Jet JPT-310 Planer/Thicknesser.

[Chippyjoe]

Hi everyone,

I am in the market for another P/T.
Having looked on e-bay for a few weeks and getting beat, or they are too far away it looks like it is going to have to be a new one

My local tool shop (Horsford for the locals) are running a really good deal on the Jet JPT-310.

I have never considered the Jet P/T and open to any other suggestions.
Does anyone on here own the above,and if so what is it like?
Any feedback on this will be much appreciated.

Mark.

 

[wizer]

I have the JPT-260 and my good friend and fellow forum member MarkW has a 310. I bought mine after seeing Mark's in action. It's the best piece of machinery I've ever bought. There isn't anything negative I can say about it. I've waxed lyrical about it on here many many times. It's No1 feature is the ease of flipping between modes. Milliseconds.

 

[WellsWood]

Yep. What he said! 8)

 

[billw]

I quite liked the look of the 310 - but is it £300 better than the 260?

 

[Chippyjoe]

Thanks Tom and Mark for the info.

Looks a possibility,unless something comes up here or on the bay.

One can hope

Mark.

 

[WellsWood]

I quite liked the look of the 310 - but is it £300 better than the 260?

The 310 has adjustable outfeed as well as infeed tables, which the 260 doesn't. This makes honing the knives in-situ feasable as you can then tweak the table relative to the knives to eliminate snipe etc.
Is this and the extra 2" worth £300? Hmm... honestly couldn't say. When the 260 first became available I seem to remember the price difference was nearer £500, and had it been around when I bought my 310 I reckon it would have been a no brainer, but in all my tool purchases (and there have been many :roll: ) the only regrets I've ever had is not spending the extra for the better item. Now that the price gap has closed I don't think it would take long for that regret to set in - but that's me.

 

[wizer]

It's worth it. I've glued up 8 panels in the last couple of weeks and every one of them has bowed on me. Get as much width as you can afford!

 

[billw]

The one thing that always put me off was the hassle of switching between the P and T but your posts seem to suggest that with either machine it's not really an issue at all.

 

[wizer]

It's stupidly simple to change between modes. Unlock the tables, pull them up and flip over the dust hood. That's it. Go.

 

[Escudo]

Hello Mark,

Out of interest what is the offer on the JPT 310?. This seems a well respected machine.

Cheers, Tony.

 

[WellsWood]

Hello Mark,

Out of interest what is the offer on the JPT 310?. This seems a well respected machine.

Cheers, Tony.

Well respected with good reason IMO, they are both very good bits of kit indeed.
No offer I'm aware of Tony, but since its release the 260 has gone up in price quite a bit whereas the 310 is still pretty much the same price, so the gap has closed.
Just checked Axminsters prices and the difference is £400 not £300 as OP suggested - still £100 more than this time last year though I believe.

 

[Chippyjoe]

Well Tony,

the offer is £1100 inc vat,and also a free Digital thickness display.
Seems like a good buy to me.

Mark.

 

[miles_hot]

if this thing is so easy to flip between modes (and believe me I'm not doubting it) why do people point to separate machines as the nivarna if you have space?

Thanks

Miles

 

[Digit]

Not all PTs are easy to change from one configuration to the other Miles, trust me!

Roy.

 

[Escudo]

Mark that offer looks very tempting, a saving of over £300. Is it a general offer or just a special for you?

Is the machine new or a demo model in their shop?

Hmmm, very tempted to upgrade from my scheppach for the Jet.

Tony.

 

[wizer]

if this thing is so easy to flip between modes (and believe me I'm not doubting it) why do people point to separate machines as the nivarna if you have space?

Thanks

Miles

It's marginally more convenient to have separates if you have the room. If I won the lottery then, of course, I'd have separates. But you really are only saving seconds over having the Jet P/T.

 

[WellsWood]

One other thing needs to be said here about changing modes that has so far been neglegted, and it's probably the main advantage separates have over a combi: the thicknessing bed has to be wound down far enough to allow the dust chute to be swung over. This means that if you have a whole load of stock to thickness to the same size a little forward planning is in order. If you suddenly need to surface or edge a piece mid-run you have to reset the thicknessing cut when you come back to that mode.

In practice though this just isn't the issue fans of separates would have you believe. I can't speak for other machines (but I've no reason to suspect they'd be substantially different) but once my Jet had been calibrated, the thickness setting is completely repeatable to an accuracy of around 0.01mm, even without the digital readout (which is an unnecessary gadget and no more accurate that the standard scale anyway). Given that Wizer is correct when he says it takes seconds to change modes - and that includes winding the table up/down - It's hardly a major inconvenience.

Just to finish this off there is one other thing the Jet does which is a substantial advantage over most PTs with lift up tables: the fence stays put. Unlike others, because both tables lift simultaneously there is no need to remove the fence and find a home for it (with the associated risk of damage) when thicknessing. Like this:

I really can't recommend it highly enough it is a brilliant peice of kit, and Jet's after sales service is superb to boot. If you can get a 310 for £1100 with or without the digital whotsit, take his arm off. Trust me, you won't regret it.

 

[Escudo]

Mark just a quick question, how low does the thicknessing bed have to go in order to flip the dust chute over?

On my scheppach I have to lower to around 17 cm. The winding mechanism is highly geared and I find that I am continually moving this up to say 2 cm and then back down again.

£1,100 seems a good price. Although, I will need a bigger workshop as you will appreciate. (I have a plan on that front)

Cheers, Tony.

 

[wizer]

The 260 is around 16cm. I think it's slightly more on the 310 but neither is an issue for me. I've never had the problem you talk of by going up and down. I can wind it down to it's 'parked' position in less than 5 secs.

 

[woodbloke]

I've been looking at the Jet's as well. Initially I wanted a 310 but then looked more realistically at the 260, both of which seem very good machines. I had a look at Charnwood clone of the Axminster p/t at Yandles back in April and I like that one as well (Olly's got the version with the Al fence) but I was slightly dismayed to see that the cast iron fence has to be completely removed to turn it into the thicknessing mode. When it was demod to me there didn't seem to be too much hassle to remove it though. Nevertheless, for £650ish notes it's got to be a decent p/t and a lot less than the Jet260, so the saving would be quite something, 'specially as I'll be replacing all my machinery [-o< in one hit - Rob