Jet Planer questions

[nodima]

Just acquired a white Jet 15" thickness planer, model JWP-15CS.  Not sure of exact vintage, assume 2005-2010 or so.

Couple of questions

I see reference to the quick change blades - are those usable on all Jet planers, or only the newer ones? 

The hand wheel for adjusting depth, seems to move a bit when wood is going through the planer.  I noticed that the nut in the middle of the wheel was slightly loose, but assume the issue is deeper than that.  What else to look for?  Assume the blades need sharpening, but do have a second set on hand.

How much depth change per revolution of the hand wheel?  I found a manual for the planer, but these questions were not answered anywhere in it.

Thanks

[GeeDub]

Can’t speak to the knives. There are table locking knobs on the side of the posts to lock the table position. The hand wheel will move around a bit during operation but this does not affect the height.

You could use a caliper to check for height change per rev but, I don’t use the machine that way. Does anyone else here count wheel turns.

[Bob Vaughan]

Just acquired a white Jet 15" thickness planer, model JWP-15CS.  Not sure of exact vintage, assume 2005-2010 or so.

Couple of questions

I see reference to the quick change blades - are those usable on all Jet planers, or only the newer ones? 

The hand wheel for adjusting depth, seems to move a bit when wood is going through the planer.  I noticed that the nut in the middle of the wheel was slightly loose, but assume the issue is deeper than that.  What else to look for?  Assume the blades need sharpening, but do have a second set on hand.

How much depth change per revolution of the hand wheel?  I found a manual for the planer, but these questions were not answered anywhere in it.

Thanks

I've seen the Jet planers rotate their adjusting wheel while planing.  The knives were very dull and in desperate need of changing.  New sharp knives, and the table lock works as advertised.

IIRC, the Jet's ratio of turns to movement is typical Asian:  Metric.

Both used jointers and planers are usually "for sale" when the knives get dull and the owner is too lazy to learn how to change them.  I guess " lazy" is too broad a brush.  Some jointer and planer owners truly don't have the cognitive skills to learn how to do a simple task.

[lift mechanic]

I have a delta DC 380 15" planer. I installed a wixey digital readout several years ago. I just went out and adjusted the height by turning the handle 1 rev. = .150".

[nodima]

Thanks for the feedback.  

I'm sure that the blades need to be changed.  This machine was my father's and I don't believe it was used heavily in the past couple of years.   Fortunately, he still had the blade setting tool along with the extra blades for it.  The blades seem to be one sided, not the two sided ones I've seen for sale. 

With my old Ridgid planer, I knew that I could go a half turn at most when planing, and would do a quarter turn for a small cut.  That translated to 1/32 or 1/64".  Suppose ultimately the exact measure does not matter - but with use I'll develop a feel for what is the "right" amount to adjust between cuts.

[Tapper]

Just an FYI - I don't have any Jet machines but do have a Performax drum sander (Jet bought Performax). Had an occasion to call Jet Tech Support last week and could not have been more pleased with their help. Should you have any questions about the machine moving forward, I wouldn't hesitate calling them.

Doug

[garmar60]

My griz 20” planer takes about 1/16” for a full turn and 1/32 for a 1/2. I will normally do 1 to 1/2 turns with rough going from skip plane to first clean up. Then don’t go more than 1 turn at a time to approach thickness then go 1/2 turn for last pass 
Gary

[nodima]

Closing Loop.  Changed blades, and much better performance.  Old blades were not horrible, as no pits or anything, but clearly were dull.  Changing blades was pretty straightforward, other than removing the bolts holding the dust hood onto the unit.  Should not be so difficult to remove, so understand why blade changes were put off.  In comparison, the ridgid planer I previously had was much easier to access.

pleased with the finish it left on some test boards.

[cvillewood]

On my old Jet planer I loosened the handle on the hand wheel so that it could be easily removed. The weight of the handle was enough to make it slowly rotate and adjust the cutting height. I’d use it to make macro adjustments and remove it when I got to cutting height.

The knives were standard on mine.

[measure once cut remeasure]

My current planer has a handle lock. My prior planer's handwheel would move a little if the knob side of the wheel was anywhere except bottom dead center. I had a bungie cord attached to a ceiling joist above the handwheel. I would plane in 1/3rd turn increments. The handwheel had a three spoke design, so that I could attach the bungie hook on three different locations.