# JET JJP-12HH, 2-month review



## MarionSSS

Thanks for the review - just thinking about dumping the Grizzly 12" that's on back order for this machine.


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## stevenhsieh

Where is this machine made?


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## mstenner

*MarionSSS*, that was the other major option I considered. For me, the fact that it takes up more space and requires the fence to be removed in planer mode (so I've read) turned me off.

*Steven H*, it's made in China.


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## MarionSSS

I just sprung for this machine from Toolnut - they gave me an awesome price - $2649 shipped with liftgate service.

I see you have the "the recommended JET-brand base" - what is that? The guy at Toolnut said there wasn't a base listed for it. I have this base on order from Grizzly - it was going to go under the Grizzly J/P - it's rated at 1300 lbs. and I've used the Shop Fox units before and like them:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Super-Heavy-Duty-Mobile-Base/G7315Z

It looks like the sides of the Jet are slightly rounded - was that a problem for your straight sided base? What are the dimensions of the base - I haven't found them listed anywhere.


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## mstenner

*MarionSSS*, I got this base:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006S7CE/ref=oss_product

It's nothing special. Really the only cool thing is how easy it goes together and adjusts. No tools. But seriously, the guy who's dropping a few Gs on a planer/jointer combo is not afraid of a wrench.

The base is only curved on the front, and only by about 3/4". The tool base is about 21 1/2" wide (side to side) and about 18 1/2" deep on the edge. In the middle, it's about 19 1/4". I have my mobile base set to 22×20 (it adjust in inches, no fractions). Each corner of the base has a welded metal triangular pad that's 7" on a side, so it's not fussy about the exact placement of the feet.

I hope you enjoy your new toy. I'm about to go downstairs to do some planing right now!


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## Beezle

Thanks for reviewing this machine. I am looking at these myself right now. I was thinking just a jointer for a while, but I would love a helical head planer too, plus this is a 12" jointer, which I would find useful.

I will likely bug Grizzly too, but I am wondering why they seem so out of stock lately. I bought a machine a few months ago that I would have preferred come from them, but I wasn't willing to accept an open, constantly changing date. Projects must go on.


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## gb_ibmguy

Nice Review!

I bought the non-helical head unit in September during the 'last chance sale' It replaced my INCA 550. So far, I have to agree, it is a fantastic unit! Haven't used it much, winter set in fast.

I went with the HD ShopFox base and it works quite well. Makes it easy to park it out of the way.

GB


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## elrond3737

Huh? I was told that the Jet was made in Taiwan. Maybe I was told wrong… Looks like a great machine. Congrats.
I like the Jet better because of the change over but also the euro-guard. Also, it is nice to see several video review on the web of it. I haven't found one for the Griz 12". I think…think… I have it narrowed down between the Jet an Laguna. Laguna is going to come down in price and I know a guy that has one and it is sweet. 
Thank you for the review.


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## mstenner

*elrond*, I looked all over the web and manual trying to find where it was manufactured (in response to Steven H's question). Ultimately, I just went down to the shop and looked at the tag. On the label with the serial number it says "China", not "made in China" or anything like that, but I'm assuming that's the "made in" label.

Regarding guards, I had vary little experience with them, and overall, I like this guard a lot. It's a little awkward when face-jointing to shift my grip past the guard, but it does keep you from pushing down directly over the cutterhead. I'm developing a technique where I place my left palm flat on the board with fingers pointing straight forward. As my hand approaches the guard, I lift my fingers but keep pressure on the heel. When my hand goes over the guard, I apply pressure with my fingers on the other side. It's a pretty smooth transition.

P.S. the Taiwan/China politics are very strange (technical, it's "Taiwan, Republic of China") so maybe it really is made in Taiwan and has a "China" label.


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## elrond3737

Taiwan/china. Normally Taiwan made stuff says Taiwan… It sells better then China if all things are equal. Thank you for your review again. good info.


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## dafus

I've had the JJP-12 for some time. Mine was a display model, and it was delivered by pickup truck. I have no idea of whether these affected things, but I do know that mine was woefully out of adjustment when I got it positioned in my shop. I have not addressed the planer table adjustment-I think it's probably ok-but the jointer tables were nowhere near being aligned with either the cutter head or each other. My experience makes me awfully envious of your spending "about an hour" to adjust the tables within 0.001" everywhere. I have spent many times that, and I'm still not within 0,001". The manual is no help, and I got none by calling Jet. So if you have an orderly way of taming those six degrees of freedom, I would greatly appreciate your sharing your approach.


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## KyleT

I know that you posted this review along time ago, but I'm wondering how this machine has held up for you over the past few years? Have the jointer tables stayed aligned well? I understand that standard maintenance and adjustments are needed, but has anything stopped performing the way it should? Have you jointed any really long or heavy boards? do the jointer tables have any noticeable sag?

Thanks for the great review!


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## mstenner

KyleT,

I'm glad folks are still finding this review useful. I do have a rather important update. I'll hit that and then address your specific questions.

Regarding overheating… over more time and digging up other posts on the interwebs, I became rather convinced that I got a bad motor. I called Jet, gave them the list of diagnostics, told them others who purchased around the same time had similar issues, and they didn't put up a fight. They asked me to send in the tag from my motor. I was able to do that without pulling the motor so I was fully operational the whole time. They then sent me a new motor. I'm guessing it was a refurb as it does not have a tag. Another amusing note: the wiring on the new motor was different… it is not trivial (electrically or mechanically) to swap motors on this thing. I was afraid I'd have to bring the motor out the bottom, but you can do it out the panel on the back. I strongly suspect there was simply a bad batch of motors, though, so I doubt any new purchases will have this problem. Bottom line, the thing now runs like a champ (never had it overheat since) and I have big-ass motor with a slight overheating problem on the shelf. In my opinion, my previous observations about overheating simply do not apply any more, except as perhaps a quality control issue, and even there Jet handled it well.

Over the years, the machine has done very well. The jointer tables are quite stable. I've only had to do two big realignments (about an hour of work), and one of those was after a move. Four strapping young men carried this thing by hand by lifting it from the jointer beds. No shocker that it needed a little love after that.

As for long or heavy boards, how's this: I made a split-top roubo workbench (all the cool kids are doing it) and jointed and planed both halves with the Jet. They are (AFTER planing) 4" thick, 12" wide and 6' long. They're laminated ash and hard maple (my local lumber yard didn't have enough 8/4 ash that day) so they're REALLY heavy.

I continue to think the shortness of the beds is a minor problem… not in performance, but in convenience. If your board is more than twice the length of the beds, then it won't balance at the beginning and end. You need rollers for setup and you have to apply more downward force to keep it from pulling the board up off the cutterhead. For that reason and others I tend to cut parts to rough length before jointing (it saves wood, too). The planer produces virtually no snipe, so I really see no downside to this practice. Your typical 4/4 board shorter than four feet requires nothing at all to prevent snipe. Longer or thicker and you just want to support the board on infeed and outfeed. Again, no big deal.

Also, I just turned my cutter inserts for the first time a few months ago. I saved up some leftover prefinished jatoba flooring a coworker gave me and waited until I was ready to turn the inserts. I ran all the jatoba through (taking off that crazy-hard finish) and then it was REALLY ready for a swap. Before that I had made a bunch of cutting boards (including maple and jatoba) and ran them through the planer cutting end-grain (thin passes). I did lots of normal stuff too, but those jobs were downright abusive. I'm very pleased with how those things perform. At this rate, I'll get nearly a decade out of one set of inserts.

I've never experienced as much post-purchase stress as right after I dropped $3000 on that thing, but a couple of years later and I feel like it was a great purchase.


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## Swindlehurstguy

Michael, thanks for all our input, Ive had my Jet for about 6 weeks now, and I am really happy with it. Here in South Africa they are around R34000 divide by about 8.9 to get the USD price. Like many on the forum I toyed with the Hammer helical combo machine, but it was almost USD 2200 more so I opted for the Jet which I was told compared well. Sure, I've had Felder stuff before and know that the Germans don't miss much when it comes to the way they build machines, but in all honesty, I have been really pleasantly surprised, the Jet is quiet and mine has never overheated, even though I'm working with 3hp 220 volts, I have planed a fair ammountof Eurpean Beech and Imbuia with no ill-effect whatsover. All in all I recommend the Jet. We are of course somewhat limited as for choice here which is unfortunate but I expect that the Jet will deliver for some years to come.


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## MarionSSS

I hadn't noticed an overheating issue but I really hadn't checked. I have noticed that after it's been running for more than a few minutes, it really starts to smell. Now I'm wondering if that maybe is the motor overheating? I'll have to check next time I use it - the smell gets really overpowering if I'm using it continuously for awhile.


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## dafus

MarionSSS, I think you should talk to Jet about the smell. I'm a lightweight amateur, and I don't time my stints, but I've certainly run mine for a chunk of time more than once, and I've never caught a hint of odor.


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## mstenner

MarionSSS, My capacitor blew a few months ago. I was still under warranty, and Jet sent me a new one. Replacement wasn't too hard. However, it melted and smelled pretty bad. Your cap might be in the process of destroying itself. You might check that out, especially if you notice it running/starting strangely.


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## ycetindil

"You can do it systematically and get the thing dialed in to perfect. I got mine to within 0.001" everywhere in about an hour." 
Can you please post how you achieved this? Thanks in advance.


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