Jet 7" x 12" Bandsaw - First Impressions

Tmate

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I used to have a Jet 9" x 16" horizontal bandsaw that I was very pleased with. I sold it when I retired, and have been making do with my little 4" x 6" Dayton saw for a number of years. I don't have the space in my garage for another large saw, and decided to go with a Jet Model 414559 7" x 12" saw. I wanted to have at least a 3/4" blade.

The saw came by truck with a lift gate, and the driver put the crate in my garage with a pallet jack. We removed the top of the crate and plastic, which the driver took with him. I attached a come along to the end of my car lift and raised the saw enough to remove the skid and mount the included wheels.

The instructions and illustrations weren't much good, but the only assembly required was adding the wheels and belt guard. I swapped out the blade for a Lenox bi-metal blade before using the saw.

As it turned out, the saw was perfectly adjusted by the factory, and it was pretty much just plug and play. They provided a sample cut, which was a .070" thick wafer cut from a 2" cold roll round bar. I was dubious that it was really cut with that saw, and did an initial cut for comparison. I had no CR round larger than 1" so I used that. Surprisingly, my first cut with the saw looked just as good as their sample. It was .070" thick and varied about .002" in thickness from side to side. Their larger cut varied about .005". The cut took slightly longer than my old 9" x 16" saw, but was about 10 times quicker than my 4x6.

So far, I'm quite satisfied which my purchase, and amazed that the thing could be manufactured in Taiwan, shipped across the world, and sold through a distribution chain for under $1,400. I guess that's what fifty cents an hour labor does.
 

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That’s the same one I have.
Properly adjusted yeah, it’s a nice saw.
I love the flood coolant.
 
It looks like a good steady down feed. Here's a picture of a 2 3/4" diameter piece of 6061 aluminum that was cut as the oil in the hydraulic dampening cylinder on my Startrite H175 saw was getting a bit low. The top of the cut is at the right hand side. Note that the striations get farther apart going from right to left. As the oil in the cylinder diminishes the blade feeds down faster.
 

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I haven't tried using coolant yet. The cut quality seems ok without it, and with the amount of cutting I do, blade wear isn't an issue. I'm considering doing without it, at least for a while.

When I had the big saw I used coolant for a year or so. Then I got tired of cleaning up the mess and stopped using it. I didn't notice any difference in cut quality. Again, my usage wasn't great enough for blade wear to be a problem.
 
While my saw has coolant capacity I've never used it. Blades last between 2 and 3 years at a minimum with daily use. I hate the smell of rancid coolant, and the blades seem to last long enough without it. At $45.00 a gallon for coolant it's more than the cost of a replacement blade. Just not having to deal with coolant makes an extra blade every few years worth it.

I use bimetal blades from Ellis Manufacturing.
 
Jet builds some nice equipment, I've had a saw like yours for 21 years, I like the new color.
 
Well maybe I’ll try it without coolant.
I’m not a big fan of the mess either
 
I know you won't be needing this for a while, but, The blade guide bearings on my saw are the same as used on skateboard wheels. much cheaper at the skateboard shop than the bearing supply house.
 
I have the same saw but it is badged as Central Machinery. I bought it from Harbor Freight back around 2004. Made in Taiwan. It has been a great saw.
 
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