JET JTS-250CS saw your advice

[davidc1075]

I may have the chance to buy a JET JTS-250CS nearly new (I am told unused) for £950. Is this good value for money or should I buy another saw. Your help would be gratefully appreciated as I don't want to spend this amount of money and later wish I had purchased something else. Would like to hear from anyone else who has got one. I have read good woodworking's review and tried to find other topic here but without luck.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi David

I have the Jet with the sliding table and it is an excellent saw.

Axminster were selling this saw at about the same price, brand new, late last year. Currently they are selling it at a higher price but giving about 200 pounds worth of kit.

I would offer, say 800, and if accepted I'd say you'd got yourself a bargain.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Scott]

I have the Jet with the sliding table and it is an excellent saw.

Same here

 

[davidc1075]

Hi Scott, are they cheaper in France or did you buy it in the uk.

 

[Scott]

Nah, bought it in UK. From what I can see machinery all seems to cost a fortune in France (what little of it you can find - they're not too hot in the online tool sales department!)

The Jet is a great saw. There are 2 or 3 people around that have the fixed left wing or have changed their sliding table for it but I like the sliding table

 

[Richard S]

David

I have had this saw for approx 10 months now and have just changed the sliding table for a fixed as I had some problems with the sliding table not holding its settings. This aside I have been really pleased with my purchase it is rock solid, has no vibration and dos everything I ask of it. As regards price I believe the CS model is the new one with full cabinet base APTC have this for £1295 with a free air cleaner but if you shop around you can get my model the 250s with half cabinet base for £995.
In deciding if the second hand one represents good value don't forget to factor in someone like APTCs excellent customer service should your saw develop a problem. Whichever way you go you will be getting a super bit of kit, just get a decent blade asap! If you want any more info ask away I be pleased to tell you anything I know.

Richard

 

[davidc1075]

Thanks Richard I had a look at APTC and saw no pun intended that they were doing an extractor which I needed a well. I agree that the difference between a second hand one all be it new isn't big enough so if I decide to get one will go for a new one with a guarantee from somewhere like APTC.

 

[jonny boy]

David,

I have also had the SS for about a year now and still think it is the best saw for the price. I would recommend the left fixed wing though as opposed to the sliding table (others may dissagree) but the amount of crosscut possible with it doesn't justify the ability to use tenoning jigs and mitre guides instead. I was very lucky and a very decent member of this forum, kindly sent to me a new blade arbor from the states version of the SS and I can now use a dado head as well, something that I would tell every SS saw owner to have shipped over. Take it from me David, on build standard, motor output power and value for money, you can do a lot worse than the SS.

cheers,
Jonathan.

 

[Richard S]

Jon

I too have been trying to source a US arbor for my saw, did you contact Jet (WMH) in the states I have sent them several e-mails recently but received no reply.I will have to try snail mail or work out the time difference and ring them. I think I have identified the part No as 200303.Do you know if this is correct? Did you need the arbor nut and flange as well or do the UK versions fit? Was it easy to fit? I have successfully used an old dewalt dado on my current set up but I can only get 5/16" onto the machined part of the arbor. How have you found the performance with a dado fitted? As an interim measure I have hung a router underneath an MDF table between the right hand fence rails and made a fence arrangement to fit over the Jet fence for a jerry rigged set up it is working quite well, I noticed earlier in the WMH website that Jet actually do a factory version of this arrangement. Sorry for all the questions but this has become something of an obsession recently.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

Regards

Richard

 

[jonny boy]

Hi Richard,

The arbor from the U.S. is identical in every respect to the one you have exept that the spindle itself is longer, 5/8inch in dia. and has a broad thread pattern instead of fine pitch. You get a flange and nut included with it. The bearings are also identical and fit perfectly. As reguards to fitting, I was expecting a time comsuming job and probably the use of a bearing puller tool but to my relief, I did the whole swap over in about 30mins and that was with taking care and and patience. It was a simple case of removing the blade pulley, removing the two retaining nuts and gently tapping the arbor out with a soft mallet. Certainly not a major job and not a job to be worried over.
The performance of the dado blade is exceptional, The speed of 4200rpm enables the blade to slice through the hardest of timbers with ease, even when using all the centre chippers. The one downside though is that due to UK saw blades being a standard 30mm bore, I now have to use a 5/8 reducing bush with normal blades. This has given me no real problems though and I now have the benifit of ordering U.S. 5/8 blades, probably better priced than ours anyway.

Feel free to ask any questions.

cheers,
jonathan.

 

[jonny boy]

By the way Richard,

I was actualy given mine free of charge from a member of this forum who had sent for the arbor but sold his saw before fitting it, so I can't really give any experience on sending for the thing but i'm sure it's not a problem to do so.

jon.

 

[Mdotflorida]

Hi Richard,

As Jon has said, I ordered the parts in anticipation of fitting the US arbor to my Jet SS. I then sold the saw and replaced it with an imported Unisaw.

I talked to Jet in the UK and they were not too helpful, which is understandable. WMH in the States would not send to me in the UK. They told me to contact Jet UK !!!

However, I got a friend who was working in the States at the time to order the parts for me, get them shipped to his address and then he shipped them over to me. It was really cheap. IIRC, in total the parts and shipping were less than £35. Although the only different part is the arbor itself, I ordered bearings in case I needed them.

If you have a contact in the States then it's a fairly simple process.

Jeff

 

[davidc1075]

Thanks for the replies I have a friend who has a house out there will get it sent there then he will bring it back next time he is over. Dave

 

[Mdotflorida]

Dave

I believe the nut and flange are separate items, so make sure you double check you order everything you require. It's pretty easy to just cross reference the part numbers on the WHM website against those in your manual.

Jeff

 

[Chippymint]

Hi Jonathon. I have the US arbour and bearings. When you fitted yours, you say you removed the blade pulley - do you mean the arbour pulley? Which direction did you remove the arbour by tapping out? Did the arbour come out leaving the bearings in place? Did you do this job with the motor assembly in the casing? When all in place and securing a blade, there must be a wider gap between the arbour flange and nut flange therefore did you have to make a wider distance piece/spacer if so what did you use? Sorry for lots of questions just trying to better understand the job before I tackle it. Cheers Steve