G0490x arrived.

[21incher]

Today the UPS freight delivered my G0490x and I think they dragged the boxes across country behind the truck.


 
The jointer crate had one side that looked like it was punched in by a forklift, all the nails were ripped out, the bolts that mounted the bed were ripped through the box bottom and everything slid around in the box smashing Styrofoam and making a general mess while traveling cross country. The box with the base was torn up and had a couple of fork holes punched through it. I was going to refuse the shipment, but after opening everything it did not look to bad and we noted everything on the delivery ticket so I could file a claim if I found any damage later. I must say they were poorly packed and should have been strapped to pallets to allow UPS to move them without damaging them. Over the next couple of days I will assemble it and post some pics. Have to go out and get some grease remover and a case of paper towels tomorrow as it is covered in some type of protectant grease. They even poured oil into the hardware and tool bags to prevent rust. Next time I will drive to their store to pick my order up so I don't have to wait 2 1/2 weeks to get trashed crates.

[hamish]

That would have been hard for me not to refuse that shipment!

Funny how it can be shipped from the far-east to the US, just like it was packed, then cant even survive a trip for a few hours once in the US.

[WDH]

Shipping damage on this type of equipment is a huge problem. 

[21incher]

Well I sent Grizzly a email and they set up a incident number and will contact me tomorrow for further info and support. It only took them 15 minutes to respond and sounds like they will provide any support or claims I need. This was clearly a problem created by poor handling when switching trucks by UPS freight

[LaneC]

I hope it is ok. I hate to see these things. Shipping is so expensive, and they treat it so bad that it is unreal. You would think they would take a little pride in their work, for the simple reason, if no one ships anything they have no job. It is terrible.

[WDH]

I ordered a 15" planer, and the gearbox had been busted with a pallet fork.  Gear oil was leaking all over out the bottom of crate.  How could somebody punch a hole that high up on the crate? 

It is obvious that the person doing the damage does not accept responsibility for their actions.  In this case, they had to know that they had severely damaged the planer.  Shipped it to me anyway with oil running out of the crate. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Twice I ordered a 36" Starrett straightedge from Amazon.  Twice it was shipped in just the cardboard box that it comes in from Starrett.  Twice it was heavy enough to punch out on both ends and ding a corner on each end.  Just a little bit but that's not the point.  One shouldn't have to dress a Starrett straightedge with a file so it is accurate.   Still annoys me when I think about it.

[John S]

I just ordered a GO454Z planer and GO562ZP dust collector with the 10% off coupon.  The planer is out of stock so I will pick both up in a few weeks at the PA location. It is a few hours from here but I will save the aggravation of possible damage during shipping (hopefully). 
21, what are you using to remove the cosmoline?  Good luck with the jointer.
John

[xlogger]

WDH, I work for a trucking company that delivers freight like you had your damage freight brought to you. If the freight is damage we have to let you see it and let the customer decide if he wants to refuse it or make a claim. I'd suggest if it needs repair, refuse it! Some company makes you jump threw hoops to get repairs.  Most high  forklift holes come from the dock worker using long forks and going in to far on a stacked of pallets in front of the freight that was damaged. Trucking company pushes this guys hard out there to get everything loaded as fast as possible. I've got near 30 years with this and 2 months to go 8).

[21incher]

Unpacked everything to check it out and assemble it today. Used some straps like they show in the instructions and my loader to get the bed around to my basement door. Set it on some dollies to roll it in place.


 
Assembled the stand and was lucky that the pallet forks only went through the cardboard and 1/2 of the Styrofoam so no damage there. The instructions for assembly were right on without any problems.


 
I rolled the bed up to the stand and then rocked it up on some timbers to raise it to the cabinet height. It is over 300 lbs so it was the only way I could raise it up by myself.


 
Slid it onto the stand and aligned all the mounting holes and inserted the screws from the bottom


 
Tried tightening the 8 screws and the threads were not deep enough so I had to place 2 washers on each screw to get them to tighten. The washers on the screws alongside the chip chute had to be made into d shapes to get them in place.


 
Finished assembly without any other problems and then took some WD40 and paper towels to it . I was surprised how easy it was to clean up. I wiped the worst of the grease off the spiral head, sprayed it with the WD40, and turned it on with a piece of cardboard over the cutter head to catch the mess. Then I ran some 8 inch walnut and most of the grease came off. I was lucky there is no damage to the unit from shipping, but the beds are not adjusted properly and will have to be readjusted. About the only thing I see wrong with it is the in feed table is not ground perfectly flat and has a couple of thousandths cup in it in the first foot but that should be fine. All corners and edges were properly deburred and the fit and finish is great except for some nicks and scratches from shipping. Next I have adjust it and check the accuracy.
I can not believe how quiet it is compared to my old jointer, and how smooth it runs. Thank god only the crates were damaged 

[beenthere]

She's a beauty !!   8)

Thanks for the pics of the setup.

[Bill Gaiche]

I like it. I have been looking at the same thing the past week. I have a 6" Grizzly now and its a good machine. I just want an 8" to match the lumber I have sawn. That extra width helps with making wide boards for table tops, less glue up.bg

[WDH]

You are going to love it.

xlogger, thanks for the insight.  I refused the shipment, called Grizzly, and in 4 days, I had another one without any damage.  Grizzly customer service is very very good. 

[21incher]

I like it. I have been looking at the same thing the past week. I have a 6" Grizzly now and its a good machine. I just want an 8" to match the lumber I have sawn. That extra width helps with making wide boards for table tops, less glue up.bg

Bill It seems like a well built machine. The spiral head is awesome. I jointed a 2 1/2" x 8" x6' piece of knotty walnut to clean the head and I am impressed with the quality of the cut. There was no tear out around the knots, the surface was dead flat and slightly shiny with no indication the cut was made by small cutters. Plus it is so quiet that it cannot be heard over my dust collector. The new ones since April have 15 amp motors, new electronics, and a flat belt that is quiet and easy to tension. It did come slightly out of adjustment ( I do not know yet if it is from the rough shipping or factory setup ) but it seems like any tool you buy anymore needs some tweaking. This is one of the first units out of their new larger factory and the quality seems great.

  Grizzly customer service is very very good. 

They have been in contact with me and are willing to help any way they can so I agree with you. There are not many companies out there that will stand by you with a shipping problem.

[21incher]

Got the alignment as good as I could get it. The instructions say it takes a hour, but I spent 2. There 8 eccentric bushings that you turn to adjust the pivot shaft locations and each time you adjust one at least 3 others are affected. A little at a time I finally got everything tuned in within a couple of thousandths. I don't think there is any way to get it perfect with that many adjustments and tolerances involved. Ran a bunch of test pieces and they all came out flat and shiny.


 
Here is a pic of some spalted maple and it had no tear out or fuzziness on the soft areas or ripple from the cutters like my old jointer did. It is so nice to be able to flatten and square up boards up to 8 feet long. On the longer thinner boards you have to use light down pressure on the board to get them perfectly flat so I am thinking a power feeder could cause a problem with all the down pressure they use. The jointed pieces all seem to have a shiny finish with no visible ripple.


 
The jointer came with a couple of wrenches, 4 spare carbide inserts, 4 extra insert screws, several torx wrenches for the inserts, and 2 nice plastic push blocks. When I ordered it I did not imagine how big a difference the spiral head would make, and now it is a upgrade that I would recommend. Anyone have any pictures of larger homemade push blocks they have fabricated? 8) 8)

[Bill Gaiche]

 I copied the handle from another push block and made this one. Its about 12" long. I will make another larger one later. Handle is Sycamore and the other is pine. bg


 


  

  

  

 

[Bill Gaiche]

Your jointer looks like it did a great job, thanks for the photos and set up. bg

[Magicman]

The Grizzly is looking good.  Nice pushers Bill.   

[beenthere]

On the longer thinner boards you have to use light down pressure on the board to get them perfectly flat so I am thinking a power feeder could cause a problem with all the down pressure they use.

Not following your reasoning here, but not a problem as long as you are ok with it.
Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Enjoy that new jointer.  8)

[21incher]

On the longer thinner boards you have to use light down pressure on the board to get them perfectly flat so I am thinking a power feeder could cause a problem with all the down pressure they use.

Not following your reasoning here, but not a problem as long as you are ok with it.
Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Enjoy that new jointer.  8)

That is what I am talking about beenthere. The bed is so long it is very easy to press the cup out of a 3/4" thick board and wind up with a board that is not flat. It takes light pressure and several passed to get the high spots off and I think it would be hard to get straight boards adding a stock feeder unless your wood dried perfectly flat .


Thanks Bill Gaiche for the pics. I hope you don't mind if I copy it. I have some old craftsman pushers that look like the one you used for a pattern I will copy the handle shape from from. 


One thing I found out is my fence does not repeatably return to 90 deg after angling it. I adjusted the stop, but it must be checked with a square and tweaked every time. I may have to do a little filing on the taper lock to get it to seat properly.

[WDH]

I adjusted the stop, but it must be checked with a square and tweaked every time.

I always check it with the square anyway.  Only takes a minute and you know that it is perfect. 

[LeeB]

On the longer thinner boards you have to use light down pressure on the board to get them perfectly flat so I am thinking a power feeder could cause a problem with all the down pressure they use.

Not following your reasoning here, but not a problem as long as you are ok with it.
Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Enjoy that new jointer.  8)

That is what I am talking about beenthere. The bed is so long it is very easy to press the cup out of a 3/4" thick board and wind up with a board that is not flat. It takes light pressure and several passed to get the high spots off and I think it would be hard to get straight boards adding a stock feeder unless your wood dried perfectly flat .

I have noticed the same thing and try to just let the weight of the board hold it down when jointing the flat side. I have even been guilty of pushing too hard on edge jointing narrow, long stock.

[WDH]

Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Don't you mean bow instead of cup?

[21incher]

Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Don't you mean bow instead of cup?

I guess I really mean bow, cup, and twist if you want to wind up with a flat board.

[beenthere]

Are you talking "light pressure" to not press the cup out of a board?

Don't you mean bow instead of cup?

I meant cup. Hard to take bow out of a board that is of any length. Short boards/cuttings yes, but not long ones. And for much cup, better to rip through the cup and joint the narrower widths for later edge glue-up.
And hard to generalize as so many boards are different and need individual decisions made for best results.
I think if running rough stock over a jointer, that I would, in general, want the board pressed against the infeed and outfeed tables to press any bow out.