DELTA JT160 Shopmaster 10 Amp 6-Inch Benchtop Jointer

The results are nothing less than excellent for my furniture building projects. Very few machining marks left on qs white oak boards and they were easily sanded off by hand. Little tear out on burled walnut and qs white oak. By my standards this machine turns out perfectly square boards for furniture making. As with most machines you will get the best results by making several shallow cuts on your stock versus making one or two deep cuts.

UPDATE!

I had some problems with wood accumulating under the blades which caused uneven planing. When I went to remove the blades the bolts holding them down were stuck (factory installed bolts). I tried everything to get them out and even drilled out one bolt and the easy-out broke while I tried to back the bolt out! Customer support was helpful and sent new parts UPS and they arrived in a few days but the hassle was too great for a [money] machine. Cuts are now good again.


Delta Bench Jointer   August 3, 2007
J. OBrien (Florida)
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

After much consternation and review I bought a Delta Bench top Jointer. I read the many reviews which most were negative. However, my needs were for a small jointer which I could easily move as I have a very small work space, so I decided to take the plunge. My observations follow:

Fence: The reviewers were correct the fence is poorly engineered. However, mine was flat and straight. Setting the fence square the table took about 20 minutes most of which was spent getting acquainted. I was able to get it square by setting the fence on the table, tightening the fence bracket somewhat and finishing with the adjustment screw and then tighten the fence bracket fully. My fence is square to the table. I will never use the tilt option. It is easier to use the table saw for this type of cut.

Table: Using a straight edge I could not find any uneven spots on the table. It appears to be flat enough for my use and standards.

Chip and Dust Chute: There were many comments about poor chip disposal. I read one review were where the jointer was placed on the end of the work bench with a trash can directly under the chip chute. I used this idea and attached an "S" hook under the chip Chute and hanged a bucket under it. I did extend the top of the bucket by fitting a piece of cardboard to the top of the bucket. 95% of the chips fell into the bucket. There was less clean up than my vacuum assisted router table.

Cutter Head Knives: Mine were set correctly. I have not tried to move the set screws as I believe "if it is not broke don't fix it". I will worry about that when it becomes time to change the cutter knives.

Jointing and Face Planning: I was able to joint and face plane a 36" board with ease. I face planned a 5 3/4" board with no problems. I did discover that the wider the board the more speed you need. I use the 1/32 inch setting for all my jointing and face planning.

Overall I am very satisfied with the tool. If your needs are similar to my with limited space and a tool which you can move with ease, then I don't think you can't wrong with the Delta Bench Jointer. However, if you are in the Norm Abrams class of wood worker don't waste your money- buy a full size jointer.

I have since changed the blades. I was worried due to reports of how tight the bolts. I used a socket hex and rachet. The bolts were tight but came out with a little effort.


Delta ShopMaster 6" Benchtop Jointer   November 30, 2006
The Bird Man (Franktown, CO)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I borrowed this unit from a friend of mine and really liked how it cut for what I needed. This unit is in Delta's ShopMaster line of product. The same product, but I believe an earlier model, is the 37-070R which is a reconditioned unit. Same unit, but the reconditioned unit will be a bit cheaper and reconditioned units will only come with a 1yr warranty instead of 2yrs.

I have read dozens of reviews on this machine. Though most of them were positive, some would not recommend this machine for reasons of bad customer service from Delta, in-feed and out-feed tables not level, and fence problems. Delta Customer Service was extremely good! I know what good & bad customer service is as I spent 20yrs with HP in customer service.

A yellow sheet of paper comes with all Delta products saying if you have questions or concerns DO NOT contact who you purchased it from, but call Delta at 800-223-7278. I had two problems; one that the "plastic shoe", part of the guard assembly, was broken and two the in-feed & out-feed tables were not both square with the fence. They are going to ship me the plastic shoe and I should get it in the next couple days. The gal I talked to at Delta said a service technician would call me back right away on my other problem. It took four minutes for a call back.

Fred at Delta (thanks Fred!) talked me through how to level the in-feed table so I could get it square with the fence as it was about 1/16" off when the out-feed table was square. This took about 5 minutes. Using pieces of aluminum foil for shims under the in-feed table on one side to get it square with the fence was very simple to do. I was able to square the fence in about 15 minutes. You don't want to adjust the out-feed table as it is much harder to deal with.

This unit cuts perfectly and is intended for small (less then 3' in my opinion) lengths of material. If you need to work with longer lengths of material then buy a full size jointer. Though if you supported the weight of your material using roller stands on both sides of the jointer I would guess you will get some good results.

Another tip I use is to put a few drops of dry lube (a wet lube will work also but wet lubes attract dust) between the fence slide bracket and the fence bracket so when you need to adjust the fence it moves easily. When you have aluminum trying to slide on aluminum it tends to bind a little. I'm not sure if Delta would recommend this, but it works well for me.

Thanks Delta!

The Bird Man
Professional Woodworker
Franktown, CO