JET JWBS-16B 16-Inch 1-1/2 HP 1Ph 115-Volt Wood Band Saw

As I started to assemble the band saw I realized the wheels wouldn't turn. I initially thought there was some type of break applied, to them to keep them from turning during shipping, but I didn't see anything obvious holding any of the parts. I had limited time to work on it that evening and I decided I would continue with assembling the table before I stopped and would check out the problem when I could get back and finish working on it. A week later, when I got back to it, I had forgotten about the wheel problem, finished the assembly, and turned it on. Well, the wheels turned, but created an horribly loud noise, immediately reminding me of the problem. At least this time I was able to trace the friction created noise to the cover on the motor where the fan is. I removed it and discovered the housing was bent and was being scraped the fan blades, as they turned. It was evident that the cover had been bent before it was painted. I straightened it out so it no longer touched the blades and the problem was solved. I would think that somewhere along the process of assembling the motor or the saw that there would have been some inspection to see if any of it worked. So far, it now works well, but I am still waiting for the resawing fence to arrive. Okay, so now it is 3 months later, and I've had a lot more time to use the saw. It has been very nice to use. It cuts smooth, even and is remakably quiet for this size machine. It works equally well with the 1/4 inch blade as the 1" that it comes with. I added a light which helps a lot seeing my line, because the guide is more in my line of sight than with other saws I've used. I'm pretty short(5'2") and the low table hight is okay for me, but a person of average hight would probably want to put it on some sort of elevating base to be able to see and operate it more comfortably. I still have not recieved the fence and have OK'd a delay on delivery twice now. If it doesn't come by the end of April, like they said it should, I'm cancelling. Now it is 6 mos. later. Amazon could not get me the fence apparently, so I went on the Jet site to order it. I was not listed as an accessory for this size saw. They had one for the 14" model. I emailed them to ask about its availability and I haven't recieved an answer yet after a week. I will be disappointed if I cannot get one. I would have ordered a different saw if I thought that it was not a part I could get. Still think the saw's great when I don't need the fence- no problems.

I'm a skilled craftsman and wood worker. Of all the tools in my shop, the JET tools are the most unreliable. I bought a 16" JET and a 20" JET to replace a band saw that was about 20 years old. This older saw had to be replace because finding parts for it was becoming difficult and expensive. It's been over one year and the JET band saws have been a poor replacement. The blade guides do not hold true and need constant adjustment and have even needed to be replaced. The rip fence for the JET in flimsy and has fallen apart. The poor quality of these tools have caused many problems leading to lost work time and many frustrations. I will avoid purchasing tools from the WMH Tool group (JET, Wilton, Powermatic)in the future. Since they bought Powermatic the quality of the Powermatic line now is very different compared to my older Powermatic tools.

I bought this bandsaw because it was a really good deal. Set-up was easy. If the saw came with a good blade you could take the saw out of the box, tension the blade with a few turns of the wheel, set the blade guides and start using it. The saw is EXTREMELY quiet. The fence must be ordered separately and its value is acceptable. The hand-wheels are a bit small and make it annoying to adjust the guide height and blade tension. The blade that comes with the saw is TOTAL junk. I couldn't even re-saw a 4x4 block of walnut. The cut was crooked because the blade couldn't saw through the wood without bending. For now, I am assuming the blade is at fault and I have ordered a really nice Magnate woodsaver re-saw blade. I will update and give another star maybe two if the saw performs better later. UPDATE: After installing a new Magnate Woodsaver Re-saw blade the saw works amazingly. The difference a good blade makes for the saw is like night and day. It cuts through 2" of wenge with no problem at all. It almost begs for more. Another con for this saw is that Jet no longer produces the aftermarket ball-bearing roller blade guides. I tried to order them but it is a discontinued item. The European style blades guides that come with the saw seem to work fine but I wanted the upgrade. I found this saw for under $1000 with free shipping which ,(after using the saw) is a great value.

I'm a retired home woodworker who has been using a 25 year old Craftsman bandsaw and wanted to upgrade. Through circumstances, I got a deal on the Jet 16 inch that I could not refuse and am glad I didn't. I wanted to have the capability to resaw 10 inch boards and this seemed to be a better quality alternative to using an extender on a 14 inch model. I understand that saws using extenders have some flex and that this single piece unit does not. It comes with a 3/4 inch blade that does decent resawing. While I haven't tried 10 inch resawing yet, it did a nice job resawing oak to get 1/4 thick boards for use in boxes. Because of the course blade, the oak needed some jointing and sanding to finish but that is to be expected. I have not tried cutting veneer yet but I think it should do the job. Some points: o The carton weighs about 330 pounds and is full size because of the solid frame. You'll definitely need a helper to get it where you want it. o Putting it together is no big deal. Just clean off the protective gunk on the table, mount the table, base extension, fence and tune it up using standard bandsaw tuneup techniques. This is a one person job. o This model does not have the speed tension release used on the larger models. You have to turn the wheel to release the blade. This is not a problem for me but if you change blades a lot, you might want to consider the larger models. I have not yet seen an after market speed release for this saw. o The Euro style blade guides seem to work fine and are definitly better than metal blocks. All in all, I am well pleased with this saw. It is a solid piece of equipment capable of precision. UPDATE DEC. 2011 - After 2 years of use, I am quite pleased with this saw. To date, I have not noticed any significant blade drift when cutting using the fence set parallel to the blade. I did upgrade to a set of Carter roller bearing blade guides which I picked up at a woodworking show and they work great. The installation of the bottom set of bearings was a little confusing because the instructions were not clear. You need to flip the guide slide in the base 180 degrees. I have used the saw to slab walnut and cherry logs to its maximum capacity using a 1 inch 3 tpi blade and the results were very good. The 1.5 hp motor provides good power to cut the logs at a resonable speed. Using this same blade to cut 3/4 inch mdf stickers was like cutting butter with a hot knive. It can cut as fast as you feed the stock. I have also used the saw to cut curves and 1/16 inch thick veneer with a 3/8 inch blade with very good results. The saw is working as good as when it was new but it does not get "production" use.