201.jpg205.jpg207.jpg210.jpg202.jpgI recieved a new 609X Jointer a couple of weeks ago, and thought I might make a few comments.
The machine arrived in good condition, and then the work began. As promised, it is very large and
heavy. I am a farmer, and have access to a tractor loader which made the job easier. However,
when I reached the door to my wood shop which is 7 foot wide and 7 foot tall it took some fancy
manuvering to get it inside. A cherry picker (engine hoist) finished the delivery. Give this process
some carefull thought before you order. Once unpacked and cleaned up I made a moblie base which
would allow for easier movement around the shop. (see attached photos) Then I just had to try and improve
on the already almost perfect parallelism of tables. This was a mistake, but it was a good learning
experience. Go to the Grizzly web site and watch their video on adjusting the tables on a 8 inch
machine before you begin. The video turns the 5 hour almost impossible job into a 30 minute job.
Tech support helped me start over once I had messed everything up. They said to begin by making
the in and out tables parallel at the front. Then adjust them parallel at the rear of the machine, leaving
the adjustments with the cutter head for last. Final small adjustments then need to be made as necessary
to get everything parallel with the cutterhead and the beds coplaner. This worked quite well, but I would
adjust outfeed table parallel with the cutter head after you get the front of both beds parallel.
Once all of this was done, and a new cord and cord end was installed, the machine was powered up.
I am very impressed with how smooth it runs. A neighbor brought a piece of Russian Olive tree up which
was 4 feet long, 12 inches wide, and 3 inches thick. Between a GO514X2 19 inch band saw, this jointer, and a GO453
planer we came up with two 1 inch boards which are ready for building projects. The Russian Olive is
of hardness similar to Oak. I was very impressed with the job the spiral head did with the crazy grain
around some knots, and any cracks in the wood. Also there was absolutly no snipe with the outfeed table
adjusted to exactly the same height of the cutterhead. Control of the infeed table, and adjustment of the
fence both seem to be fast and plenty precise enough for anyone. The table and fence milling apear to be
excellent. If I were to find any fault, the lable on the front of the machine came unglued, and there are a
few places where some of the castings could have been ground a little more. Nothing that effects how
the machine performs. All in all I think this is a great jointer for the money. Heck I think it is a good
machine no matter what the price. I have a Grizzly Jointer, Planer, and Bandsaw, a Jet tablesaw, lathe,
and two big sanders, and some smaller PowerMatic tools like bench mortisers. My opinion is that they
are all good machines, with very few differences. They are all the same castings from Far Eastern
Countries, which are assembled in different factories. Aside from some small blemishes and a few
small improvements, they all function the same and are all satisfactory. Grizzly got rid of all of
the middle men, and pass the savings on to us the consumer. The ISO 9001 factory is great. However,
it is no more than a production certification. It does not mean that each individual product is assembled
and inspected in that prescribed manner. Now, I plan to joint walnut slabs which are 9 foot long, 25 inches
wide, and 3 inches thick to make a 9 foot by 48 inch wide dinning room table. To do this I made 4 foot extension tables for both infeed and outfeed. This gives me 15 feet of usable table. I also constructed a 6 foot long by 24 inch tall extension for the fence. I hope with some help this will allow me to joint the slabs. I will let you know how it worked next month. I am attaching some pictures, which I hope will show you how I made the extensions.
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