Grizzly Frustration

[Randy Heinemann]

Check out Marks Machinery in Ft. Smith. 479-461-5079 He'll have Jet and Powermatic and I'm sure others as well. Fine man to deal with. Plus you'll get a lot better service from him.

My understanding is that you will get much better service from Jet/Powermatic than from Grizzly period, regardless of where you buy the machine. Also my understanding that Grizzly won't provide onset service at all and, if the machine requires hands-on company service under warranty, it will be the responsibility of the owner to pay the shipping to send it back. With Jet, I have had 2 onsite visits for my 8" Jointer. You could make the case I shouldn't have required warranty service at all, but I was extremely glad that Jet provided the service at my shop when needed.

[Jim Becker]

If you know of a vendor that has an 8" spiral head Steelex or Shop Fox in stock ready to ship I would be interested in a link. These jointers are all in backorder with all the vendors I can find, just like Grizzly. I assume regardless of brand all the jointers are being made in the same factories, and they are all behind schedule.

These are Grizzly brand names and those suppliers have to obtain them from Grizzly. Hence, the same backorder. Shop Fox and Steelex are their brands that primarily are offered via independent retailers where "Griz Green" only comes direct from Grizzly. Like Shiraz said...they're working on it.

[Ted Baxter]

You can call grizzly and ask them if they have a Steelex Jointer in stock I did when I got tired of being on back order for a G0490X and they had a stellex version in stock at the time I order it and had it in 3 days

[Merrill Herring]

I have purchased 4 grizzly products and they all arrived undamaged and where packed really well. Just recently purchased the 15 inch planer which I love and the 17 inch bandsaw. The planer was out of stock for about 3 weeks but put it on my wish list and they notified me when it was back in stock. The only issue I have had is getting the unit to my house which cannot be accessed by a semi, so the planer was shipped by a trucking company is a small truck with a lift gate and had to meet the semi down the road and load the bandsaw in my truck. Sorry to hear about your issues, hopefully they will get resolved.

[julian abram]

Thought I would give an update on the Grizzly planer saga. Based on crate damage and what I could see of the machine inside, I refused delivery on a Friday afternoon. After thinking about it all weekend and knowing that all the 15" planers were backordered, I called UPS on Monday morning to see if the planer was still local so I could have a second look at it. It was still in the trailer at the local UPS terminal so I made an appointment to examine it. A helpful UPS worker and I removed the front of the shipping crate and examined the planer closely with a flashlight inside the trailer. It appears that after piercing the crate the forklift had struck the front right side of the table chipping off a small piece of the cast and bending the depth indicator. My original fear back on Friday was the cast table or the supporting steel column was fractured or broken. After careful examination I could find no serious damage. With the backorder situation in mind, I told the UPS fellow I was going to roll the dice and take it home.
Long story, but I was able to get it set up and run some stock over the weekend. I have found no serious damage and runs great, much quieter than the Dewalt 735 screamer. Also installed a Wixey DRO, think I'm going to like that readout. Looking back I've learned some lessons here but certainly glad I went back to give it a second look at UPS.
I read and appreciate Shiraz's post on the Grizzly back order situation. Not sure what I will do about the backordered jointer. Shipping date has already been moved from Feb 15 to March 30th. I'm wondering how many more times the shipping date will be moved in the coming months. Considering a 8" Helical Jet I can get locally in one week but of course at a higher cost. Decisions, decisions.

[Carroll Courtney]

Good a happy ending to part of the story,us ww'ers take our equipment very serious.Congrats on what looks to be a fantastic machine after all

[Frederick Skelly]

Good move Julian! Glad to hear you came up with an answer that works for you.
Enjoy your new machine!
Fred

[Randy Heinemann]

Hey Julian,

Glad you are satisfied with the tool even though it isn't perfect. If it were me, I probably wouldn't have been able to handle owning the tool with the chip in regardless of function. If I were you, I'd try to get Grizzly to provide you a discount of some sort because the tool isn't as intended.

I own the Jet 8" helical head jointer and love it! I had a problem with the cooling fan blade on the TEFC motor coming loose and an electrical problem which the JPW support tech and I both believed was due a failed motor. Both times, JPW sent a technician from the local company they use for Jet warranty service to my house. Both times the problem was fixed without problem and without any argument. The electrical problem turned out to be a short between the motor and the wall plug. Both the service company and ultimately JPW agreed neither problem would have been discoverable and fixed by me so no charge. Because the problem wasn't the motor, I believe I will have a jointer that has a long life.

Because of the results from the HH jointer and the warranty service, I would always recommend Jet and will consider Jet tools if I buy any other. The service I got, of course, could be due to the availability of a high quality service company in the northern Illinois area. I also did cooperate with the JPW tech to test all the things that he suggested my problems might be but, in the end, they still did send out a tech and resolved my problems.

Just one other note . . . Until I bought the 8" jointer I never realized what I was missing with a small 6" jointer. Since I rarely work with boards wider than 8", the 8" jointer means that I can almost always flatten one side before planing; a great help to getting completely flat boards. The helical heads are amazing; not I'm sure like a Byrd head (because the head isn't) but still yield a very good result.

Good luck with whatever you choose.

[julian abram]

Randy, I'm kind in the same boat as you with flattening wider boards. When making this equipment upgrade I seriously thought about a nice 12" combo unit, the cost was about the same or maybe a little more for a nicer combo. But I've used a 6" knife Jet for the past 8 years and its served 95% of my needs, how often would I flatten 9-12" stock? Although the space saving of a combo is attractive, I still lean towards the convenience of two stand alone units. I can always use a planer sled on rare occasions for wider stock. Anyhow, woodworkers are quite a varied lot in the items they produce and certainly vary greatly in the tools and methods they use to accomplish the end result. Like you, I think I will be quite pleased with the move to an 8" helical.

[Mike Chalmers]

Also installed a Wixey DRO, think I'm going to like that readout.

Just an observation that may prove useful to you. I bought the I-Gaging version of DRO. I installed it on my planer in a similar position, though closer to the actual column. I had a real issue of the reading jumping out of whack. I moved the set up away from the magnetic switch to the rear. All problems disappeared.

[Rick Alexander]

Just an observation that may prove useful to you. I bought the I-Gaging version of DRO. I installed it on my planer in a similar position, though closer to the actual column. I had a real issue of the reading jumping out of whack. I moved the set up away from the magnetic switch to the rear. All problems disappeared.

I would second that I-Gaging DRO. Mine reads clear across the planer (on the left front) from the read out box (Right center at the top) - works amazingly well. Handy when you don't mill enough drawer sides and are making dovetails - get perfect thickness to match. 2 AA batteries last a LONG time as well.

[Tim M Tuttle]

If you know of a vendor that has an 8" spiral head Steelex or Shop Fox in stock ready to ship I would be interested in a link. These jointers are all in backorder with all the vendors I can find, just like Grizzly. I assume regardless of brand all the jointers are being made in the same factories, and they are all behind schedule.

I just stumbled upon this reply. Sorry about that. I got my Steelex off of eBay from an authorized dealer but it looks like there arent any listed on there right now. I had been planning on getting the G0490 but they were having the much discussed stock issues and started looking at Steelex because they were listed on the Grizzly site even while the G0490 was on backorder. Check eBay every now and then or look up some of their dealers and you might get lucky.

[Rollie Meyers]

My next door neighbor just built a new shop, and decided he wanted a new planer, bought a Grizzly with a spiral cutterhead, had to wait a while on backorder, I suggested a vintage machine but he wanted a machine ready to operate, & was very happy with the customer support that Griz provided when troubleshooting another machine so that is who he went with, I refuse to buy any machine that is sold with motors that are non-standard, obsolete voltage(s),110, & 220 volts are pre world war 2 voltages & if a manufacturer cannot supply electrical components made for the market they are selling in, that is not very good IMO.

Have not talked to the neighbor recently as have been busy getting a house ready to rent, but as far as I know he is happy with the machine.

[scott ward]

Erik, I'm with you

killer lathe at an aggressive price point - no wonder they sell out. I look at it as a confirmation that I picked out the right thing if everybody else wants one

I just ordered one this week and was told the same thing. February is going to be a long month!!. Hopefully the boat sails a little faster!

[Ed Wedin]

The service may well be "pretty darn good" but you should not have this issue with new machines! I have heard too many horror stories here and on Lumberjocks about damaged and late deliveries. I need a new jointer and although I can save 150 bucks and get an 8" from Grizz, I will buy the 6" PM54A, knowing I will get a quality machine shipped within 3 days.
If I have missed something, please let me know.
Ed