Decided on the G0453Z Planer

[glenn bradley]

As usual for FedEx Freight, everything arrived in good condition, the driver placed it right inside the shop and refused to take a tip. I did give him a soda and a bottle of water for the road though. I'll have to ponder how to get it on the floor. An engine hoist, strap and the built-in lifting bars seems easiest.

[Paul Greathouse]

You'll love it Glenn,

I've had my 20" for a couple years now and haven't had any major problems, just keep up the routine maintenance and it runs fine.

[Paul McGaha]

Beauty Glenn, Congratulations and Happy Planing.

PHM

[Cary Falk]

I'll have to ponder how to get it on the floor. An engine hoist, strap and the built-in lifting bars seems easiest.

Walk it over the edge of the pallet. Set the edge down on the floor. Lift the other end off of the pallet and kick the pallet out from under it. If the angle off the edge of the pallet is too steep, use a 2x4 to set it on. Congrats on the new planer. Mine arrives towards the end of the month.

[Stephen Ash]

Congrats. Mine arrived just like that, bolted down to a pallet. I unbolted it and rolled it right off the pallet using a makeshift ramp I made out of 2x4 scraps and a small piece of plywood. Watch your toes though :)

Regards,
Steve

[glenn bradley]

Thanks for the tips guys, a couple friends and I walked it right off the pallet. Glad I didn't fool with renting an engine hoist or something like that. It was quite easy, we even missed our toes. :D

I learned on my other helical head machine that even though you have been thorough during clean up, the insert head offers so many little hidey-holes that there is always a blob of goo waiting to shoot out and foul that piece of birds eye maple. I pulled the top and cut a board to fit across the opening. I also cut piece that would cover the bed. I added a little cardboard cheerfully supplied by Grizzly in the packing materials and covered any last little holes with tape.

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Fire it up and let it run a couple minutes; there nice and clean.

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All the little last bits of goo go out with the trash.

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Parallel clamps reversed as spreaders make the table setup go quick.

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This 3/4" board used to be a 2x6. I'll run a couple more down to nothing to warm her up.

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The finish is smooth regardless of feed direction on this 2x stuff. I'll run some good stuff after a little more tweaking. I was happy to see that the marks I was worried about while taking small bites only seem to show up if I run the board through twice without changing the depth of cut. Even the slightest adjustment seems to yield a smooth surface.

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I used my 1HP Delta upgraded with an AFF top filter and a solid lower bag on my lunchbox. It seems to keep up fine on this guy too. I actually seem to get less "escapees" than I did on the DeWalt(?). If I had any issue I would just add a drop from the cyclone but all seems fine so far. The built-in mobile base is similar to the one on my jointer and the machine moves very easily once the base is unlocked.

All in all I give it two thumbs up:
- arrived complete and in good shape
- easy to assemble and set up
- soooo much quieter than the lunchbox screamer
- good dust collection even with a 1HP bagger