Grizzly G0959 12” Jointer/Planer?

[Derek Arita]

Does anyone have real experience with this machine and care to give me some feedback on it? I sold my MM fs30 Smart to downsize my garage shop, however I found I really miss having a jointer and planer. I was originally interested in the Jet 10” version, but decided to go for the helical head Grizzly instead.

[Tom Hartranft]

I bought the Grizzly GO959 in December 2022. The GO959 has helical carbide cutter insert heads and my experience with cut quality on ash has been very good. I wanted a small footprint 12 inch wide jointer to go with my Grizzly 13 inch wide benchtop helical head thickness planer. These two machines together give me very good cut quality in very compact footprints. My focus is on hardwoods I use for making large signs, charcuterie boards, or half log surface jointing so my lengths are typically no longer than 3 feet. These machines do a good job for these short lengths. I have an Oneida V3000 with 4 inch drop hoses connected to my machines from my main 6 inch ceiling distribution lines. Dust/chip collection is very good for both machines with my central dust/chip collection system. Lastly, I have little feedback for you on the GO959 planer mode or change over to same as I do not use the planer feature on the GO959 ... I already have a Grizzly helical head thickness planer for that purpose. When first received, I did run some ash through the GO959 planer and cut quality was very good.

My bottom line ... good experience with the GO959 when in jointer mode. The Go959 planer mode is a backup for me in event my stand alone benchtop planer craps out temporarily. They use the same carbide cutters which is a plus.

Regards,

Tom

[Derek Arita]

I bought the Grizzly GO959 in December 2022. The GO959 has helical carbide cutter insert heads and my experience with cut quality on ash has been very good. I wanted a small footprint 12 inch wide jointer to go with my Grizzly 13 inch wide benchtop helical head thickness planer. These two machines together give me very good cut quality in very compact footprints. My focus is on hardwoods I use for making large signs, charcuterie boards, or half log surface jointing so my lengths are typically no longer than 3 feet. These machines do a good job for these short lengths. I have an Oneida V3000 with 4 inch drop hoses connected to my machines from my main 6 inch ceiling distribution lines. Dust/chip collection is very good for both machines with my central dust/chip collection system. Lastly, I have little feedback for you on the GO959 planer mode or change over to same as I do not use the planer feature on the GO959 ... I already have a Grizzly helical head thickness planer for that purpose. When first received, I did run some ash through the GO959 planer and cut quality was very good.

My bottom line ... good experience with the GO959 when in jointer mode. The Go959 planer mode is a backup for me in event my stand alone benchtop planer craps out temporarily. They use the same carbide cutters which is a plus.

Regards,

Tom

Tom, thanks for the reply. Was there any need to adjust the tables? If so, how’s it done? Right now, that’s my biggest concern.

[Tom Hartranft]

My in/out feed tables were well aligned as received so have not made any adjustments.

Before I bought my GO0959, I wrote Grizzly and asked the following:

"The manual makes no mention of checking outfeed table for parallel with cutter blade tips and/or leveling side-to-side. Same for the infeed table. I’m sure Grizzly makes a good product, but the bumps and drops of shipping and usage over time will likely require some table adjustments at some point. How does one do this on the GO 959?"

Grizzly response: "the only way to adjust the tables is to shim above or below the rails, reference 137."

So, there is no means of adjusting in/out feed tables via adjusting screw mechanisms. Rather, one must use shims via trial and error if/as needed. Hoping my machine stays in spec so I don't ever have to tinker with that. If/when I do, will give it a go.

Lastly, changeover from jointer to planer and vice versa is a bit of a hassle as is the case for any jointer/planer combo, but the relatively small footprint of the GO959 combo along with generous 12 inch jointer and planer helical cutter cutting capacity offsets the negative aspect of jointer to planer changeover. I avoided the changeover downside by getting Grizzly GO 940 helical head 13 inch planer. Both machines still give me a relatively small footprint without the angst of jointer to planer changeover.

Regards,

Tom

[Derek Arita]

Thanks Tom. Good info. I’m gonna give the planer a try to save space, so we’ll see. I don’t mind shimming if needed, as it took a while get my MM J/P adjusted with shims. I’m used to change-overs. Thanks again and I’ll post what I think of the machine.