Upgrade from 6" to 8" Jointer, Advice Needed

Hey all! I currently own a 6" Jet jointer upgraded with a shelix helical head. I bought it for maybe $700 a couple years ago and I've been wanting a little more capacity. Not necessarily width, but I'd like something longer. A Delta DJ-20 (8") came up for sale near me listed at $900 and I'm curious if any DJ-20 owners or others who upgraded from a 6" to an 8" can chime in on their experience. I'm pretty space (and budget!) limited so I'm not really looking for larger (10"-12") machines and I don't want to joint boards that wide anyways. I've got a good bandsaw setup for ripping stock before jointing. Thanks in advance!

I only have experience with an 8" jointer so I can't comment on your primary question. But $900 is an excellent price for a DJ-20 in good condition.

I have a Grizzly G0490, which is essentially a clone of the DJ-20. So feel free to research the G0490 as well as the DJ-20 if you are looking for more information. One other advantage of that is that most, if not all, G0490 parts from Grizzly are readily availably and will fit the old Delta.

In terms of floor space it depends on the bed length obviously but I don't think the cabinets are any appreciably bigger. Maybe worth taping out on the floor to visualize the space difference in your shop.

Really enjoy mine. You will give up the helical head but that can always be added at a later date.

That's nice to know that a more current tool has a lot of compatible parts. I know Delta is real bad about discontinued stuff.

Missing the helical head is a good point, but I see that they're readily available for the DJ-20 at a fairly reasonable price. Upgrading down the line is always an option.

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Originally Posted by Jarod Johnson

That's nice to know that a more current tool has a lot of compatible parts. I know Delta is real bad about discontinued stuff.

Missing the helical head is a good point, but I see that they're readily available for the DJ-20 at a fairly reasonable price. Upgrading down the line is always an option.

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Went from a Jet 6" to a DJ20 8" with Byrd Head to a 16"Minimax. I've had boards wider than 16" that prompted me to think: "maybe I need a 24" jointer????). It never ends.

Doing better than i did, i think i purchased my used DJ20 5-7 years ago for $1000, and then i sold it a year later for $1200.

I think you will be impressed with the delta in comparison to your jet once you see it in person. There is a lot more to it than just 2" of bed width. The fence should be better quality, and it will have a lot more mass. I remember my 6" ridgid jointer would move a bit under larger boards. The delta was a much more stable platform. Subsequently moving on to a 12" machine and then 20" machine, made me appreciate the difference between mass/weight of each model.

The only downside is i remember the second or third board i went to face joint with the Delta was 8-1/4" or 8- 1/2". It chapped my rear a little that my new machine was routinely just a little too small. It resulted in me running the machine without a guard for the vast majority of the time i owned it. Not the safest practice in the world, but it sounds like you might be more comfortable with wasting 1/2-1" of the board before taking it to the jointer and face jointing it.

if you build furniture an 8" jointer will cover most of it.

Another G0490 (Delta DJ-20 clone) owner here. I found a 6" almost always too small and find the 8" almost always big enough. Funny that there is that sweet spot for some of us. The older DJ-20 came with a smaller motor but, at $900 I assume the one you are looking at is newer. The G0490X is a 3HP and seems to do fine with the insert head. My machine has done nothing but run since the original setup and alignment in 2008. I have used it 4 or 5 days a week ever since I got it.

The DJ-20 was the one that many folks coveted and other manufacturers were keen to clone. It was a good design and there are about a "billion" of them out there. Jointers are pretty simple machines so if the one you've identified is in decent condition and runs, it's a nice hunk of jointer.

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Originally Posted by Jarod Johnson

Hey all! I currently own a 6" Jet jointer upgraded with a shelix helical head. I bought it for maybe $700 a couple years ago and I've been wanting a little more capacity. Not necessarily width, but I'd like something longer. A Delta DJ-20 (8") came up for sale near me listed at $900 and I'm curious if any DJ-20 owners or others who upgraded from a 6" to an 8" can chime in on their experience. I'm pretty space (and budget!) limited so I'm not really looking for larger (10"-12") machines and I don't want to joint boards that wide anyways. I've got a good bandsaw setup for ripping stock before jointing. Thanks in advance!

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Actually I went from a 6" Jet with helical head to a DJ-20 and upgraded it with the Shelix head. I've been very pleased with it. When you have them side by side the difference in bed length is shocking. I added a mobile base and have zero regrets.

I made a living with a General 8" but six would not have worked. The 8 was replaced as one job always needed a jointer wider than 8" for what it was and most sensible way to do it. The bonus with getting larger was a 1,300 lb machine is just a different world cause of the head size and machine weight. Table length is skill dependant.

I have been quite happy with my Grizzly G490X. It's worked well. I did take time to remove the set screws from the pulleys and reinstall using blue Loc-Tite.

Make sure to allow for the fence to hang off the back when figuring if the machine will fit into your shop. I make a mobile base for my jointer so it is flush to the front and as deep as the fence when fully retracted. Any less width is not very stable.
Bill D

I went from a 6" Harbor Freight jointer to a 8" Jet jointer. The fence on the Jet would not stay perpendicular to the tables. A little bit of filing fixed the fence issue and it is a great jointer. I am not sure if I have ever used the full 8" width but I know for sure I love the extra table length. The longer tables make much shorter work of long boards.

I sold the 6" HF to a friend a decade or so ago and he still loves it. The fence on the HF isn't near as nice as the Jet but when you set the HF fence it stays put. Back when I bought the HF jointer about 25 years ago I should have just paid the extra $100 and got the 8" longer table version. I could never justify upgrading the HF 6" jointer until I inherited my fathers 8" Jet.

I had a Delta x5 short bed 6inch jointer. Found a DJ-20 for about that price. I love it, huge upgrade, shortly after getting it I made a butcher block counter for my shop, I don't think I could have did it with the 6in (the boards were long and big, I did multiple glueups of about 6 boards at a time, then jointer them to make sure flat/square/straight), I don't really care about the width, my main interest was 1st the DJ20 is a great looking jointer (lol) second the much longer bed, I think my infeed is longer then my old jointer, and the weight. On my old jointer when jointing bigger boards it would tip/rock, the DJ-20 is rock solid, mine came with a nice base ( I think the factory one) I put a Byrd head in it and its amazing. Everything I will need in a jointer probably forever.