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READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. The standard is the DeWalt planner stand. I did buy a universal stand to move it around, but it seems hokey. Either it is an end of year clearence, or a new model is coming.This is assemble yourself. At 320 bucks shipped, a very good deal.
Do wish Delta would design wheels etc into it integrally, it would not be that much more difficult or expensive. Down from about $410. You do need help lifting and turning this puppy. The one reviewer that did not find it easy to assemble, IMO, I don't think had much experience or mis-read the instructions. The parts do come covered in grease and need to be cleaned.As other reviews indicate, fairly straight forward to assemble.
The only feature which seems to be missing is a cup holder.The only problem I had was a broken cover plate on the side of the motor. I never found where they went.The jointer works great, and is very accurate. The fence was slightly off of perpendicular to the table, but again, easy to adjust. It came partly adjusted. The jointer was not packed well, the styrofoam packing blocks in the carton were considerably damaged when I got it. I noticed that the knife guard also seems to act as kickback resistance.
If I drop a small part during assembly, the shop floor is sort of a black hole, and the part is never seen again. It wouldn't hurt for Delta to pack an extra bolt and screw of each size, just in case. After contacting Amazon, Delta shipped a new motor. I swapped the cover plates, and returned the motor, all at their expense. The motor was able to move in the box which is probably how the cover plate got broken. I found this jointer to be reasonably easy to assemble, adjust, and use.It would have been easier for me to assemble by myself if it were not as heavy, but now I'm glad it's heavy. The parts bag had exactly the number of bolts and screws required for assembly which is sometimes a problem for me.
I had a few lock washers left over when I was finished with assembly. The knives were parallel to, but considerably below the outfeed table. Maybe all modern jointers are this way, but my old jointer (circa 1950) did not have this feature. However, it was no problem at all to adjust the outfeed table height to precisely the height of the knives. I went back through the assembly instructions looking for the location where I was supposed to have used them. I was very pleased with the way it was handled by both Amazon and Delta. The length of the table is a plus, but the tool does not seem to take up too much room in the shop.
You'll then be able to hook your shop vac up to the dischage outlet. The table and fence, in fact most surfaces are covered in protective grease. Cuts are smooth and clean. As to performance, I found this jointer to be exceptional. The joints were perfect and glued up seamlessly.
Don not try to handle anything more than sub assemblies alone. Even then a second pass was all that was needed to clean the edge back off. Its simply too heavy. The only time I noticed any snipping was when I rushed a board through the cutters in my excitement or ran the board through backwards against the grain.
I received the unit yesterday morning and immediately opened the package spreading its contents across my work bench. Also, unless you have a centralized dust collection system with a 4 inch hose get the adapter. Its easily removed from the table and fence with a paint scraper and a cloth. I couldnt have been happier.I would recommend getting the mobil base unless your certain its going to be sitting in one place a long time. This is a real piece of machinery so familiarizing yourself with everything about it is essential. The high rating and big savings combined to make it a very attractive offer. I spent most of the morning running boards through it for a cabinet project im working on. It took me about 2 hours to assmeble the unit alone having wrangled one of my teenage sons into helping me place the table assembly on the work bench.
I read quite a few reviews before finally purchasing this jointer. Once on the floor of my workshop I grabbed a chair and went about cleaning and adjusting everything. Mineral spirits work well wiping off all the hand prints and remaining grease. The one thing that stood out most in my mind from reading the reviews was "Read the instructions" Sound advice.
Its vibration free, probably due to the weight and it hums along very nicely when running. This is a serious piece of equipment. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. A very pleasant surprise.
The out feed table adjusted easily and i found the cutter dead on right out of the package.
After "assembling" I tried to align the outfeed table to the blades. I'm too tired and frustrated. Problems started right from the beginning during the assembly.The stand is not square so when attaching the main unit to the base using 3 provided screws I was able to put only 2. I hope Delta have some kind of service. There's no way to square this thing. I don't know what other surprises awaiting me when I will wrestle with the fence - but not tonight. I can turn the adjusting wheel back and forth but table doesn't move.
For the third one the holes don't align. Surprise. I bought this jointer today brand new at Lowe's and it is on warranty. It is about 1/8" higher than the blades.
I am very pleased with the ease of operation and the level of performance from this machine. There are few frills, but it has what is needed with no corners cut to do a clean, job. There is none of the kit or lower quality shakiness in any of the aspects of the machine. Just no nonsense high quality efficiency.
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