opinions on jet 18" bandsaw (JWBS-18)

[Matt Ellis]

From doing a little research, it appears that this saw has been discontinued. It seems the major gripes are the lower guide adjustments. Anyone else have any opinions or first hand experience with this saw? One has shown up on my local CL for ~$600. Fair price, assuming it is in good condition? I have just about outgrown my rigid 14".

-matt

[Anthony Anderson]

Matt, for $600 I would jump on that. What is the major gripe of the lower blade guides? IIRC, it has both upper and lower bearing guides. Don't think too long or it will be gone. I was looking at this exact bandsaw at my local tool store the other day, and it was on the floor for $1200-$150 rebate= $1050, + tax it is over $1100. I wish I could find that saw for that price. Good Luck, Bill

[Jim Becker]

Jet is in process of releasing a new line of "big" band saws with a triangular spine, so that might explain any discontinued stock being available. But the one on CL may also be one of the originals...they have had two or three generations prior to "now". The earlier machine did suffer from complaints about power and perhaps the guides...I don't recall specifically. Resaw height was also less than desired. Some of that was "fixed" in later versions as far as I know, so "what generation" saw makes a difference.

Note that at $600 your not a huge amount of money under the "new" cost of a Grizzly G0513 series, however, and that one has gotten great comments.

[Harold Beck]

Matt,

I have had one of the later configurations of the saw for about 3-4 years now. You can tell how old by the type of guides. The last version had roller guides, the version before had guides that looked like a disc that pressed the flat against the blade and rotated (IIFC they were called European style) and the early models had blocks. I have had one rear guide that runs on the back edge of the blade go bad and it was about $8 to replace from the local bearing supplier.

Setting the lower guides is problematic. I usually remove the table and set the goudes with plenty of room each time I change the blade. Resaw height is ~10' and has never been a problem as I use the saw, but if it is a concern to you it could be. It also dowsn't have a blade brake and while it wasn't important to me when I was shopping, I sure miss it now.

Bottom line is that I use mine fairly extensively as I don't own a table saw. I rip a lot of stock for either thinner stock or for scroll saw stock. I also make a bunch of Shaker Oval boxes every Xmas for my wife to package presents in. I haven't had much power trouble, but the widest I have resawn is about 8". When I have it all setup and adjusted correctly it will resaw 6" wide stock with no noticable drift.

I have found mine to be a good middle of the road user and the capacity above a 14" saw really helped smoothness and noise.

HB