JET 708750B/JWBS-18 18" Woodworking Bandsaw with Bearing Guides

Customer Reviews:

In hindsight I would buy a different saw [Posted on 2004-08-15]
I bought the 20" version of this saw which has a bigger motor so I have not had the saw bog down problems. This is my first band saw so I have no reference point. I have had the saw for about 6 months and it is not heavily used. My criticsms are as follows:

1) Lower guides. Many have talked about adjustment difficulties so there is no need to elaborate. A custom hex wrench which would reach the inside nut would help greatly. In addition, over time the guides stop spinning freely and I have had one of the bearings freeze up. They also block a lot of dust from getting to where the dust port is located. To catch a lot of the dust you need to put a vacuum hose behind the lower guides too.
2) Fence. The mechanism locking the fence to the rail is a cheap piece of plastic which is squeezed by a lever. Within a few uses, the glue holding the plastic in place came loose causing the plastic to slip and the fence to slide. Cutting veneer was impossible because the lateral pressure against the fence would cause the fence to slip. I have replaced the fence already.
3) Blade changing. There must be a better way to design a saw. It seems that sliding the blade to the back of the table would be better than to the side. Having to remove the guard is just too much work.
4) More minor problems which might be the same on any another saw: The mechanism to change the height of the upper guides is slightly out of allignment with the blade so I have to readjust the guides if I change their height. The wheels seem to be slightly out of true causing a vibration. The motor belts squeal on startup until they can overcome the inertia of the wheels. I am going to switch to another type of belt per another reviewers suggestion.

Very good saw; can be made even better [Posted on 2004-09-14]
This saw is a serious step up from the 14-inchers. Better quality cast wheels and beefy bearings, sturdier cabinet, excellent fit and finish. The fence (included) was exactly 90 degrees square out of the box. The inside bottom guide bearing adjustment is hard to reach, but it's no big deal.
The other reviewers are right, the motor is plainly underpowered for resawing wide hardwoods. But the chassis is beefy enough that it can accomodate a larger motor. If you own this saw you'll want to email Eric Davidson (see his earlier posting) for instructions on modifying the saw by replacing the Taiwanese 1.5HP motor with a 2HP Baldor or other American-made motor. I made this modification and rewired the saw for 220 volts, and I installed a Powertwist link-belt in place of the v-belt it came with, and voila, it's a whole new saw. Just took a few hours and about $350 worth of supplies. Now I can resaw anything; it's a much smoother, quieter and all-around more competent saw. No more blowing circuits, burning, binding and whining; just cuts wood the way I ask it to, and much quieter too. I wouldn't trade it for any $2,000 saw on the market.
Regarding space, which is a concern to most woodworkers, the footprint of this saw is only a few inches bigger than the 14-inch saws. The differences you'll notice first are the height and squareness of the cabinet, neither of which consumes floor space of course.
The blade that comes with the saw won't cut lumber. It's just for decoration. You'll want to have a couple of Timberwolf or other good silicon steel blades on hand so you can use the saw when it arrives.
I couldn't find a zero clearance throat plate for this saw, so I just cut a little circle out of some UHMW plastic and cut a rabbet around the perimeter with a router and it works fine. I make furniture on weekends, and this is an excellent tool for me. Thanks again Eric!

Jet 18" Bandsaw, Great Machine for the Money [Posted on 2004-10-17]
First off, I bought the machine at my local woodcraft store on sale for $999, best price on the machine I've seen. It came assembled so I did not have to deal with any assembly. Pros and Cons

Pros, runs great, quiet, cuts very well, so far handles everything I've run thru it without problems, including 8" thick walnut. If you use a good blade, and a reasonable feed rate, I don't find horsepower to be an issue on this machine.

Cons, the blade that comes with the machine is terrible, but that seems to be a problem with any bandsaw. The lower guides are more difficult to adjust then any I've come across.

Yes, there are better machines out there, Laguna, Mini Max to name 2. Yet, for the money I dont think you will find a better machine. Read the December issue of Fine Woodworking regarding tips to tune up your bandsaw. I'm running the Jet without lower guide, so far it seems to work fine. I may purchase some aftermarket guideblock system to replace the lower guides on the Jet. Also, if you are considering purchasing a bandsaw, Lonnie Birds book is of great help. If Jet could do a better job on the lower guides I think the machine would rate 5 stars.

This is a stout tool. [Posted on 2004-12-08]
My saw arrived in a crate that literally "wrapped" the entire saw. With the exception of the table and rip fence, the saw was completely assembled. I immediately rewired the 1 1/2hp motor for 220v operation. The only downers I encountered with the machine were the very short 5 foot power cord and the cheesy 3/4" blade. I put a brand new 1" Timberwolfe on and replaced the power cord using 12/2 s.o. wire. Once all adjustments were made, I took a piece of 8 qtr. x 8" maple and started resawing 1/32" stips that were 3 feet long. Every piece was perfect. This is a heavy machine. A mobile base is a must. I can't understand why anyone would buy the Delta X5 14". For roughly the same money, you get twice the saw with the Jet 18". The "underpowered" reviews obviously haven't set their saws up for 220v operation. This saw has not bogged down on me once.
I looked very, very hard at the Laguna and the Mini Max. They are good machines. They also cost over $1000 more. You won't be disappointed with this saw.

Great Machine [Posted on 2004-12-11]
I give this machine 5 stars. Some talk about the sub-par blade that is included with this machine, the so-called underpowered motor, and the difficult to adjust lower blade guides.

First, the blade that comes with this unit is as they say, for decoration. Buy a Timber Wolf blade and that complaint is gone. Your buying a saw, not a blade. Great saw!

Second, I put a 3/4" x 3 tpi TimberWolf blade on and it resawed through 5 1/4" wide oak like butter and the finish was better than the rough planned wood I buy at the sawmill. Motor is not underpowered if the setup is correct. Again, your buying a saw, not a blade. Great saw.

Finally, the lower guides. I put the new blade on and set it up according to the direction(Timberwolf blades dont use the standard tension setting). The lower was more difficult than the top. But its easy. It took maybe 5 minutes at most. The lower bearings have one knurled knob to loosen up. loosen up the knob and set the 0.003 clearance, tighten knob. then set the thrust bearing. No big deal. When changing blade widths, there are two internal wrenching(allen head) bolts. With the table at 90 deg to the blade, loosen up the outer one, tilt the table and loosen the inner one. Adjust for the blade width and tighten the inner, put table back to 90 deg and tighten the outer. EASY. Then set the side bearings and thrust bearing. If five minutes to set up a machine is too long, well, maybe woodorking is not your thing. Again, Great saw!

And all that after the first saw I got had a dented up upper door complete with bent upper wheel. Damaged somewhere between here and Tiawan. It happens. Got a replacement within a week and the old one taken away.

This saw is the best deal out there. Forget the blade that it comes with, forget about those that say its underpowered, and forget about what some say about the difficulty adjusting the lower guides. If you enjoy making great stuff out of wood, buy the saw, buy a couple timber wolf blades and spend the 5 minutes it takes to set up the lower guides. I have a piece of hard maple that is 12x14x1. I'll rip it to 10"(the max capacity for resawing) and see what this saw can do. If it went through 5 1/4" oak like a hot knife through butter, I think it will take 10" hard maple with little problems. UPDATE: Got a chance to do some resawing with hard maple and the results were amazing. I used a piece of 8" wide stock 3/4" thick(using the 12" wide piece for something else). I resawed to get a 1/2" piece and now have a good size piece of 1/8" thick veneer. You can get the TimberWolf blades at a great discount from SuffolkMachinery. Do a search for "Suffolk Machinery Corp" for the website.

Hope this helps.

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