saws they are the same. I’m thinking worse case senerio a guy would maybe have to drill and tap a couple holes in the arm. Maybe Dano can tell us how the quick release is attached.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I take that back on the V-belt possibly being a cause of the thumping, the bandsaw Dano has came with a poly V-belt, scratch that idea..

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I will investigate how the quick release is attached and post some more close up pictures of it. May be a day or two but I’ll get her done! I think Carter has an aftermarket release lever but it is pricey which is one of the reasons I opted for this version over the standard closed base one, especially in light of the fact it was only 50 bucks more.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Your right Dano, for $50 more you got the quick blade tension release, a poly V-belt and a 1/4 hp more. Not a bad deal. The Carter maybe nice, but $150 to me seems a bit pricey.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

If the resaw thing you describe is a metal cylinder than it is ok forward of the blade. You draw a line down the board and use the cylinder as a pivot point. Sounds like a great saw so far.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

John, it is cylindrical but it is black plastic.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Well, I went by the local Woodcraft last night and picked up a 105 inch 3/8 8TPI Timberwolf blade, Cool Blocks, a wheel brush, and zero clearance inserts to go with the riser block that came in from Amazon the day before. Saturday I will put it all together and see how it works. The HTC mobile base should be here in a few days leaving only a wood slicer blade on the wish list. If ever thing works as expected I think I will be very happy with the saw.

I also plan to take some detailed pictures of the quick release mechanism to post here for those interested.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Still interested in the quick release. JET just tried to sell me a Carter for $168, plus shipping too I’m sure. I’t kind of irks me a bit. Rather than bothering to see if it the JET quick release will work, which I’m almost positive will, because the part number for the upper arm on both saws are the same. They would rather sell me another more expensive product that they don’t even make. Unless WMH bought out Carter too !

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I have that saw with the riser. Jet makes a tension reliever that looks just like the Carter. (My handle broke and because it has a red knob I thought it was a Carter add-on. Turns out Jet had to beef up the handle holder. BTW on mine the handle is in front rather than the back.)

John is correct about the resaw cylinder. You can adjust it to match the width of the resaw blade. But I always scribe a line down the board being resawn.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Sawdust, all I know is she tried to sell me a 708736 – JWBS-14QT: CARTER” QUICK TENSION CONV. She said they have them in stock for $168 and that parts can be ordered through them ( JET ). Well thats great to know, because your not the only guy I have heard of that has broke the Carter handle.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I bought an older version of this saw last weekend off of craigslist, the JWBS-14CS. It has a 3/4 hp motor but the prior owner had made a couple of upgrades, including a replacement Carter tension spring, adding the riser block, adding a brush on the lower wheel, and some dust removal work just under where the blade exits the table. I’ve only used it briefly but I can see it becoming a star in the shop.

One question: does anybody know the length blade that you need with the riser block?

-- Pat Mulry, Dallas, Texas || www.lonestarpokertables.com

105”

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

If you go to the Jet website the manual for the saw is on line with a parts list. Here is the link http://content.jettools.com/manuals/M_710115K.pdf

I will take some detailed pics this weekend and post them, with those two plus any measurements I can make I think you can retrofit your saws. If you look at the center picture above you can see that all it is is a pivot attached to a linkage that raises a bushing attached to the tension shaft.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Dano, I guess the thing I’m most concerned about is, am I going to have to drill and tap any holes in the cast arm.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

i have never seen a saw come with a “good blade” Normally they send a band with some sharp edges.. but I wouldn’t call it a blade. A good blade is not expensive, but necessary with almost any new saw. As time goes by, you may want to add the carter release and guides to make this good saw even better. Goos luck with it and enjoy!

-- making sawdust....

OK folks here is a close up of the tensioning mechanism.

On the left is a vertical piece that has two studs tapped into the cast iron upright. The top is a pivot point with 2 bars extending to the right that surround the tensioning rod. You’ll note that the bars lie under a cylindrical piece attached to the tensioning rod itself. On the right end of the horizontal bars is a roller, the lever arm extending upward and to the right on the right side of the picture has a radius ed pad that rides up under the roller raising the bars and raising the tensioning rod. Once the lever arm is pulled down it locks in the horizontal position.

It is really simple how it works and it appears to me that you would have to drill and tap 3 holes in the cast iron frame and them everything would bolt together. I am not sure what all the pieces would cost from jet but I think it is doable. But, that is easy for me to say since I don’t have too!

Hope this helps.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Thanks Dano, I was afraid I’d have to drill and tap the arm, I’m not sure if I want to attempt that. I’ll have to think about it for awhile.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

I have found that tapping is not such a big deal if you go slow, lube the tap, and consistently back it out after making just a little progress and clearing the chips. On this saw it appears that they have installed studs but if I was to do it I think I’d use bolts.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

I looked the fasteners up in the parts schematic. They are 8 mm x 20 socket head button screws. I’ve tapped stuff out before, it’s just there isn’t alot of meat in that area, I’d be afraid of cracking the arm if I didn’t get it perfect. I’m in no big hurry to find out how much a new upper arm costs.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?

Well now that I look at it I guess they are allen head bolts so that the cast iron is tapped and bolts installed. That is what I get for trusting in my memory.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

Ok, curiosity got the best of me, a new upper arm is $120 plus shipping. The quick release parts, buying each part seperate are about $30 plus shipping, but that doesn’t include the nuts and bolts which I think I could buy locally more reasonably.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?