Side by Side Comparison of: Jet vs Fastcap vs INCRA

Allows safe handling of some difficult cuts. Heavy base provides good stability.

Took a project we were dreading and turned it into a beautiful piece of furniture, Amazing how easy and perfect things turn out when you use the right tools. We may not get alot of use from this tool, but when we do use it things will be better. And I have been looking at a bunch of new projects that I would not have considered before. Nice addition to our workshop!

Heavy jig, solid for making tenons. One of the features I like about this jig is that it has two settings for the mitre bar, allowing the jig to be shifted to work for either left or right tilting saws. After assembly, I had measured the angles to ensure that the unit was 90 degrees to both the table top and that back rest. Both were dead on. I have only used the jig several times but am impressed with the ease and safety in making tenons. Good buy.

Very pleased with the quality of this tenoning jig. Setup took about 30 minutes. I have no complaints and would recommend to anybody looking for a tenoning jig.

You can do mortises in a number of ways, I found this way to be one of the most fun ways to help me build furniture made of mortise and tenon in mission style.

Exceptional machine. It is easy to operate, and turns out great work. Very satisfied.

This is the first and only mortiser that I've ever used. It seems to do everything it's supposed to do, and I've used it on a dozen projects so far. I can see how having a heavier unit with a longer handle might be helpful, and I wish there were an easy way to align the chisel portion of the bit so that it's perfectly square. However, a couple of test punches lets you see any adjustments that are needed. A bigger back fence with a clamping system would be great, but again I think that probably comes with the more expensive units.

Being new to woodworking, I've had to trust the reviews of others in trying to sort out which brand of tools to buy so I hope this helps other newbes. Having been in the construction industry for over 35 years, I had pretty much done it all with the exception of cabinet/furniture making. With that in mind, I decided to take on an ambitious remodel for home including building the cabinetry/vanities for the bathroom and a new bedroom set. After reading more reviews than I can count and taking a trip out to the local HF to look at the Central Machinery Mortiser, I decided to spend the extra money on this one. Within a half hour of receiving it, I had it set up and was drilling my first mortis joint. Assembly literally took minutes to complete since the instructions are clear, concise and easy to understand. The lightweight oil they shipped everything in was easy to wipe off with some mineral spirits and part seemed well fit and finished. The exception to this is the hold down clamp. As others have said, this is pretty much useless. I don't know what modifications the others have made but I pretty much set the clamp aside and used the quick-grip squeeze clamps on each end of the fence to hold the wood in place. These allowed me quick and easy adjustments to the wood as well as being an inexpensive, less time consuming alternative to modifying a piece of metal. The fence itself seemed fine although I can see myself extending it at sometime in the future and the chisel bits that came with the unit were extremely sharp and worked well.

first i must say this is the only mortiser i have used.the machine was easy to set up 10 minutes from box to running. i got a free jet chiesel set with purchase.the first thing i played with was popular cut sweet, next scrap cherry a cake walk(1/4 mortise made) .the only thing i see is seal the base(which is mdf) . i ordered chiesels from lee valley for the dresses project i got this for.saw final word for the average woodworker/weekend warrior a+ machineoh yes as stated before i got free chiesels, free prime delivery fast and well packaged, good price and a stellar toy.if you dont have one put on your bucket list .

It's a good thing I read all the reviews of both the Delta and Jet mortisers. To the guys who bought the Delta and wrote the reviews, thanks for jumping on that grenade. Not only is the Jet less expensive, it is hands down the better tool. Out of the box I was cutting holes in quarter sawn white oak for my version of a spindle bed, (37 spindles in the headboard alone!). It has the feel of a tool that will keep it's place on my benchtop for years to come. I got some good tips from the reviewers too; mounting to a 3\4" piece of plywood, rotating 180 deg. to work on larger pieces, etc. Thanks again guys. P.S. The $5.00 S&H didn't hurt either.

This jig has a number of good points. Packaging provided good protection, base, clamping mechanism, and arm are heavy, and well-designed. The micro adjust works very well by just releasing one locking handle very small adjustments are possible. I didn't have a problem cleaning the protective oil from the product and didn't see any of the burrs mentioned in past reviews. Anyone that buys this product should expect to spend time calibrating the side and back plumb and parallel skew adjustments.The problem that made me reduce the rating is the miter bar. The miter bar supplied by Jet does not have any adjustment mechanism and there was ~.006" of play in my PM 2000 miter slot which allowed quite a lot of movement. To solve this problem, I replaced the miter bar with an Incra miter slider. I marked holes on the Incra using a punch based on holes in the Jet miter bar, drilled 1/4" holes for bolts that mount the bar to the jig body, and then drilled a centered 3/8" hole in the 1/4" hole to countersink the head of the bolt. The Incra bar is way too long for this jig, so I cut off the excess length just above the second set of miter adjustment screws.

works extremely well but the instructions leave a lot to be desired. When cutting a centered tenon there is no instruction as to how to get rid of the material you are removing. Does one use the table saw or a hand saw? The both work but which is the recommended method.

I was using a good shop made jig that straddled the saw fence but one careless moment allowed a kickback that broke some bones in my left hand. I decided to invest in a heavy duty jig with t-slot hold down. Jet was the clear choice and the modern design features were a plus. However, I was concerned about the manufacturing defects reported here and elsewhere. I opined that with Amazon's volume, old items would not be in stock and Jet may have gotten their Chinese manufacturing act together by this time. Amazon's price was about $50 higher than elsewhere (unusual for them) and they are now collecting CA sales tax- shame on their gutless execs. I stayed with them because of good customer service and return policies and offset the price via a credit card promotion. The jig arrived ahead of schedule, was well packaged and preserved in oil which cleaned up easily with mineral spirits (no sign of the old cosmoline). Assembly and alignment were straightforward and the instruction manual was clear. Base was milled flat with no wobble. The vernier adjust for the base was a little stiff but I prefer that vs. too loose. The issues that merited a 1 star knockdown were: 1)Some minor side play of the miter bar in the slot. No adjustment screws so I plan to drill and tap for a couple of nylon set screws. 2)Some vertical play in the t-slot which allows the jig to tip a little fairly easily due to the cantilevered weight. Shimming the washer screw pulled the washer tight against the bar and eliminated most of the play but the washer can't rotate now- a minimal problem. 3)For my miter slot spacing, the safety set screw which stops the base from sliding into the blade was too short and I had to settle for 1/16" clearance in order to have enough threads for the jam nut. In turn, the pointer for the rough setting scale would not get below 1/8"- a minor problem. 4)My saw is left tilt and I need to reverse the jig to make tapered end cuts beyond the tilt capability of the jig. Since my miter slots are equidistant from the blade, this is easy but it puts the t-slot hold down washer to the rear- a no-no. The miter bar can be reversed but I plan to install a second t-washer. Also, the vertical right angle workpiece fence is now to the front, another safety no-no. There are 4 holes in the vertical face of the jig for a sacrificial piece and 2 of these can be used for an auxiliary fence. The operator handles can be repositioned easily. All in all, this is a worthy jig and I will feel good about its safety. The adjustment and tilt features are a definite plus. However, if Amazon continues to stay non price competitive, it is worth checking out other suppliers, provided they are not stuck with the old inventory that had manufacturing defects.

I bought this Jig to replace the Jig I had made of MDF from some plans I bought off the Net some years ago. I watched a video on YouTube demonstrating this Jig and was so impressed I immediately ordered one. After receiving and assembling my Jig I was startled to discover that the Miter Guide on the Jig did not fit into the slot of my "Ridgid 2412 Table Saw" even thought it has a 3/4" slot. I ended up having to sand down the sides of the guide on my "Bench Belt Sander"; it then fit very nicely and snug with no play and smooth running. The other discovery was that when the Jig's Fence was zeroed-up to the saw blade the scale-pointer was not able to be set to zero, which meant I had to unstick and relocate the scale to be able to set the pointer to zero, this also caused the Jig to be restricted in its range of travel when applied to the tenon cuts. The other minor concerns were that the machined parts of the Jig were very sharp which prevented the smooth sliding of the fence for adjustment; I had to use my dremel and grind a relief on the edges which helped nicely.What disappointed me was that in the video the demonstrator made the Jig look so perfect, everything moved so easily and smooth. Not so when assembled out of the box, and even after that making initial adjustments to start a project will not be as easy as he made it look. It appears the Jig is made specifically for the Jet JTAS-10XL, 66 and 64A and Powermatic Saws and no lee-way is given for other saw brands that may have their guide slots further away from the saw blade, and this is where the restrictions in movement is created. Because of these concerns I did not give it 5 stars, but it is very cleanly machined and heavy for stability.

I had an old jig, and replaced it with this one. It is great, and much better than my old one. I did find the same one at much lower price on the web. But decided to keep this one. Too busy to return and reorder.

The fence does not track parallel, resulting in slightly off-set mortises. That being said, I would not want to exchange it because it is a workhorse for my little shop. I have a set of great chisel/drill bits and value the work I can get done on everything from hard maple to fir.

I purchased this mortiser a few weeks ago and have made many practice mortises and a few real ones in a piece of furniture I am building. I can't speak to the durability of this product, but I can talk about everything else. It came promptly from Amazon, no parts were missing. Setup was simple. I've seen some people complain that the platform isn't parallel to the fence. This is a total non-issue. All you need are a few pieces of paper to act as shims, a t-square, and about 5 minutes... and a phillips head screw driver. I took off the platform, squared it to the fence, and added a few pieces of paper until it was square, then tightened it back down checking again to make sure it was still square. Setting the machine up took about 10 minutes total, then installing and squaring a chisel took about 5 minutes. I am giving this 4 stars because my 1/2 inch chisel just didn't work well at all. I would give 4.5 if I could recognizing that most of what I paid for was the machine and not the chisels, but I would have expected all 3 chisels to have been in top shape. The 1/2 inch kept burning my wood, I increased the auger lead and it worked a lot better but still not great. I'm going to be buying a new 1/2" chisel. The action on the rack and pinion lever was really stiff at first, I added some WD-40 and it got a lot better. Really easy to use, really smooth, I would advise facing the opening in the chisel forward instead of to the side. I am now looking at buying a Jet bandsaw just because I appreciate the quality in my mortiser.

I don't think I can say it much better than most of the other reviewers here, but that's never stopped me before.It's a very well made product, from the mortiser itself, the very sharp chisels that come with it and the chuck key. However, the hold down does leave a bit to be desired. It doesn't give me that sense of confidence at all times as far as whether or not it'll stay put...but it has so far.Personally, other than the hold down, I love this tool! If you're drilling holes and chiseling the waste wood or routing...well if you've got the dough (and in this economy, it's an understandable consideration!), give the Jet a looksee!

I've built several projects with this mortiser over the past year. It has done a great job. The stop mechanism works great, it's sturdy, and the chisels that come with it are plenty sharp. I've built about 4 tables with this machine, and I am currently building a cabinetmaker's bench, which requires me to bore mortises about 3 inches deep. Since I am using poplar for my base it didn't bog down the motor like maple would, however, the base wasn't wide enough to accomodate the large legs. No biggie: Rockler sells an extension table for this model that I am considering buying.I wish they would have included mounting hardware (like my Delta drill press), so that I could mount it without any further trips to the hardware store.

Simply put - this is a good machine for the cost. I'm not the world's most skilled craftsman, but I found the set up and use of the Jet mortiser easy and accurate. I was able to unpack it, set it up, and drill a few test mortises within an hour.Some reviewers have commented that when you are buying a bench-top mortiser you are buying a machine with somewhat limited use. I'm not sure what kind of work that they do, but I find the capacity more than sufficient for any project that I am planning.I also found it easy to align. Right off the bad I made sure that I got a good square alignment and then drilled out a few mortises for each size bit. Whenever I set up the unit, I simply check the alignment against my pre-aligned jig.

I've been using the JBM-5 for about three months now. It's a good machine and does what it is supposed to do (cut square holes). I did a fair amount of research before buying and the JET seemed to get better reviews than the Delta and I would recommend it as well.The only problem I've had is that the unit did have a damaged fan cover out of the box. The dented cover prevented the fan from rotating and thus the motor from turning. I called JET and they were extremely pleasant on the phone and sent the replacement parts right out (standard delivery). Overall I was pleased with their customer service.

Would have expected better quality from WMH, but no buyer's remorse at the deeply discounted price I paid from Amazon (just a fuzz more than the Delta).No adjustments for miter slot irregularities (ball pein to the rescue).No fine adjustments on the angles....grrr. The industry will need to redesign this tool for fine adjustments before cnc is in every woodworker's shop.

Rattles excessively, but it works okay after you fiddle around with it.

Very limited height, table is too small. Otherwise, it is okay. Not a lot to brag about on this one. I'd do an internet search and find a better model.

When I received the mortiser, there were no obvious signs of damage. However, when I opened the box I found the top fan cover was dented in so as to impede the movement of the cooling fan. It was easy to pound back out and there is no paint or structural damage but it should never have left the factory that way. Also,the post that the hold down clamp secures to has a set screw to hold it tight and that was loose from the factory. There is no wrench included to tighten it and it took a while to find one in my collection that was close enough tighten it. Just a pain in the neck. Once I got going, it performed as I would have expected although I will probably get a better set of bits than the ones included.

The tool works well! I am happy with its' ease of use and set up. For a low end mortiser it works very well for the occasional user. The first one I received had a caved in top due to improper packaging. I let Amazon know, and in two days I received a new replacement, at no charge. The staff at Amazon were great - it was very easy to get a new one sent quickly and have UPS pick up the one that was damaged. Thanks, Amazon for your wonderful customer support.

Purchased from Amazon August 2015. Just now getting around to setting it up, Dec 2015. After reasonably simple assembly I spent 45 minutes removing grease so that I could handle and use the jig without ruining the stock that I was to be cutting. Then I discovered that out of the box, the slot guide bar position prevents the vertical face of the jig from being adjusted closer than 1” from the blade on my Rockwell saw. So I thought no problem, I moved the guide bar to the right hand position, which moves the entire jig on its base so that the vertical face of the jig can easily be adjusted as close to blade as needed. But wait, I was not out of the woods. Now I have a problem at the other side of the spectrum. When I back the jig away from the blade I can only get about 1-1/8” clear between the blade and the base. So this means, for the 2-1/2” square stock that I wanted to cut double tenons on, it cannot be done with the guide bar in either position.I hit on the other, other solution – I returned the guide bar to the left position (as shipped) which provides adequate clearance between base and sawblade and installed a ¾” wooden block on the face which allows the (new wooden) vertical jig face to approach closely to the blade. I know the installation of the block eliminated my ability to use the vertical fence, but it is bent flat stock and very imprecise anyway.I grabbed a scrap of the 2-1/2” stock excited to make my first cuts. I was stymied again by the loss of throat capacity in the clamp. The clamp has about 3-1/8” capacity until I reduced it by ¾” with my vertical face block. I was short 1/8” of capacity for my 2-1/2” stock. Finally, I had to make another supplemental face block milled to give me back that 1/8” and a little more. On this one I installed a vertical fence.Don’t worry if you got lost in all of that. The bottom line is that depending on the placement of the miter slots in your table, you may or may not be able to use this jig for the stock that you are using, especially if it is larger stock. This will probably work fine if all you are using is ¾” stock. Even for that I would have to move the guide bar to the right hand position for my saw. Another possible solution that I have not investigated would be to disassemble the jig from its base and have the left side of the jig milled off so that it is narrower and will allow more clearance when the guide bar is in the right hand position. I doubt that much of the base can be sacrificed though. I spent so much more time fiddling with this, trying to find a way to make it work. It would have been so much easier to just cut the tenons by hand. I just have always wanted a tenoning jig. I should have built my own, I may still have to.

Just received this jig from Amazon this past week. Decided on the Jet vs. Delta due to the positive reviews of the Jet, and having owned Jet/Powermatic tools.This jig is borderline crap.Borderline meaning I can probably get it to work after I speak with Jet this week to get parts that actually work. The quick release holding device doesn't work-period. Hoepfully Jet can get me the "non quick-release" device.Other issues such as the alignment fence does not go to 90 degrees due to poor design/oversized washers. But I can get that to work.The slignment of the jig to the saw blade is crude, to say the least. But I can get this correctly aligned with enough time and patience.All in all, I am disappointed with this jig. Not sure if the Delta would have been any better though.I own a Powermatic jointer, the Jet 12-36 lathe and a jet dust collector and am very happy with them. I have had my eye on the Jet 1642 lathe but now I am wondering if I should choose another brand.

I bought this over the Delta product based on the reviews I read on Amazon and other sites. It is quite hefty and eventually does what it is intended to do. However, it arrived soaked in grease that required a complete disassembly to clean off every part. The baseplate had some burs that required filing to prevent scratching my saw's top. The measurement guage is a complete joke and on my saw can not be zeroed out (its off by > 3/16). The fine adjustment knob is extremely difficult to turn despite cleaning and relubricating which makes "fine" adjusting difficult. Nothing was accurate out of the box and everything required adjustment. The stop/set screw to limit the jig's lateral movement to prevent it from going into the blade is too short to do what it is intended to do...another complete joke.I realize the need for packing grease, but this was like it was dipped in a bucket of goo then wrapped for shipping. I don't rely on a tool's measuring scale for final cuts, but if it is put on a tool, it should at least be close enough for "ballpark" measurements. This isn't even in the ballpark. A safety feature like a stop to prevent this from hitting the blade should work for both miter bar positions. When the bar is in the far left position (required for my saw), this is a useless feature.Save your money and buy one of the generic knockoffs from Woodcraft or Rockler or build your own.

After compairing user reviews for Delta, Grizzley, and the JET, the Jet was an easy choice. It arrived in a timely manner without any shipping damage. During assembly and adjustment things began to get pear shaped. The silver vertical fence that holds the work piece at 90 degrees to the table and adjusts for beveling had a large burr in the upper edge. I'm glad I noticed this before gouging a project piece. I filed the burr off. My table saw is left tilting (Rigid 3650) so I had to move the bar that runs in the miter slot to the left side of the jig. This was no problem, however, neither the fence position scale nor the stop screw that prevents the jig from being able to hit the saw blade are functional. I don't understand this unless the 3650 is markedly different then other table saws? The main problem came when I tried to use the quick release function. When I loosened the small lock lever to release the guide bushing, it was frozen in the housing (no quick release). After disassembly I discovered that the lower tapered bushing that locks / releases the guide bushing had burrs on it. I filed the burrs off, lubed up everything real good but still no cigar. The problem was that the lower bushing was cocking in it's bore and not unlocking the guide bushing. I have been able to work around this defect by pushing down on the small lock lever after loosing it. This action pops the bushing free and enables 'quick release'. Using this tool to make tenons seems to work fine, but, for all the hassle I should have bought the Grizzley for sixty bucks.

The first unit delivered had a large dent in the motor cap. Waiting for replacement.

This is not typical Jet equipment, I have a Jet table saw, lathe and band saw, they are impressive tools. I should have read the small print with the mortiser. the throat is just enough to mortise a 2X4, in hard wood the motor jams because of wood chips, the chuck is too small 5/8ths would have been a better choice and hard to access. I did keep the machine and added a spacer for wider stock. It does work better than my drill press but not much.Rich

I bought the JBM-5 and expected to not have to work at mortises again. Not true. Every new piece of wood means tinkering with the fence (which isn't necessarily square to the bit), the chisel (which will cut your fingers and won't stay in it's chuck) and the depth stop. The fence is too short and chips inevitably fall down between the wood and the fence, forcing the piece out of square. Adding an auxillary fence to won't work because the hold-down reaches over it so it can never be higher than the workpiece. The machine is also under powered and it takes quite a lot of practice to match the insertion speed to prevent binding and burning but still progress through the cut. Also, the cylinder provided to "assist in raising the head" is worthless and pops off if you pull too hard in either direction. Then bed is way too short and the racket it makes after your first cut (bit rubbing or chisel maybe) is devastating. All the adjustable pieces are held together with set screws that work loose constantly. This won't save me nearly as much time as I thought, but at least doesn't tie up the drill press with mortising attachments. You should also invest is a larger chisel. The "free" 1/2" is fine for small jobs, but any good sized project tends to need larger ones and the adjustments to make larger mortises with the 1/2" chisel is not worth it.

I purchased a Delta mortiser first. It's fence was all crooked. So I returned it and bought the jet. The Jet's motor sounded like the bearings were going out and the frame was considerablely flimsier than the Delta. When I attempted to make 3/8" mortise in maple, the head of the Jet mortiser flexed about 1/8". I'm returning the Jet, and I'm going to order the Powermatic.

Jet made a huge splash with their Supersaw a few years ago. Now they don't even make accessories for this expensive and highly promoted and expensive piece of machinery. If a company won't stand behind its products, its products aren't worth the tin and pot metal they are made from. I'll never buy another Jet product.

The machine showed up in good condition and the components were square and the assembly seemed to be a decent bench top machine. Two days into owning this machine with no load on the chisel the machine started to smoke. I have a call out to Jet Technical Support who think that it is the capacitor and we will see if that will fix this. The Jet Customer Support was not particularly knowledgeable about this product which made the troubleshooting an issue. Overall I think I got what I paid for and I will need to purchase a larger professional machine because the quality control on these "prosumer" grade tools is just so poor.

I'm a pretty loyal Amazon fan, but I won't be ordering any used power tools again. The first mortiser I received was broken off at the head (it was a Delta). This one looked okay until I got it set up and all it did was make a "whirring" sound. Looking at it more closely, it appeared that it had been dropped and had a significant dent on the top of the head. Think I'm going to stick with really new.

I just received the Jet Mortise machine yesterday. Took it out of the box, assembled it and plugged it in. At first it wouldn't do anything thing but hum a little. I turned the chuck a little, then turned it back on. It made a horrible grinding sound. Closer inspection revealed the fan on the top of the motor was grinding against the housing. Further inspection of the machine showed the bolt holes in the base were not taped square. These bolt holes attach the column to the base. I'm skeptical how square the machine would cut if the manufacturer cannot machine square bolt holes. This is my first Jet tool and it will be my last. I just ordered a Powermatic to replace this junk.