15 Amp 13 in. Benchtop Corded Planer with Helical Style Head, JWP-13BT

I purchased this machine January of 2022. Shipped directly to my home packaged well.set up was easy, need to take time with in feed and out feed tables. It cuts smoothly and the depth adjustment was accurate. I have run countless lengths of oak through this Machine. Sometimes as long as 10 foot. The lumber was old oak barn wood 7 inches wide by 1 1/4 thick. This machine held up good. I was very impressed with the power and quality of the cut. The only complaint I have is the screws hold the cutters. Given the amount and condition of the wood they lasted longer than I expected. They definitely get heavy damage from contact with a nail, as I would expect. The screws holding the cutters are 3 mm Allen head. The tool that is supplied strips easy. If you are going to flip or replace the cutters I recommend remove the cutter head from the machine and use a good quality Allen socket. The screws are so tight a hammer /driver must be used. The cutter head can be quickly removed. Overall great machine.

Purchased this a few weeks ago and wanted to share my thoughts on this machine. First off, for the amount of wood I process, I should have a much larger planer. My buddy has a powermatic 15” with shelix head which is amazing but I have no possible way to crowbar such a large machine in my spaghetti factory of a wood shop. I need something with a portable form and have used the DeWalt for 13 years. I settled on this because of the factory installed “ helical “ head. I know it’s not a true shelix (as you can see from the photo) but I didn’t want to upgrade my old machine due to its age and the jet is a few bills cheaper then a new DeWalt plus aftermarket cutterhead. Out of the box the in feed and out feed table needed slight adjustment. Other reviewers online have mentioned snipe as a problem. I believe that table adjustment might not have been done as both tables came from factory bowed down which will give heavy snipe. As you can see from the photo I uploaded the snipe is minimal. But you have to adjust tables to a slight upward bow on both infeed and outfeed. and also very important is not to be removing a ton of material your last couple passes The DeWalt planer and powermatic 15” helical head planer and the Jet all have some degree of snipe. I have been a woodworker for 25+ years and have never seen a planer produce no snipe. I would say the powermatic was worse due to it having a wider area of snipe where the lunchbox planers are about 2”. This machine is much more quiet than the DeWalt and was able to plane 160 board feet of white oak in about half the time as the DeWalt. The reason why is with the segmented blade I was able to take 1/16” off at a pass where the DeWalt could only handle about 1/32” or often 1/64 with some really wide boards. Comparing results with a true helical head the Jet has a finer finish with no scallops but is more prone to tear out than a true shelix. On highly figured wood I had to go slow feed speed and reduce cut depth. I also like the dust collection going out of center as you can put an elbow on to the direction that works best for you. The cutter head is off plane by a about a hundredths of an inch over the 12” which is about the same as the DeWalt. Not enough of a concern for any panel I have ever glued up. One cool feature as shown in photo, is the ability to insert a 4mm hex wrench into the side of the machine and manually turn the cutter head and rollers. This aids greatly to clean rollers and inspect blades without having to tear the machine apart. One important thing to do before firing this machine up is inspect the cutters as I did have some they were not torqued properly at the factory and may have had some serious problems if not inspected prior to use. As for negatives I wish it had longer tables and the right side thumb screw to remove the cutterhead cover has an electrical cord attachment which makes access difficult. I would have given 5 stars if not for these couple issues

So far so good, very quiet compared to my 30 year old surface planer. Smooth and no snipe . Wish it was a true helix but I like my jet tools.

As expected , well made. Long term assessment pending.

Setup the planer and started to run first board through it. Got about 16" through before the motor stopped and wouldn't start again. Tried the reset and all other troubleshooting options, nothing worked. Had to return it.

Operates smoothly and effectively. Have run a bunch of walnut and hard maple through and very happy with the results.

I really like the Planer but was disappointed that after a week of use Instarted to get a rattle noise. Called Jet support. Very responsive. It is now in getting the rollers replaced as they must have had bad bearings. Hopefully the repair takes care of this as the planer works well.

Cuts very good and clean, there is a lot of snipe though. Very fast and smooth cuts. Would be a 5 star review if the snipe wasn’t so bad. And I have adjusted the table as best as it can be and can’t get rid of it.

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