Upgrading My Shop Question

[Jim dePrado]

I have a chance to upgrade my shop and I wanted to get some opinions before I made any purchases....

A coworker of mine wants to sell me his Unisaw and DJ-20 for $2300. The Uni comes with an Excalibur overarm blade guard, 52" Biesemeyer fence, right extension table and rear extension table. They both come with mobile bases. They are both in excellent condition.

To be able to afford this, I would have to sell my existing Jet 10 JWCS. It has a 2HP motor and is blue in color. It has the Penn State overarm blade guard, mobile base, 52" Biesemeyer fence, both right and rear extension tables (both homemade). I would also sell my 6" Jet Jointer JJ-CSX. The jointer would come with two new set of knives and a mobile base. The third thing I would like to sell is my Delta 16-32. It comes with a HTC mobile base and about a half dozen rolls of new sandpaper.

All tools are in great shape. What do you think I could get for the package? I would like to get $1700. Would you think this is reasonable? Do you think that $2300 is good for a Uni and a DJ-20?

Thanks for any inputs,

Jim

[Rob Russell]

Jim,

You may not want to hear this, but I question what you'd gain by upgrading from the Jet cabinet saw to the Unisaw. Don't get me wrong - I had a Unisaw for a decade (a Rockwell Unisaw) and it's a great saw. I just don't see what you'd gain by going to it, especially given what you have on the Jet for options and upgrades.

The DJ-20 is a nice jointer and that would be an upgrade from your existing 6".

I guess I'd be interested to know why you want to upgrade. I went from a Unisaw, DJ-20 and 12" lunch box planer to big combo equipment. Big step in capabilities, but also with a big pricetag. You're talking about spending (if you can get your prices) $600 to go from one tricked out cabinet saw to another tricked out cabinet saw, a better jointer and you give up your sander.

In my case, the ability to easily handle sheet goods was a factor (saw/shaper has a sliding table). I have access to wide boards and wanted to be able to process them without ripping/reglueing, so that was part of my justification for a wide jointer/planer. I have a lot of millwork coming and wanted machinery I could easily setup to run thousands of feet of stuff though - quickly. There was also definitely an "I want to" factor.

So - what is it about your current machinery that you don't like? What types of work are you trying to do where you are limited by your tools? Unless you're unhappy with the sander, why swap it out?

I realize that I'm asking more questions than giving answers, but they may help you get answers to your questions.

Rob

[Jim Becker]

I'm in agreement with Rob on this. Only the jointer is an upgrade.

[Tim Sproul]

Jim,

The DJ-20 is a nice jointer and that would be an upgrade from your existing 6".

Yeah, but a wholly unnecessary upgrade.

When I want a wide, single panel board, 8 inches still isn't going to do it. The longer infeed bed length is nice, but unnecessary. I have the Jet 6 inch jointer and have no problems edge jointing 8 foot long board on it. I use a circular saw and plywood cutting jig (straight edge guide) to cut a straight line on a long board. Then joint it......if I really want a nice edge, I use my #7 instead of the power jointer.