This is my first post here. I've been reading posts for a while, tho. I'll do an into in another post.
I bought a grizzly 654 jointer through Amazon. I got it Friday. The price was really good. $445 + free (amazon prime) shipping. The box arrived and was badly crushed and torn with a foot of heavy re-taping on each end to hold it together. The result was a number of deep scratches on the base edges and elsewhere but otherwise it seemed to have survived. It went together pretty well and is very similar to a delta 6" open base planner I once owned. Same size, same basic design.
In fact, the tables were coplanar with each other and the cutter head. All I had to do was adjust the outfeed height.
My issue is the with fence. first and foremost, fence face is concave across the length. The (top to bottom) center of the fence is shallower than the edges. The difference is about the thickness of 2-3 sheets of copy paper in the center. The defect seems to be arch shapes (concave). There are some other issue with the fence but they are minor.
At this price point, I expect few creature comforts, mediocre fit and finish and to have to do a bit of fiddling. I'm OK with that. It's all I can afford now, so it's the G654 or nothing. However, this fence can never be made square to the tables, so it's worthless as is. I'm not sure how I'd ship it back if need be because the box was so damaged it can't be reused. I also don't relish the idea of dis-assembling it.
I've already sent a message to Grizzly but I wanted to check to see of anyone else has had issue with their fences. I hope they do the right thing.
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