Which Jointer

[Greg Peterson]

Looking at a couple of Grizzly offerings on jointers.

Shop Fox 6"x55" w/Parallelogram Bed

or

Grizzly 8"x75" standard bed

Never having owned a jointer I don't know how important or useful the parallelogram bed may be. How often does one adjust the beds on a jointer? Is it a common and frequent adjustment?

[Jerome Hanby]

I'm sure Parallelogram is nice, but you can live with dovetail. I would go for the 8 inch over the 6 because when you need wider, there is no living with the 6 (other than jointing using some other device/technique).

[Trent Shirley]

I just recently got the Shop Fox 6"x55" you mention below and am very happy with it. It is a solid piece of equipment. I would have liked hand wheel adjustments and the mount for the motor is a bit cheap and took me a while to align properly but the machine does a great job.

Consider if you need 8" and at the difference in cost will you end up with a shorter bed and if can you live with it.



Looking at a couple of Grizzly offerings on jointers.

Shop Fox 6"x55" w/Parallelogram Bed

or

Grizzly 8"x75" standard bed

Never having owned a jointer I don't know how important or useful the parallelogram bed may be. How often does one adjust the beds on a jointer? Is it a common and frequent adjustment?

[Neil Brooks]

In the history of the free world, and electricity, has ANYBODY EVER said ...

" Dang ! I wish I'd bought the 6", instead of the 8", jointer "

;)

I love my Ridgid JP0610, but ... at 6" ... guess what I often wish for ? :)

[Greg Peterson]

Indeed bigger is almost always better. Having little experience with jointers I am unaware of the advantage of parallelogram beds.

[Van Huskey]

Tables rarely need to be adjusted, some jointers spend their entire lives without needing it. That said if you need to do it dovetail ways can be a pain to shim, there is a subset of jointers that use dovetail ways but have seperate table adjustments but are rare. Between the two of them I would pick the bigger jointer and try to verify the tables did not need adjusting prior to purchase if they are used.

Jointers are like boats you always wish for an extra 2 feet or in the case of jointers 2 inches.

[Chip Lindley]

Looking at a couple of Grizzly offerings on jointers.

Shop Fox 6"x55" w/Parallelogram Bed

or

Grizzly 8"x75" standard bed

Never having owned a jointer I don't know how important or useful the parallelogram bed may be. How often does one adjust the beds on a jointer? Is it a common and frequent adjustment?

Greg, if either jointer starts out with tables co-planar within specs, NO adjustment should ever be needed, unless something comes loose. There is no comparing a 6" machine to an 8" machine. If you are comparing only because of similar price points, Go with the 8" conventional jointer. You won't regret it anytime soon!

I worked with a 6" jointer for many years, and learned to plan my face jointing accordingly. Too-wide boards were ripped, jointed and reglued. Sometimes only because of 1/2"! An 8" machine reduces this sort of "busy work" lots!

[Greg Peterson]

Thank you gentlemen. It appears that for my modest needs the 8" is the best solution. The parallelogram beds won't be as useful as the extra 2".

[glenn bradley]

Thank you gentlemen. It appears that for my modest needs the 8" is the best solution. The parallelogram beds won't be as useful as the extra 2".

I heartily agree and I have a p-bed machine.

[Trent Shirley]

Thank you gentlemen. It appears that for my modest needs the 8" is the best solution. The parallelogram beds won't be as useful as the extra 2".

I agree that 8" is preferable but I could not afford the cost difference at the time and really liked the 55" bed on the Shop Fox.
I think I may design my own mount for the motor though, it truly is horrible. Like they spent so much time engineering the rest of the machine they ran out of time for the mount and slapped it together with spare parts. I have made spare parts creations that looked and worked much better myself.

[Stuart Gardner]

Roger all comments on the 8" Jointer. Was just wishing I had that extra 2" three days ago.

[Gordon Eyre]

For 30 years I have used a 6" jointer and during that entire time I have always wanted an 8". I applaud your decision to go with the 8" one.

[Steve Costa]

I have a PM Parallelogram Jointer. IF/when it is no longer co-planer the adjustment process is simpler than on a dovetail one, assuming you have a quaility straight edge.:)

[Ron Citerone]

Buy the 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been dealing with a 6 for twenty years and there are too many times I needed more. If you are gonna get a 6, buy a used one on craig's list so when you sell it for the 8 you won't lose any money!

[Gary Hodgin]

Don't know anything about the two jointers, but can safely say I would prefer the 8" to the 6". I have a 6" and long for an 8" or wider. It's a matter of space, money, and electricity for me.

[paul dyar]

I had the Jet 6" for over 10 years, and it served the purpose until I started drying my own boards. Then it was not the width, but the bed length that I had the problem with. I now have the GO490X and I am very satisfied
Paul

[michael case]

Do yourself a favor - get the Grizzly G0490 - the 8" Parallelogram jointer everyone loves. Now on sale for $825.00. Shimming is a nightmare. With most dovetails ending up true out of the box is rare. But beyond all that the G0490 puts the length in the infeed table where it belongs. Its infeed table is 43" long. This machine has famously true tables. Make yourself happy get an 8", get a Paralellogram, get a G0490