Home > Jointers > 6" Jointers

Product Ranking

The Delta JT360 is 13th among 36 in the 6" Jointers analysis hierarchy. It is 22th among 71 in the Jointers category. At $522.20, the Delta JT360 is fifth in 6" Jointers and seventh in Jointers at $1730.77. It is ranked 33th of 108 among Delta products in our database.

More Information

The Delta 37-070K has similar models in our product lists. Click the product in the table to see reviews and other information.

For more information on the Delta JT360 Shopmaster Stationary Jointer (6"), including product features, product descriptions, user reviews, click here. We want your opinion of JT360. Write a user review! Support us! Purchase from our listed sources.

We have more data on Delta products here. For parts, manuals or other data visit the brand's site, www.deltamachinery.com.

Don't be deceived by the open stand. This is a very heavy piece of machinery. I was hesitant to buy this lower-end model simply because of the low price and the bad reviews of some of the other equipment sold under the Delta "Shop Master" name. I had a change of heart when I noticed Doug Stowe (Taunton Press - Basic Box Making) using this same Jointer in his shop. After careful inspection at Lowe's Home Improvement, I decided it was good enough for me and have been quite happy with the purchase.

With that out of the way I'll cover packaging, assembly, and my experience using this product.

Packaging

The box weighs a lot. 212 pounds to be exact. It's a two man job at the very least. Check the box for obvious damage. I've had problems with other Delta equipment due to lousy packaging. The box mine came in was in very bad shape; however, I was lucky as the contents were unharmed.

Be sure to open the correct side of the box. The packaging consists of two large pieces of styrofoam encapsulating the jointer top, fence, and motor. There are also parts tucked into the top section of foam. Remove all the parts from the top half of foam first, then remove all other parts except the jointer top and motor. I'll explain why in a bit.

Assembly

For the most part, I recommend following the instructions with a few exceptions.

Buy a box of disposable shop rags. This step is not mentioned in the manual. It should be! If you don't have lots and lots of rags go buy some before you even open the box - you'll need them!

You'll assemble the stand first. Pay close attention to how the instructions say the parts must fit and be sure to leave all the bolts hand tight, as mentioned in the instructions. You don't want to have to back-track if you get it wrong the first time. Assembling the stand is time consuming and the nuts and bolts are covered with heavy oil making them slippery. Use the rags or you'll end up with little black finger prints and smudges all over everything within a 20 foot radius! :-)

After the stand is assembled you'll install the motor. It's heavy and awkward.

At this point you should only have the jointer top in the box. The instructions recommend taking the jointer top out of the box and laying it upside down on a few 4x4's. There is a warning in the instructions about the weight of the top - something like 140 pounds. I do not recommend taking it out of the otherwise empty box as the instructions say. It is generously covered with thick grease and wrapped in wax paper. I found it to be too slippery and too dangerous and too much of a risk to remove the top from the box.

The top is already upside down in the box resting safely atop a large piece of foam. Move away some of the plastic and turn the stand upside down and bolt it to the top as it is in the box. Use caution when threading the bolts into the cast iron top. You'll get one chance to do this right and if you cross thread the cast iron you'll have to drill and tap it to a larger size. Cast iron is very easy to strip out!

You are ready to turn the whole assembly upright. Do you still have plenty of rags left?

Spend some time removing the wax paper and wiping off all the grease. Some folks recommend using solvent - I do not. The grease will wipe off easily with dry rags (lots of them). Using a solvent is not necessary and is not a good idea as solvent can run into the dove-tailed tracks where the infeed and outfeed tables meet the center piece. There are other places where you will want to preserve the grease as well.

The next step is to tighten all the hand-tight bolts in the stand.

After tightening the bolts the instructions say to install the belt and pully and belt guard. Leave the belt guard off for now. The next steps are to install the fence and the blade safety guard. Leave them off as well and read ahead in the manual about adjusting the infeed and outfeed tables and the knives and perform those operations first. My blades were way, way off. It's not difficult to adjust them, the design of the cutterhead makes it quite easy to do. I believe the cutterhead is the same one used in Delta's closed stand model costing much, much more. It's a great design!

Once the tables and knives are adjusted properly you can complete the assembly and adjust the fence, which is also covered in a generous amount of grease and wax paper.

Using the Jointer

The jointer runs smoothly with little to no noticeable vibration. I have found the 90 degree positive stop to be a little sloppy. I use a square every time I move the fence. It takes a few extra seconds and is not a problem in my opinion. Many higher end jointers also have the same problem with positive stops.

To raise and lower the infeed table you have to loosen the table lock a little and move the adjustment lever up or down. Many higher end jointers have cranks or wheels for this operation. This is the only thing about this jointer that I feel is a little cheesy, but it works great and I can't really complain.

The infeed table has a measuring gauge with 1/32 increments and you can easily split the difference to get a 64th. It's very easy to read and about as accurate as it gets with any jointer I've used.

To more accurately provide test results, I started with a pine 2X4, then a 2X6, then went right for a 6" wide piece of white oak - a famously hard wood to work with - and faced one side. I noticed no difference in the sound of the motor or the speed of the cut. The only thing that had any ill effect was a 6" wide piece of white oak with a giant knot right in the center. The motor did not bog down much but I felt a little vibration and resistance and the cut had very small ripples that could have been sanded out with a block and some 180 grit sandpaper - or maybe another pass over the jointer. It's not likely that this piece of wood would ever make it that far in a project anyway due to the huge ugly knot. It was just a test.

I have nothing bad to say about this jointer at all yet and I've had it for several months. I spend way too much time woodworking and have used it a lot. I imagine some maintenance will be required in time to keep the infeed table well lubricated. I can imagine that it could become difficult to adjust it accurately if it did not move easily.

Problems started right from the beginning during the assembly. The stand is not square so when attaching the main unit to the base using 3 provided screws I was able to put only 2. For the third... (More)

I am very pleased with the ease of operation and the level of performance from this machine. There is none of the kit or lower quality shakiness in any of the aspects of the machine. Just no nonsense... (More)

The Good: -Quiet operation -Nice cuts, my joints are tight and I've received compliments from others on the finished product. -Cosmetically - good condition upon receipt -Very... (More)