Price of a used Jet Planer

[Bob Davis]

My trusted dealer has a used Jet planer for sale. It belonged to one of his customers that has a reputation for "babying" his tools. I failed to take the model number because my interest was casual when I saw it on Saturday. But the interest is growing. He says its about the equivalent of the 15" industrial planer that Jet sells for $1200-$1300. Its painted the old Jet industrial blue color and sits on a semi-open stand. It looks very, very heavy duty. Anyway, the asking price is $600. Of course there is no warranty. The best I would get is the trust I place in the owner of this shop that its in good shape and working properly.

The price seems about right. Its more planer than I would buy new. I tend to buy tools that are in the mid range between advanced home user and industrial quality.

Any comments? Is anyone familiar with this planer?

Bob

[Edwin Pawlowski]

My first time using a planer was the Jet 15" Given that it is about $100 more than a new 12 or 13 inch that is much lighter duty, I'd grab it. Worst case scenario is a new set of blades and maybe a motor down the road. Still a nice piece of iron. Ed

[Chris Merrill]

I try to shoot for the same market niche. I can't comment directly on the Jet. I recently bought a used 15" planer (Delta knock-off) for $400. It has a 3hp 240V motor and is ~15yrs old. It's definitely a step up in power and rigidity from the portable planers...and it is definitely NOT portable (beyond rolling it around the shop on it's stand).

If the Jet has one of the larger induction motors...it probably has a lot of life left in it. Mine seems to have been heavily used - I'm confident it will outlive me. It may need new bearings for the cutterhead someday...they sound a little noisy. I'm glad I went that direction instead of the DW733, which was running ~$330 at the time.

[Roy Neudecker]

Bob,

The asking price is right in line with what it should be. I don't have my files right here of when I bought that piece but I believe it sold for $1,200.00. I've been working my for years now with not one problem. I am very happy with it. But I warn you it really needs a dust collector connected to it. If you don't have one it is probably a waste of money.

If I would say there is any disadvantage to this unit it would be the movement of the table instead of the head for thickness adjustments. I would like to be able to put an in-feed and out-feed table onto it but it is not practical. This is not a major disadvantage in the operation just a preference.

My suggestion is to go for it.

Roy Roy

[Bob Davis]

Thanks Roy. You gave some very direct, useful information. I'm in the process of doing the budget for the shop build out and seeing what it looks like. The planer needs to fit in there somewhere. I cannot budget much more than $600 and this is a lot more planer than I would expect to be able to buy. I like that.

Bob

Davis"