I'm happy! Its been two weeks since I placed my order, but as I said in an earlier post, the base unit was improperly welded and had to be replaced. Grizzly was very accommodating. They originally suggested that they send a new base with motor, wheels, etc., with me returning the original in the same box. I really didn't want to have to rebox everything and suggested that they just send the base, since it was probably useless to them anyway. They said no problem (I had sent them photos showing that the original base was twisted and basically something to be trashed). It wasn't all that easy swapping out all of the parts, as it required disconnecting the wires from the motor to the power switch, among other things.
All together it probably took 6 hours to get the unit up and running, with two hours of that time going to swapping out parts between the old and new base (admittedly I made a few mistakes along the way and had to repeat some of the steps). The instruction manual was not great by any definition, but good enough to get the job done. Grizzly supplies all of the needed tools and they have a parts sheet that I would recommend photocopying (I printed a second copy from the online manual, which also has a nice color diagram of the motor wiring) so that you can have it out and visible at all times. Everything fit together pretty well. One of the 8 holes for attaching the jointer beds to the base did not line up properly, but I'm not too worried about that--7 bolts should hold it pretty well. I do wish that the spacing of the holes was different. Some of them were in corners such that I could only get a quarter or half turn on the hex wrench at a time. The 3HP motor is heavy, but mounting it was much less of a problem than I anticipated, once I tilted the base on its side. I got the belt tension right the first time just by loosening the mounting brackets to the frame and letting gravity do the rest. I felt like I saved some time there. Attaching the fence mount was more difficult; there is nothing to rest it on during attachment and I would suggest you get some help for this step--I had none.
The fit and finish is very good, perhaps not quite as good as on my unisaw, but better than my laguna bandsaw. The only noticeable blemish is on the edge of the throat plate; there is a thin steel overlay and one of the corners was turned up. That corner sticks out beyond the cutterhead by a fraction of an inch and therefore is of no functional consequence, except that it is sharp and could scratch your hand pretty good. I will file it down smooth in the future and no one will ever know. The tables are just about perfectly flat; I never detected more than 2 thousandths of an inch gap under my 36 inch straight edge and most regions showed no gap at all. The fence was less perfect, but still excellent. The factory set knifes and outfeed table is close to perfect--two of the knifes are perfectly alingned, but the other two are set about 1-2 thousandths of an inch beneath the table. I was anxious to run a few test boards through and have left them as they were for now.
I am delighted with the test cuts. I was easily able to face joint a 6 by 64 inch quarter sawn white oak board! Smooth as a baby's behind and flat as a pond on a windless day.
I am pleased and would buy it again in a flash.
In deciding which jointer to buy, I was always concerned about why the grizzly jointer (this is the parallelogram model) is so much less expensive than the similar models from delta and powermatic. Where was grizzly cutting costs? I still do not know for sure and like to think that grizzly is just working on a different business model. That said, I think they are saving money with their tables, which are exactly 8 inches wide from end to end. I'm not sure of the exact dimensions of the delta and powermatic tables, but I know they are an inch or so wider than the cutterhead, at least on the infeed side. Indeed my old 6 inch delta is nearly eight inches wide on the infeed side of the cutterhead. I really can't see that making any difference though--its the size of the cutterhead and length of the tables that matter to me.
One cautionary note about the integrated mobile base. They get the job done and I can't imagine having an eight inch jointer without them if space is at all an issue in your shop. But be careful in moving the thing around, apart from being able to dent anything it runs into (we are talking serious MV), it is a bit top heavy. I had a scary moment where the unit tilted ever so slightly when moving it into position. The thought of that thing tipping over has left a permanent cautionary impression on me--which I guess is a good thing.
Don't worry, my shop is not always as clean and organized as it looks in the pictures. I went through a major reorganization recently to make room for the jointer. Any suggestions about where I can keep my 10 inch SCMS, which is sitting on the floor out of the view of the camera?
Oh and one last word about actual costs. I got the machine for the standard price of 795 plus 144 shipping. But then you also have to factor in lift gate charge (residential only), plug (not provided), receptacle, and most likely a new 220 Volt circuit breaker, wiring cable, etc. Bottom line, budget about 1,000.
The coffee table and experimental box with wood hinges are my two most recent projects.
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Originally Posted by Greg Cole
