Report on the G0453

[Jay Stellers]

So far it's a positive experience with the new 15" planer.

My biggest gripe is that the gear oil box was BONE dry and I had to fill it. The manual says it was shipped with oil but It must have been "overlooked" on this machine.

That aside, my assembly went without too much problem. The biggest PITA was cleaning all the cosmoline (waxy oil protectant) off the un painted surfaces. The hardest was the infeed drive roller. It was all over in those deep spiral grooves, and I had to keep pushing the belt on the pulleys by hand to rotate the infeed and outfeed drive wheels. They are on a reduction gear so it was a lot of belt pulling to move those in a complete circle. The spiral pattern didn't help with getting the gunk out either. It just took time, tunes, and dilligence to get 'er done.

My first few test boards were alright except for the chips from the planing got mashed into the board by the outfeed drive roller. Adjusting the chip deflector didn't help at all. I found a few posts here that talked about removing the foam strip from the underside of the cutterhead cover. There wasn't anything really definative about the results, so I tried everything else first. Nothing worked. Then I bit the bullet and ripped the foam off. All the boards I ran through after than were clean as a whistle. I'm wondering why that foam was included to begin with. Seems odd to add an extra part (added expense) that hinders performance but when removed solves the problem. So for everyone out there with that problem, removing the foam is definately the way to go.

Removing the D/C chute is not that pleasant. It's not hard to do but it's a tedious task because you have to stick your hand into the dust chute with a wrench and work half blind. That's a really minor gripe though.

I need to adjust my bed rollers because my boards are coming out with the striations from the outfeed drive roller. I've read that adjusting the rollers to .002" above the table height will resolve that issue. The rollers are adjusted at .02" above the bed at the factory, thus giving the wood more pressure against the feed rollers. I don't have a dial indicator yet so I can't really mess around with the roller height just yet. Does anyone know of a way to adjust them accurately without a dial indicator?

So that's all for now.

[Jay Stellers]

I've been out planing some more wood. The handle on the depth adjustment wheel rattles when the planer is on. It's getting kinda annoying but it doesn't affect the operation of the planer. Any of you guys/gals out there with the G0453 have this same issue? If so what, if anything, did you do to stop the rattle?

[Frank Trinkle]

I have the same problem with my G0490. Rattle rattle... but no effect.

Until I find the source, guess I'll just live with it.

[Jay Stellers]

Well I'm starting to remember why I've held off buying anything for the shop for over a year. It's the frustration with having spent lots of money and not having the machine work as it's intended.

I have discovered why the planer arrived with no oil in it. It has a leak. It is not coming from either the drain or fill plug. It's either coming from the gasket or a screw hole that holds the outside cover to the gear housing. I re-inspected the crate and saw some evidence that oil had been spilled on the bottom of the crate. I looked at the manufacture date of my machine and it was 11/2007. So that could explain why it wasn't immediately evident. That machine has been in this world for quite a while. I wonder if Grizzly has a backlog of inventory and that's why they are offering the free shipping. Anyways, I'm anxiously awaiting word from them on how they will rectify this matter. I'll let you guys know how things progress, but I'm feeling frustrated already. Not a good feeling.

I've contacted Grizzly CS at their email this morning and no response yet. I hope that's not buyer's remorse setting in.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Jay, adjust your bed rollers with a straight edge and a feeler gauge.

Since I always planed wood that had been run through a jointer first, I set the bed rollers below the table on my last planer. (My new planer, a Hammer A3-31 doesn't have bed rollers).

Many planers leave marks if the depth of cut isn't large enough. I suggest that you try taking 1/16'' depth of cut and see if the problem persists before adjusting the feed rollers.

Sorry to hear about the gearbox leak, hopefully it's a simple fix.

Regards, Rod.

[Jay Stellers]

Thanks for the advice Rod. I'll give that method a try. As far as the outfeed drive marks, I'll make a note to see if they lighten up with making a heavier cut. That would kind of defeat the purpose of making a real light final pass for nice finish though, huh?

To update the situation with the planer problems, I received a call this morning from Grizzly Tech Support. I was told that the rattling handle is not a common problem and they are shipping me a new handle and the guy made a note on the order to have it inspected to see if it will rattle prior to them shipping it.

As far as the gearbox oil leak, they are shipping me a new gear box cover and gasket. I'll have to drain the gearbox, remove the sprockets, then pop the cover off and replace the gasket and cover. I think I'm up to the challenge and they said they'd walk me through it over the phone if need be. Their Customer service seems to be very attentive and it's nice to talk to real people who seem to know what they are doing. I'll give you another update when the parts arrive and I get to swapping them out.

[Jay Stellers]

I got my parts today from Grizzly. The handle was a little better but it still rattled a little bit. I put a rubber washer on it and then retightened and it was better but not silent. I decided to double check the belt tension and it was way too loose. I could easily deflect the belt almost 2 inches. Tightening that up along with the rubber washer cured the rattling handle.

As far as the gear-box leak...I got the correct gasket but they shipped the gear box instead of the gear box cover. Aye! I looked on the invoice and it listed the part number for the "gear box", but the description stated "gear box cover." So it's mis-labeled in their computer system and any tech that just looks at the description will send the wrong part. A phone call to them hopefully gets the gear box cover shipped out. So I guess I have to wait another week.

[Paul Johnstone]

Well I'm starting to remember why I've held off buying anything for the shop for over a year. It's the frustration with having spent lots of money and not having the machine work as it's intended.
.

I know what you are saying :) Getting a new tool should be like Christmas morning, but sometimes it becomes another unwanted chore.
I hope you get everything resolved.

[glenn bradley]

When I had to get a replacement fence for my Grizzly jointer it did take a little of the Christmas morning out of the experience. I was quick to make peace with it as I could have paid $1000 more for a Delta with no spiral cutter head and no guarantee of a trouble free machine. The money I saved paid for a lot of wood and another small machine so it was worth a little fiddling. Griz was always quick to resolve any problem no matter how small. I hope you get the same level of service. Keep us posted.

[Jay Stellers]

Well I got my parts....again. This time the correct part so I diligently set out to replace the gasket and cover so the oil leak would stop. I first drained what oil was still in the gear box then took pix of everything installed before I dismantled all the chains and gear etc.

I got the cover off and then went to put the new cover on. There was a bearing and an oil seal around the bearing that were in the old cover. I couldn't budge them without fear of damage. I don't have a bearing puller. I called Grizzly again to see if they had any ideas. The easiest fix for them was to send me a new bearing and oil seal. So now I have to wait again until those arrive. Aye! The CS at Grizzly has been nice and professional, it just seems like much of this could have been avoided. Anyways, I'm looking forward to having the planer up and running.

I did discover that there was a bit of metal (slag perhaps) on the old cover is a couple places that would prevent the gasket sealing the oil in. The gasket was also very brittle and cracked. The new gasket appears to be made from nice pliable rubber so I think this will ultimately solve my problem. It's just taking a month and lots of effort on my part to get there.

[Paul Johnstone]

. It's just taking a month and lots of effort on my part to get there.

You have the patience of a saint. Hope it works out well.