Upgrades in my future

[John McNail]

I’m preparing for several new machines and would appreciate any feedback related to these products.

Grizzly G0490X 8 inch spiral head jointer
Grizzly G0454Z 20” Spiral head planer
Grizzly GO514X2 19” bandsaw

I started woodworking several years ago with mostly used tools aside fromy sawstop. I’ve become quite frustrated with the poor quality used tools and limitations of the smaller machines. Again, any guidance would be appreciated.

Also, I hope to save a few hundred bucks when purchasing. If you have a spare Grizzly 10% please consider messaging me. Thanks!!

[Kent A Bathurst]

John -

Just a grooming tip: I'm sure we would have gotten the point without the giant font size. Normal type will do nicely.

Thanks

[John McNail]

Sorry, there must be a formatting error related to posting on my phone. My intent was to bold the last sentence related to the currently grizzly offer. If it is beyond that I apologize.

[Mike Schuch]

The suitability of the tools all depends on what you plan on building. I built a lot of projects with just a 6" jointer and a 15" planer. I now have a 8" jointer and really appreciate the extra table length but haven't really used the extra width. For what I do a 15" planer is plenty... but I certainly would not turn away a 20" planer.

I had an 18" bandsaw and sold it. I never used it and it took up too much shop space. But everyone has their own way of working and the particular tools they find useful.

You should have quite a nice shop with the tools you have listed.

[Mike Goetzke]

I must be getting old - the type was much easier to read than the standard font.

I have similar machines from Grizzly and they perform very well in my shop. But, just because they are new doesn't mean they will perform better. All three (jointer/planer/BS) needed attention, especially the BS and jointer. My new one year old 1950 Unisaw worked great with very little attention.

Mike

[John TenEyck]

My only comment, besides pointing out that there are many high end used machines out there, too, is to seriously consider a wider jointer. If you are getting a 20" planer I would want a 12" jointer to go with it (or wider).

John

[Kent A Bathurst]

My only comment, besides pointing out that there are many high end used machines out there, too, is to seriously consider a wider jointer. If you are getting a 20" planer I would want a 12" jointer to go with it (or wider).

John

Yeah - good point. Or - conversely - with an 8" jointer, he can do very well with a smaller planer.

[Jon Nuckles]

I bought the G0490X late in 2014. I think it is a good machine and an excellent value. Mine had a few issues on arrival. The fence was not flat, the tables were not coplanar, the depth of cut indicator was way off, and the power cord came out the bottom of the stand rather than through the grommet in the side.

Grizzly replaced the fence after I sent them pictures showing the twist, but the new one came with a bit of chipped paint and did not include the two metal tags that are attached to the fence with aluminum pins (apparently those are "separate" parts, though I have no idea how Grizzly expected me to take them off the original fence and put them on the new one). Fortunately, the tags don't serve any useful purpose -- just a warning above the cutterhead and a ruler at the outfeed end of the fence -- so I don't really care. Adjusting the tables was not hard to do, thanks to the parallelogram design, and now I know how to do it if it ever needs to be done again. The manual doesn't correctly explain how to adjust the depth of cut indicator, and the customer service rep had to research it and call me back after a day or two with instructions. With the instructions, it was very easy. The plug block on the cord was too big to feed through the grommet, so I had to open up the magnetic starter box and unhook a few wires to get it off and feed it back in. Again, not a big deal. Maybe it was Friday afternoon at the factory when mine was assembled. The Grizzly reps expressed surprise that it had not arrived perfectly assembled and tuned.

Now that it is properly assembled and tuned, it works very well. A jointer is a simple machine, and I expect to keep this as long as I continue woodworking. I had ordered a Grizzly cabinet saw at the same time as the jointer, but Grizzly notified me that it was going to be delayed. Based on that delay and my experience with the way the jointer arrived, I canceled the table saw order and got a Sawstop PCS. I'm sure the Grizzly table saw would have been fine, but I didn't want to deal with any more issues with the most important machine in my shop.

Good luck with your decision.

[Jim Andrew]

I have the G0609 jointer, 12", would have gone wider but the cost is a lot more. And I have a G0453 planer, which is very reasonable compared to the G1033. The G0453 and G0454 are similarly built machines, so expect the G0454 would be a good machine as well. I like the 15" planer as it has a faster feed speed in the faster speed. I have had no issues with either the planer or the jointer.
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[Cary Falk]

I have the :
Shop Fox W1741(G0490X's faternal twin)
G0453Z (G0454Z's little brother)
G0513x2 (GO514X2's little brother)

I am happy with each one of them and would buy the bigger versions if I had the space and money.

[John McNail]

Wow! Thanks for all of the responses!

In September 2014 my wife and I bought a new home and moved from the city to a 5 acre ranch that luckily also contained a 30x50 shop! My goal with this machine purchase is to replace the initial machines - 14" delta BS, dewalt lunchbox planer, and very ancient and uncared for 8" jointer. I have become so in-patient with the limitations these machines have on my work. I hope to replace these first purchased machines that brought me into woodworking with machines I can keep for potentially a lifetime.

Im leaning towards the 8" jointer at this point because it has worked extremely well and it seems that my hardwood dealer sells boards mostly within the 6-8" width range. On the rare occurrence that I come across something larger I suppose I'll rig together a jig for the planer and flatten that way. I like the idea of a large planer probably mostly because my current planer is always too small... The 20" brings a sense of comfort.

I have gone rounds with grizzly this winter/spring about getting a discount similar to what they are currently providing in the WWJ publication -10% off. They may be more stubborn than myself about providing the same discount they are offering to others. If anyone continues to have their WWJ coupon and doesn't plan to use it this spring I would greatly appreciate it!