Jet JDP-12. Got one?

[Parson]

I'm thinking of buying this bench top drill press during Woodcraft's four-day Jet tool sale just after turkey day in a couple of weeks. I can get it for $250 plus tax. Not bad pricing for a Jet product—I've been looking at a Grizzly for a similar price but wary of damage in shipping and poor quality on this particular piece of equipment... which I only want to buy one time.

The reviews on the Woodcraft web site are five star, but one guy said it drills with great precision but the handles and covers and such feel cheap and have sharp edges. This isn't a big deal to me as long as the drill bit cuts straight and true.

I'd like to hear from Jet JDP-12 owners if I can... are you happy with it?

If you bought a different one after actually using this model, why?

 

[beck3906]

I have one and not too pleased at this time. The drill press itself works well. Limited drilling range but plenty for normal penmaking needs.

My problem is the handles as you mentioned. Each handle has literally shredded apart into several small pieces. Each handle broke into about into several small pieces within about 2-3 hours of use. No hard pressure or anything, just started to crack and literally fall apart in my hands.
I spoke to Jet customer service and they placed the handles on backorder. Said it would be 3 weeks to get them in. That was a while ago and still no handles.

I offered to send them back so they could see the poor engineering but I was told they didn't need them.

Beginning to make me wonder about the rest of the engineering.

 

[beck3906]

Follow-up.

Just spoke to Customer Service who wasn't very helpful. The lady said the handles for my order, placed in late September, weren't due in until Dec 30th. I'm now using the drill press without handles on the ends of the rods.

She passed me to the Tech Support folks who were helpful in finding a replacement handle from a miter saw that would fit, just a bit shorter than the original handles. Works for me as I just don't like using the tool with the ends of the handles exposed.

 

[aggromere]

Not a drill press, but I have a jet lathe and it is super. I had a bench top drill press when I first started, but it broke. Instead of getting a new drillpress I bought all the stuff to be able to drill on the lathe and, for pen making, it is much better than a press in my humble opinion. $250 is probably about what it would cost. The down side is, with no drill press, I can't drill holes in anything but pens, lol. Just my 2cents worth.

 

[Parson]

I've got a Jet lathe as well and drill on it, but it sure is slooooooow going when you have a lot of pens to make or want to knock one out fast. Lots of setup and tear down to do it.

I've always heard such good things about Jet equipment. I wonder what's up with their current quality?