Grizzly G0452 6" Jointer Belt & Stock Vibration

[Minh Tran]

Hi,

When I run stock through my jointer, it vibrates almost very violently. It's not enough to throw the piece out of my hands but enough to make controlling the piece difficult if I were to face-joint it.
When your leg is asleep and you're trying to move it, your leg feels very tingly and limp. That's the kind of sensation I feel through my hands as I brace the stock while it initially enters the cutterhead.

I suspected the belt and took a video of the jointer running without the guard, fence, and fence assembly (link to the video below) so that it was visible.
It looks like it's loose. There's also some shallow tearing of the fabric that covers the belt but I'm not sure if this warrants a replacement.

I went into woodcraft to try face jointing on their Powermatic 6" jointer and the vibration through the feed was 3x more manageable. The powermatic jointer did use a helical cutterhead so it's not a direct comparison
but the cut quality was great and the vibration was minimal.


Best,
MT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1tvJgSLwp8

[glenn bradley]

We all have our own approach to things. Here's mine . . . This is a fairly lightweight jointer so vibration transmission doesn't have much mass to counteract it. Better that the vibration be minimized through proper setup and maintenance. I would replace that belt and would choose a link belt when I did it. I would confirm the pulley alignment while I was at it to assure that they are coplaner.

Vibration can be like rust; once started it just continues to worsen if not addressed. It could be that pulley alignment caused irregular wear on the belt which only aggravated the vibration. The vibration passes through the whole machine looking for set-screws and joinery hardware to loosen and things just snowball.

Harbor Freight used to be a good place to get name brand link belts at about $5 a foot. I wandered through one the other day and noticed the price had jumped to $6 a foot; still less than most of our supply houses. Link belts can set higher in the sleeve than fan belts so watch for that before firing things up. I had to add a little space on my 8" jointer belt guard for clearance.

G0490X-belt-pulley-check-2011 (5).jpg

Obviously dull knives will make a jointer dance during operation but, I think you are talking about vibration even when not in use. While you have the side cover off, check all your nuts-n-bolts for tightness, align the pulleys, add a new belt and give her a whirl.

[Mike Goetzke]

We all have our own approach to things. Here's mine . . . This is a fairly lightweight jointer so vibration transmission doesn't have much mass to counteract it. Better that the vibration be minimized through proper setup and maintenance. I would replace that belt and would choose a link belt when I did it. I would confirm the pulley alignment while I was at it to assure that they are coplaner.

Vibration can be like rust; once started it just continues to worsen if not addressed. It could be that pulley alignment caused irregular wear on the belt which only aggravated the vibration. The vibration passes through the whole machine looking for set-screws and joinery hardware to loosen and things just snowball.

Harbor Freight used to be a good place to get name brand link belts at about $5 a foot. I wandered through one the other day and noticed the price had jumped to $6 a foot; still less than most of our supply houses. Link belts can set higher in the sleeve than fan belts so watch for that before firing things up. I had to add a little space on my 8" jointer belt guard for clearance.

G0490X-belt-pulley-check-2011 (5).jpg

Obviously dull knives will make a jointer dance during operation but, I think you are talking about vibration even when not in use. While you have the side cover off, check all your nuts-n-bolts for tightness, align the pulleys, add a new belt and give her a whirl.

Just to add I have an 8" Grizz and several times it has started to vibrate and has been related to the pulley set screws coming loose. So please check that also.

Mike

[Minh Tran]

Just to add I have an 8" Grizz and several times it has started to vibrate and has been related to the pulley set screws coming loose. So please check that also.

Mike

I went to Harbor Freight, picked up a chain V-Belt and replaced it on the jointer today. Table vibration improved marginally. Cut-vibration also improved marginally. The cut quality improved greatly -- four 1/32 pass through the jointer does actually give me close to a 1/8 cut. I had problems with jointed pieces rocking after face-jointing them (indicating twist) before but it seems to have gone away.

It's strange that a little torn V-belt could cause so much trouble.

[glenn bradley]

Just an afterthought. Link belts are directional. Most have little arrows (very little) on the outer surface but, the inner tabs should point in the direction they just came from. That is, the tabs point the opposite direction of rotation.

I was hoping the reduction would be better. Did you check the pulleys and so forth as discussed? If so and the vibration is still excessive I would call Grizzly if the machine is under warranty. My G0490X is stupid-quiet.