Scott Paul Matheson and his associate had gathered all the gear they thought they would need - including instruction manuals - to cook ice in a Maitland shed by the time police swooped on the Horseshoe Bend property in late 2020.
But Newcastle District Court heard on Thursday the pair was destined to fail.
Judge Roy Ellis said in handing down a five year jail sentence to Matheson that the now 42-year-old and his co-accused - Matthew Thomas John Dodd - had made a "rudimentary" attempt to set up a laboratory to produce methylamphetamine, which was unlikely to succeed.
Dodd was previously sentenced to three years and seven months in jail for his role. He is due for parole at the end of this month.
He pleaded guilty in late 2022 to conspiring to manufacture a prohibited drug, possessing drug manufacturing apparatus, and importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
The court heard on Thursday that police found various pieces of equipment consistent with the establishment of a lab - scales, glass funnels, demineralised water and a chemical substance known to be used in the manufacture of ice.
They also discovered instruction booklets that showed how to set up a laboratory and explained the chemistry behind concocting methylamphetamine.
However the court heard that the Crown chemist determined attempts to manufacture drugs at the Maitland property had been unsuccessful.
Matheson, who pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to manufacture methylamphetamine count the day his trial was due to begin earlier this year, previously pleaded guilty to weapons charges related to the discovery of two gel blaster pistols and a disassembled shotgun police found during their operation.
"Being in possession of these things [gel blaster], when you know you regularly get arrested, he's pretty silly," Judge Ellis said on Thursday.
The court heard Matheson had an extensive criminal history and had spent almost 14 of the 17 years leading up to his 2020 arrest in custody for various offences.
He was on parole at the time he was charged with the drug and weapon counts.
Having received discounts for the timing of his guilty pleas and the sentence being backdated to account for time he has spent in jail since the end of 2020, Matheson will be due for parole next month.
