So, I just ordered my first jointer - the G0490

[Matt Armstrong]

In the true fashion of "captain overkill" I decided I needed a jointer. Stock is hard to come by for reasonable prices around here but I can get pretty good deals on S2S or rough stock... so anyway, I scoured craigslist for 3-4 months but never found anything reasonable. I wanted a decent 6" jointer but then gave up.

So naturally for my first jointer, I figured I was happy with my "bigger is better" mentality with my unisaw (I debated whether to get a cabinet saw or a contractor's saw...) and so the 8" grizzly G0490 fit the bill. I'm excited, especially since I've been trying to "get by" by face jointing stock using a portable planer (which is a lot of work to use a sled with).

So, hopefully this thing doesn't suck. I don't have any excellent tools to critique the flatness of the beds or the squareness of the fence, so grizzly can really fleece me with some beat up jointer if they wanted to, i guess.

[Mike Hoyt]

Dont worry about a fleecing Matt, I have had a 490X for about 6 months with zero issues. The tables were as flat as I could measure and it was set up perfect right out of the crate. I see you have a Unisaw already so that satisfying thump of a 3hp motor starting up wont be a big surprise:p. You will love it.

Mike

[Cary Falk]

I think you made a great choic Matt. I have it's twin brother from Shop Fox and love it. I have several other Grizzly toola and am completely happ with all of them.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Matt,

I'll have the twin to it in my shop before I retire next year.

[Charles Davis]

Hey Matt,

I'm just finishing tuning mine up... bed and fence were flat BUT I needed to perform every adjustment in the book. I'm not complaining... it's expected to make some adjustments. Search around in here and you'll find threads about closing the dust chute and securing the motor (with clamps or a board as a wedge).

Besides those changes I needed to:


set the knives
adjust outfeed table to be level with cutterhead body by adjusting the eccentric bushings
adjust infeed table to be level with outfeed table by adjusting the eccentric bushings
adjust outfeed table to be level with knives
adjust the stops on the fence for accurate 90 (need to do the 45 still)

I'm just mentioning this because adjusting the beds may be necessary... unfortunately I got tired of attempting to find parallel across the two beds with short straight-edges and paid the $80 for LV's 50" straight-edge and am glad I did... spanning that distance made it very easy (and showed a good dip in the middle that wasn't apparent with an 18" straight-edge). I'd just consider it part of the jointer costs... and it will be useful time for readjusting and other tasks such as flattening benchtops, etc...

Just wanted to give you a heads-up... when I first ran my jointer with little adjustments it was terrible... but it works like a champ now that I fully understand the machine's adjustments.

Enjoy it!
Charles

[Jim Kountz]

Ive had the 0490X for a while now and its a great machine. Both tables were in good adjustment right out of the box. After a couple of tweaks to the fence and the dust chute it was ready to go.

[glenn bradley]

Another G0490X owner. The machine was setup so well right out of the crate that I had to check it twice just to be sure I wasn't missing something; I wasn't. The fence had a small casting shadow that I now realize was not an issue. Grizzly had a replacement in my hands in a few days. You are about to change your whole approach to parts selection. Being able to mill my own parts has given me a lot of freedom with my material.

I did the chute close-up before I did anything else (it was easier). I was alone so I used a small rope and pulley setup to mount my motor. I also went directly to a link belt and elevated the belt guard. All these things (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=850551#poststop) have been done by others as well which is how I knew to just do them right off instead of having to go back. Glad I did. Thanks all you Creekers.

[Steve Clardy]

I've had my 490 for a year now.
Excellent machine. It was a tent sale item. $99.00 :D

After spending another 200 hundred for parts, I came out real well. ;)

[Dave Verstraete]

I've had the 0490X for almost a year. No Problems...Great machine

[Charles Davis]

Hey,

Thought I'd share my motor fix... others have used a piece of lumber wedged above the motor or clamps to hold the motor in place. Without the fix the motor lifts slightly while running giving slack to the belt and you may hear the belt slap the belt guard as I have.

I found a foot long bungie does the job! This bungie is actually from a grizzly order... they should throw one in with the G0490. Anyways, it's simple... you don't have to waste a pair of clamps... or deal with the wood wedge (which would occastionally fall down for me... I realize I could find a larger piece to wedge).

It would be nice if we had one dedicated thread to all the tuning for the G0490... securing the motor, dust chute, link belt, etc... actually it would be usefull for any machine really... to be able to come to sawmill creek and read one definitive thread about tuning up each machine.

Anyone know if Sawmill Creek has ever talked about such a sub-forum and convention?
Regards,
Charles

[Don Bullock]

Matt, congratulations. I did the exact same thing a couplr of years ago and I'm very glad that I did. The G0490 is a very good machine.

[Frank Trinkle]

Love my G0490! The only thing I may do is order the Shelix cutterheads when my current blades need replacing.

(I plan to do the same for my Delta 22-580 planer as well)

[Jeff Carley]

Charles: You mentioned in one of your posts that you were able to adjust the eccentric bushings to align the infeed table with the outfeed table. I'm at this same point with my G0490 and I'm minutes from sending the whole thing back to Grizzly. The front bushing on the infeed table that resides under the blade guard is about as an impossible task to turn as I'm willing to deal with any more. I've removed the set screws, but because that bushing is buried beneath the blade guard frame I can't get in there with any wrench that I have on had. And buying a spanner wrench I'm not sure is going to help. There comes a point in the turning of that bushing there the base and the blade guard frame is in the way. What did you use to turn that bushing so that the tables align. I have everything else aligned, this is my last adjustment to make though.

[Steve Clardy]

Grasp the 2 flats on the side of the bushing with a pair of channel lock pliers.
Or the 2 small grooves in front of the bushing, use a pair of snap ring pliers to turn it with.
If those 2 tools aren't available to you, take the guard and the bridge casting [2 allen head bolts] off and you will have access to use a open end wrench to turn that bushing with.

[Lee Koepke]

i just bought a JET 6" with a 46" table .. its got the quick change knives.

Due in late next week. I am excited.

[Jeff Carley]

I should have mentioned that earlier. I did take the guard and the bridge casting off. Still not enough clearance for an 1 1/4" open ended wrench. I'll try the snap ring pliers. Not sure if they are going to be strong enough to turn that bushing.

[Jeff Carley]

Well I found something to turn that bushing. It is a long 3/8 inch flat punch. I didn't even know I had it. I was trying to find my snap ring pliers when I ran across the punch. So I gave it a whack. That did it. I was able to get that bushing to turn enough that the two tables are now even, on that corner anyway. It still isn't cutting perfectly, but I now have a way to turn the bushings. Thanks again.

[Steve Clardy]

Sounds good. :cool:

[Charles Davis]

Hey Jeff,

Glad to hear you got the bushings moving. I used a 12" cresent wrench. I had trouble accessing the rear bushings closest to the cutterhead. I ended up taking off the fence and carriage. Hopefully you have a good long straight-edge to reference a good amount of both tables... ultimately I purchased Lee Valley's 50" straight-edge and it made this process much easier.

Adjusting the bushings can be frustrating as it's more of an art... takes a while to make the minute adjustments to each bushing. It was tempting to attempt to make gross adjustments with the nearest bushing but that screws up parallel else where. Subtle adjustments of each bushing worked best for me... and at one point during the adjustment of the infeed table (to make parralel with outfeed) I needed to slightly raise the infeed table height. So if you find yourself chasing parrallel consider table height again as bringing tables to parralel may necessitate that.

I know how frustrating this stuff can be (and I'm still going through this with other tools)... don't know how many times I've had to walk away and come back in an hour. But you'll get it and it's worth it... I was wasting a lot of material with this jointer not being well-tuned... now there's minimal waste and in the long run that's important.

I polished the tables and fence earlier (with some festool vlies pads), treated with t-9, and just waxed with Renaissance wax and it is smooooth... I've finally tamed this beast. Now I have to decide if I'm going to switch to the byrd head... bought it, but now that I have this perfectly tuned I may just go with the knives... so you may see a byrd head on the classifieds soon... heh...

Good luck with your remaining tuning!
-Charles

[James White]

Jeff,

I just wanted to be sure that you know. That there are two set screws for each bushing. You remove the first one in order to access the second one underneath it.

James