rcguy!

My Feedback: (69)

Andy,
Great reply...How many hours exactly on EACH? Only item needing service was a CC between both engines? No bearings, flame sticks, etc? Other than maybe some ECU adjustments nothing else?
Lastly, These came direct from JJ in China and no other party "tweaked" them before or after you got 'em?
I'm still a disbeliever.... Sorry.

Dave

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

Andy, go get that lotto ticket FAST, bro!!! You could be a millionaire (if you luck holds out)!!!!!

Boomerang1

Fair comment, I must admit I have never owned one.

I almost did though, a friend bought one before me. After seeing all the joy it brought him I was left thinking.........

Whew....close call! - John.

Mike06659

How can the Juniors run somewhat but the larger turbines JetJoe produces do not??

hapyjac2

My Feedback: (927)

Mike,

Most of these comments are from onlookers. Many have never owned a JJ. I have a JJ1400, Got it from JJUS, used.
It has been a fine running turbine. Starts every time, haven't had a flame out and keeps running even after some of my less than perfect landings. I really can't complain at all.
Pushes my jet around smartly, and uses about 6 to 7 oz of fuel per minite.

I heard all the stories and have owned Jet Cat's and PST's. Couldn't pass this one up at the price I paid, and figured I knew enough about them to play with it. Haven't had any problems so I just fly it and it has proven to be a dependable unit.

And I do buy lotto tickets, but never win anything!
Just my 2 cents from someone who actually ownes one.

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

To try and answer the actual question of the thread, I believe it is still a build/balance issue at the factory which is probably a normal Chinese assembly line and not actually going through the hands of an expert like mike at wren before it goes out the door.

However anyone who has any knowledge about turbines will get one to run fine as the components themselves now are all ok.
Anyone that has stripped or worked on turbines will know there is nothing much to them and really not that difficult to get right, but you do need to have certain things right like all the fuel needles working, correct preload and the turbine well balanced, which seem to be the major issues.

But as said above, they are not a Plug & Play like a Jetcat, and are better bought either in parts or stripped and rebuilt, snag here is because they are cheap they attract the new, on a budget, jet flyer who dos'nt know anything about turbines, and the guy that does, probably can afford to buy a Jetcat anyway so wont want to be bothered.

Jetjoe is still selling them and parts are very easy to obtain so I don't think much will change on that front.

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

I have never owned a JetJoe. But as someone here (Dave, I think???) put it so eloquently, I don't have to eat feces to know it tastes like sh_t!

I have been flying turbines for almost 12 years now. I have seen oh so many reports on JJ. The guys that claim to be flying them successfully can be counted on less than one hand.

Is a JetJoe really to be considered a quality product????

Mike06659

All good info guys, have both the US Reps closed up shop?

basimpsn

My Feedback: (5)

Hapyjack

What are you doing with a JetJoe what happen to you RAM?

Basil

rcguy!

My Feedback: (69)

Woketman,
Thanks for the credit!

Now can we get back on topic of poor quality turbines from Jet Joe? :-))

"So much time, so little quality"

Dave Rigotti

Desertlakesflying

My Feedback: (28)

Too many double standards.

If any of the "approved by the turbine snobs" beloved companies went to crap they would be the first ones stepping up to try to fix the problem, not just bashing them and doing everything possible to hold them down.

Many people just don't understand free market economics.

No wonder unemployment is 9.8%

I bet if a new company came out with a product as good, if not better quality then the "approved" companies they'll get the same bashing as JJ.

joeflyer

My Feedback: (48)

Not true! That hasn't happened with Kingtech or Black Mamba. Both companies came out with lower cost turbines than the established brands. The difference between them and Jetjoe is that they start and run out of the box, and now that they have been on the market for 1 - 2 years they are establishing a reputation as reliable products.

Read the threads, for every JJ owner that reports good results (and that's usually after rebuild & tinkering) there are 10 who report major problems. There's no snob conspiracy here. Most experienced turbine fliers recognise JJ for what it is and are trying to keep naive newbees from wasting their money and time.

Joe

Mike06659

I wish I would have listen to the voice of reason before buying my JJ1800 but I was a newbee and could smell the kero.

I could of had two good turbines by now.

Newbees Take Notes!!

rcguy!

My Feedback: (69)

Does anything else need to be said about it? Straight from someone with experience with Jet Joe!

Dave Rigotti

tonyjms2005

Hi
I just thought I would post my view, I have owned a jetcat P80 that was great! Also I have built my own engines from scratch, usually using donor parts from car turbos ie the compressor, shaft and turbine (the parts the need to be perfectly made lol), the engines here always run pretty good.

Anyway I think for a person that knows how the engines work and what is critical for them to run reliably, the JJ engines are a pretty good bargin, for example the 1200 is available in a kit, and I have found that the designs are good but the tolerances and finishes on some of the part are not so good.

For example I managed to tighten up the compressor tolerance using a very thin alloy shim washer on the shaft which would of improve the compression ratio and lowered internal engine temperatures.
Another point is the fuel burner ring, sometimes these are not soldered too well and sometime partially blocked with solder, resulting in and unbalanced combustion chamber and hotspots.

I suppose if you spent a little time when assembling the engines testing and checking each components then you will have a decent engine at a good price.

I know only the 1200 engines are available in kit form but if I were to buy a ready built engine from jj, I would strip it first and check everything as mentioned above.

Hope this helps some people

Antony

Woketman

My Feedback: (6)

I'd say that the ratio, from what I have read over the last five years or so, is even higher than 10 to one!

Hey joe, your first name ain't "Jet", is it????

erazz

Why haven't JJ improved? They don't need to. The price is low enough.

Doesn't matter that they are crap. Doesn't matter that the turbine is not made of Inconel, the tolerances are horrible, the workmanship is awful and the balancing method criminal. Doesn't matter that they need "tinkering" (rebuilding) to work. Doesn't matter that they are inherently unsafe.
They are cheap. Cheap sells.


Kingtech tried very very hard and made some very ingenious modifications to reduce the price of the engine without compromising reliability and safety. That's the big difference. Kingtech's engines are inexpensive. JJ are cheap!

erazz

delete - double post

Xairflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Have you any idea what they are made off if not inconel?

erazz

No, but it isn't Inconel 713c or 718. Probably a lower grade, perhaps some kind of fortified stainless.
Since they have no documentation and you can't tell where and how they were forged it's anybody's guess. Since real Inconel turbines need to be vacuum cast and x-rayed (=expensive) you can understand why they're secretive.