Porter Cable Benchtop Jointer Review

[, Music, ], hey, what's up everybody, I'm Tommy and today I'm going to review the PC 160 JT bench top jointer from porter-cable. So this thing runs about 270 dollars and can easily be found on Amazon or even at Lowe's. It has a two knife: cutter head: a table: that's a little over 6 inches wide by about 30 inches long and a fence. That'S four and a quarter inches tall by about 20 inches long. The variable speed cutter head ranges from 6,000 rpms up to 11,000 rpms, and the depth of cut goes up to an eighth of an inch. It has a cutter head lock to help with installing new blades a 2.5 inch dust collection, port and the maximum board width. That can be cut is 6 inches, and the maximum length of a board you can cut is debatable. I'M actually intending on building some infeed and outfeed extension table sport to help me joint boards that are a little bit longer in the box. You get the jointer all the components you need to set up the fence and a couple of push grips. The push grips that came with the joints are actually not that bad, but I'm probably gon na wind up making some push blocks for myself. Set up was not too bad. The first thing you're gon na want to do is clean all of the oil off of it with some mineral spirits. The cutter head guard was already installed on my version, but I did have to install the cutter head. Lock, the dust port and the fence out of the box, the tables were coplanar within about two thousandths of an inch over a distance of about 12 inches and that's excellent for a jointer in this price range. The blades were set just right across their entire links. The fence, on the other hand, was not perfectly 90 degrees to the table and it took some fiddling to get it set just right, I'll, post, a separate video showing you how I adjusted the fence to use the jointer loosen the end, feed tables, locking mechanism adjust The end feed tables height to create your desired depth of cut and then retighten, the in feed tables, locking mechanism set. The speed of the cutter head is desired and switch the machine on. I'M not gon na go in a proper jointer technique in this video. But if you need a refresher there's, a lot of videos on YouTube that'll do a better job of explaining it than I ever will I'm actually really impressed with how well this jointer performed at such a low price point. The first board I tested was two inches by five and a half inches by 51 inches long. It came out flat and true and had a perfect 90-degree edge on it. I really couldn't ask for anything more and for dust collection. Even my small and cheap Harbor Freight shop vac was able to easily collect all the chips the longest board. I'Ve had success. Jointing on this machine was about sixty inches long, but anything longer than that, and I think I'm gon na need those infeed and outfeed table extensions. I was talking about the biggest Pro for this machine is how inexpensive it is at two hundred and seventy dollars. The performance you're getting out of this little machine is really great. It'S not perfect, but again for two hundred and seventy dollars, you're really getting a lot for your money. There are some drawbacks to this jointer as well. The fence feels a little bit flimsy, so you're gon na have to be careful not to apply too much lateral pressure on the fence, otherwise you're gon na wind, up with a board that's out of square. I'M also a little worried that the fence might weaken and become more flimsy over time. But I guess I'm just gon na have to wait and see the 90 and 45 degrees top screws feel like they're cutting into the metal when you tighten them down, and you can actually visibly see that occurring. I doubt it's gon na be a long-term durability issue, though, because they're never gon na cut all the way through the metal, but it does make it difficult to set the stop as you're turning the screw and you think, oh it hasn't bottomed doubt. Yet. I'M gon na keep turning if it may have already actually bottomed doubt, and now it's just cutting into the metal. You just have to be very delicate when you turn the stop screws. The only thing I wish this jointer included that it doesn't already is upgrade ability to a helical head. Maybe the bird she likes. People will come to the rescue where those small drawbacks mentioned. It'S still a really great overall value. I'D highly recommend it to somebody. Has their first jointer, maybe somebody who's just getting into woodworking. I'D, also recommend it to somebody who has to downsize their operation or has limited space again. https://felixfurniture.com/best-compression-testers/ at two hundred and seventy dollars for the performance you get out of this machine. Thanks for watching this video, I really hope you liked it. If you did, please give it a thumbs up and if you haven't already be sure to subscribe until next time. I hope you have fun building something.