JET BLACK 14-Inch Woodworking Bandsaw, 1-3/4 HP, 115/230V 1Ph (Model JWBS-14SFX-BLK)

Came missing eight bolts that are used for assembling the base, pretty important. Other than the 30 day de-live-Erie, the bandsaw seems to be top notch, I love it. If you don’t have a hoist or Arnold Schwarzenegger to help getting the unit onto the base, then that portion could be challenging. The setup process seemed lengthy, but thorough and well worth the effort because you know everything will be exact. It does not come with a blade, that’s kinda important also. It doesn’t come with a miter gauge, and it doesn’t come with a light, but it’s a high quality machine and I’m driving it to work on Monday.

Have used this on several projects and it works great. Wish I had purchased it sooner. Be sure to order the mobile base for this unit. Well worth the money!

Well made and what you would expect from Jet. The dual dust ducts are great if you have the fittings it takes to couple them to a 4” dust extractor. You should really have a Y splitter and a length of flexible hose to couple the dust extraction from both ports. It’s quite heavy so recommend taking time and making room ahead of delivery.One (minor) flaw i found was when setting up the tension pointer the 2 button head cap screws were 3mm hex drive, but should be the deeper 4mm socket head screws to prevent stripping the hex drive of the screw. They were in extremely tight. I ended up dremel cutting a slot to use a flat head screwdriver. No biggie but noted.Excellent table and fence, lots of good setup videos out there too (ref. “Snodgrass”).Great to rip laminates with a sturdy fence up to 13” high.

This is the first time I ever wrote anything about anything.I bought this bandsaw to downsize my current shop. I have been using a Delta 20” bandsaw for the last 30 years, so this bandsaw has a big hole to fill.1. The bandsaw delivery was on schedule except it was scheduled for 1 – 5 pm and it was delivered about 11:50 am. I wasn’t there and so it was left outside the garage door .Not a big deal. My friend and I moved it to the shop.2. Assembly went quite smooth. The directions call for assembling the stand and then hoisting the bandsaw onto the stand. This was not practical for us, so we assembled the stand and then attached it to the bandsaw while the bandsaw was still lying horizontal on the polystyrene packing.Then we tipped it upright, a relatively easy task (for the 2 of us, a younger person could probably do it alone) ..After that we just tipped it a bit and installed the rubber feet.3. Since the bandsaw didn’t come with a blade, we had to wait a day or so before powering up..4. I used the default wiring connection for 120V.5. I’d recommend getting some T handled allen wrenches or else long handled ones (2.5 mm, 3 mm, 5mm, 6mm,. This eases up the adjustments for the blade guides.6. The most important thing I found was the light power receptacle. When you plug in a light you have to turn the light on manually in addition to turning on the bandsaw. Then when you turn off the bandsaw you need to turn off the light.This didn’t seem acceptable.So I decided to rewired the connections to put the light on the switched side of the switch.At the same time I replaced the Chinese power switch with a standard 2 Pole switch (see the attached picture).I also replaced the light receptacle with a duplex outlet ( see attached pic) One is for the light and one is for the vacuum.Also replaced the wiring from the switch to the light receptacle with 16-2 w/g SJOW cable.Now I have 2 outlets to use that are both synchronized with the power switch, and with higher ampacity..7. I mounted a light to the 4 mounting holes provided. They are tapped for 5mm-.8 pitch, but you can use 10-32 hardware instead of the metric ones. I mounted a block of wood to the 4 mounting holes and then mounted the light fixture to the wood bracket.8. Also mounted on the wood bracket is the wood bracket to hold the 5 allen wrenches.Seems like this could have been incorporated in the design somehow.9. The bandsaw seems to cut well, but it seems a bit nosier than my 20” Delta, but it’s not objectionable.10. The blade tensioning table, visible when you open the upper door, goes up to 1”, and the manual says ¾” is the max. Don’t know what to make of that.11. This literature for the bandsaw states that the table and the trunnions are cast iron.I don’t think so… The bottom trunnion appears to be aluminum, and the upper trunnions (2 brackets ) appear to be stamped steel.The table is cast iron.This does not seem to inhibit the operation or the quality of the cutting.12. I think the blade guides seem to be easily adjustable. The upper ones are easier, but the lower ones take a bit longer but not much.13. The bandsaw does not come with a miter slide. My current miter slides seem to fit except for a very slight hangup halfway thru, about the location of the table groove.14. The table groove seems to be slightly off level as the wood seems to hang up on the cut edge of the slot when feeding. You have to nudge it a bit when the wood gets there.15. I plan on switching to the 240 V connection some time in the near future.16. Regarding #14 above.... I realized that turning the alignment pin on the front of the table solves the problem. If you just push in the pin, that may not be enough. Try turning and pushing a bit and then check the table alignment at the groove... It worked for me.17. I didn't like the way the fence locking mechanism worked. You needed to lower the handle to lock it in.I found this annoying as every time you want to move the fence, you had to raise the lever to loosen it from the rail. I took apart the fence locking mechanism and removed the pin (pressed in) . Then I removed the lift knob and rotated it 180. Put it back together (driving the pin in ).Now the fence locking mechanism works by raising the handle to lock the fence. And it stays loose when down so it's easy to move.18. I found that the height of the fence was to high for most of my work, so I removed it and the locking screws. I used a piece of 1/2 " particle board and mounted in on the aluminum holding bar using 1/4 -20 flathead screws countersunk into the particle board.You could also re orient the factory fence to a low height but that limited the available working space.19. After about 1 month of usage, the blade (Jet 116" x 5/8") broke (not at the weld). The blade was sharp and cut good, but .... still broke.When I installed a new Jet blade (5/8' width) , I could not get the tension pointer to reach 5/8 on the markings.I called Jet and we discussed the situation, and they said "you need to use a blade tensioner to set the blade tension". And they also said " the tension scale is not accurate, and you need to calibrate it using a tension gage" . I checked on the tension gage and the are about $100-400. So I just tightened it to about a "feel" tension.So that's the story on the tension gage.

My old Craftsman bandsaw “gave up the ghost” after 40 years and decided on a bandsaw capable of resawing as well as accurate bandsaw tasks. Very well built and relatively easy to assemble. Highly recommend!

This is a great bandsaw. It's quite, and smooth running. It is however very heavy. The rip fence is sturdy and gives perfec guided cuts.

The delivery was on time and I received several notifications regarding the timing. The crew placed it exactly where I asked.The assembly was fairly easy and it was packed well. I was a bit concerned buying a big tool from Amazon but there were no issues and I would do it again.The saw is heavy and you assemble it on its side. I was prepared to ask for help standing it up so as not to bend the platform whitch is stamped steel. I was able to raise the bottom and support it with 6 or 7 2x6s under the cast frame. I then lifted from the top and it stood right up with no assistance.I have just made a few test cuts but the saw is well powered and cuts well. This replaces an old 1hp bandsaw and there is no comparison. If considering a smaller hp model I would recommend you go big.

I received this bandsaw a couple of months ago now and can i say i really like it. Shipping took a while, and getting it into by shop was somewhat difficult due to weight and my low door way. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the bandsaw i received was updated with no tool guide adjusters and several other features that i had noticed complaints about when researching the saw. The saw is nicely painted, heavy, square and cuts very nice. Set up was not bad, and in a couple of hours from starting i had it up and running and tested it out. I have not cut all that much with it since purchasing, but what i have cut has been great. I really like the tool less adjusters on the blade guides, and they also have dual bearings on all guides. Table is perfectly square and flat and heavy and adjusts easily in different positions. I put the saw on a build it yourself bear crawler from grizzly and it works great as well. I am really glad i bought this saw and not a cheaper one from another company, super stable, pretty quiet and very well made.