how much vibration is "normal" on a jointer.
A friend of mine picked up a Grizzly G0490 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0490), and it has a slight vibration, not bad, but a small board will walk off the infeed table. the belt is running smooth, it's not whipping back and forth at all, we got that part fixed, but it's still got a vibration.
how much of this is normal?
I also must say that lining up the motor on those things is a major pain. I see some rework happening on that...
I took a glance at the machines specs and it weighs almost 600 pounds. With that amount of weight I wouldn't expect much vibration. You might give Grizzly a call and ask them what is normal. I'm restoring a 6" Delta now that doesn't have any vibration at all...but it is running a lot slower so the comparison isn't really valid.
Look for bent pulley's, and consider getting machined pulleys. Also, the segmented belts reduce a considerable amount of vibration.
But also look for an out-of-balance head, or a bad bearing.
Contacting Grizzly, as Larry suggests, is what I'd do too.
Your comment about motor alignment raises some suspicion too. Wondering whats up wit dat?.
the motor alignment method on this model is WAY less than impressive.
the motor came mounted in the wrong location, then has 8 bolts to get it in the right location. 4 to mount the motor to two small channel peices, and then 4 more to mount the channel pieces to the base. I was expecting the typical hanging motor on a bracket of sorts.
The motor is in a good location now, the pulley's are lined up, and the motor shaft is perpindicular to the belt, and the belt is under good tension. the belt looks good while it's running.
I'll hopefully get a few pictures tomorrow. maybe even a video or two.
I have had instances on machines that haven't been used for some time where the belt will have a memory of the pulley diameter. :(
Is this machine sitting on a good solid floor?
I have a Rigid planer that runs very smoothly. In my opinon the Grizzly shouldn't be vibrating at all. I wonder if something got bent in shipment.
You should probably take off the belt and run the motor only. That will verify that the motor is okay. Does it still have the factory belt? On contractor style table saws the seam in the cheap belt will set up a vibration. A machined belt or segmented belt will help. I suspect though that the head is out of balance to set up this much vibration.
the motor seems to run smooth if you touch it while it's running. it's is such a major PAIN to get the motor/belt tension right we're dreading checking the motor by itself, but that may happen tomorrow.
it is the factory belt. but it was not on the machine during shipment.
by segmented belt, do you mean this: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=6040&filter=52233 ?
I"m also planning on taking a few videos of a glass of water sitting on various parts of the tables, the vibration is definately worse out on the ends.
That's the belt, and its also in the Grizzly catalog with the machined pulleys.
I have the same machine, and it does not have the vibration you are talking about. Don't know if that helps, or makes it worse. ::)
I do agree about the motor mounting arrangement, though.
Check to make sure that all the gib bolts and hight screws are installed . If one is missing that will make things shake.
If it's vibrating, then something is wrong. The first thing I would do is to borrow a dial indicator mounted on a magnetic base. Use this to check for bent parts, the cutter head in particular. If nothing else, it will eliminate this as a potential problem.
I didn't think of that, I have a dial indicator, we'll check that.
I had checked for all the screws in the cutterhead, they were all there.
Going back to what Chet said....is it sitting on a concrete floor, or on a mobile stand, or ??? I had problems with Grizzly's standard 8" jointer vibrating on me. The tech. sent me two new belts for it, but it turned out it was b/c of the mobile base I made for it. It was parked on the basement floor near the floor drain, so the floor wasn't flat. If I moved the jointer to a different spot on the floor everything was fine.
this jointer has the base that it came with, but it has 3 points that it sits on...
I also have that same jointer and I have not noticed any vibration. Call Grizzly.
when you say no vibration, can you feel any vibration at all? or is it smooth as glass?
Dan, I would have to head to the barn and turn it on to give you an honest answer. I do not remember any vibration when I last used it. I will be over at the barn fro a while tonight and I will fire it up and get back to you.
ok, thanks, I'd like to know what "normal" is.
i guess i'm expecting and accepting a slight amount of vibration, but how much is too much.
OK, back from the barn. I fired up the jointer and placed a bottle of water on it, first on each table and then on the sliding fence do hicky. Nary a ripple in the water so I would have to say I have minimal vibration. My jointer sets on a concrete floor that is somewhat less than level. If you are experiencing appreciable vibrations I would say something is out of whack. Give Grizzly techs a call. They can be most helpful.
Dan
I would have emailed them as soon as I thought I might possibly have a problem.
They have been quite prompt and helpful for me in that regard. I generally email all that I can as I tend to get/give better and more thorough thought and explanation.
That and I have to keep the phone as open as I can for all those folks who want me to buy something. ;D
The vibration you mention does not sound 'normal'.
It's not actually my jointer, but a friend's jointer. I've got the sawmill, he's got the woodshop....
He talked to Grizzly yesterday, and they gave him some information. My guess is it's the belt, we closely looked at it yesterday, and it seems to have a slight deformity, but we need to take it out and look at it.... ugh, and that's a pain...
Of course, there's no telling how it was handled in shipping. Those guys can sometimes be pretty amazing at what they can accomplish without significant external evidence.
Good stroke, Dan, to have someone you can work with.
yep, cheap labor too, but as with all good friends, it comes out even.