New Grizzly G0453Z Planer

[George Bregar]

Look what showed up at the shop! My new Grizzly G0453Z 15" Planer with spiral cutterhead. Now to get it off the pallet, it weighs 650 pounds. I "walked" it to the edge of the pallet, and then tipped it down so the it was half on/half off. Tipped it up, and kicked out the pallet. Then rolled it off the edge of the smaller pallet it was on. See the black rods? I used those to lift and move it around. They are for lifting by forklift. My back is a bit tight but all is well. That's the last add to my shop build out. Should be making sawdust by spring!

Once the shop is "done" I'll post some pics.

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[Mikail Khan]

Congrats on the new planer. You can slip a piece of pipe over the black rods on these planers to give yourself more leverage when moving them off of pallets or on to mobile bases.

[George Bregar]

Congrats on the new planer. You can slip a piece of pipe over the black rods on these planers to give yourself more leverage when moving them off of pallets or on to mobile bases. Thanks and for the tip too, but as you can see it's off. Thankfully Grizzly put a built in mobile base on the G0453Z.

[glenn bradley]

Congrats George. I've had that beast since August of 2010 and have been very pleased. Floor models are not finish planers so there is some adjustment from factory default to get a nicer finish. Mine came set for rough lumber with the table rollers high and the feed roller tension pretty aggressive. I put the rollers even with the table and backed the feed roller tension way off. The thing still has a grip like an alligator but, doesn't leave little ripple marks in the material now unless it is really soft stuff like pine.

After I got most of the goo off, I taped a piece of cardboard to the table area, pull the top off and clamped a scrap of ply over the top and fired it up. That got nearly all the goo off the cutters without me having to bath the machine in mineral spirit. BTW, those inserts are really sharp. Do yourself a favor and wear gloves when working anywhere near it. DAMHIKT.

I tried to use the little 1HP bagger I have dedicated to my jointer for this guy; no way could it keep up. I ran a 6" duct to it from my cyclone over in the corner and removed that bothersome foam strip that is under the hood. After that, she runs clean as a whistle. It is surprising how easy it is to move this beast around on the built-in base; at least on concrete. I pulled the lifting bars and stored them away and I added a longer power cord and a DRO. She's been a workhorse, I think you're gonna be happy with it.

[Rich Riddle]

Congratulations on your new planer. How long did it take to arrive to your home after you ordered it? Did you have to use the lift gate service at a cost? I am looking to order a planer next week and am 95% certain it will be a Grizzly. I already ordered the Shelix head because I have a jointer with that head, so mine will be either the Polar Bear series or regular straight blade series. I am leaning toward the Polar Bear version because it has the wires hidden like yours. With the straight blade version, the green Grizzly has the wires simply hanging in the pictures.

The 5% chance is that I go with a General International made in Taiwan. It's far more expensive though.

[George Bregar]

Thanks Glen. Your past posts on this planer helped in the buying decision. How did you convert the 4" dust port to 6"?

[George Bregar]

Rich, it took less than a week with Christmas in that week. My shop as at my lake home so I delayed a few days more to get up there. I did not do liftgate because the shipper, Saia Freight, only has semis which cannot get to my shop. I have them meet me at a local hardware store/rental center. They have a forklift and take it off the semi and drop it in a trailer I rent to take it the two miles to my shop. They only charge me $30 for all that.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks Glen. Your past posts on this planer helped in the buying decision. How did you convert the 4" dust port to 6"?

Sorry, my previous post didn't read well. I ran a 6" hard duct to a blast gate. Before taking out the tin snips, I reduced to a 4" hose at the gate to see how things worked. The draw with a 2HP cyclone about 25' of duct away works fine. In the spirit of 'don't fix it if it ain't broke' I have continued to use it this way. It actually works out for me as I use a short piece of 4" flex with a quick-couple (flared) end on each end. This lets me use the hard duct and gate for other things when I am not milling lumber. When its time to plane I just roll the beast over, slip the hose on and go to it. Until I start seeing chips go anywhere except down the hose, I will call this good ;-)

[George Bregar]

I run a 6" hard duct to a blast gate. Before taking out the tin snips, I reduced to a 4" hose at the gate to see how things worked. The draw with a 2HP cyclone about 25' of duct away works fine. In the spirit of 'don't fix it if it ain't broke' I have continued to use it this way. It actually works out for me as I use a short piece of 4" flex with a quick-couple (flared) end on each end. This lets me use the hard duct and gate for other things when I am not milling lumber. When its time to plane I just roll the beast over, slip the hose on and go to it. Until I start seeing chips go anywhere except down the hose, I will call this good ;-) Ah, so really 4" to the machine. Thanks.

[Danny Hamsley]

You are going to really like it. Mine does a beautiful job, almost perfect surface. I have planed thousands of BF through it (maybe 4,000 BF) and I have not had to even turn the cutters yet. However, I use a steel brush to brush every board before planing to get rid of any grit.

So, if I remove a foam strip under the hood, that will improve chip extraction? Please say more about this.

[Jim Andrew]

I didn't even try my planer before removing the foam strip, because of the comments here. Appears it is there to make all the air come from around the cutterhead, but must need more air, as removing the strip lets air come from around the feed roller. Was surprised at how well the dust collection works, I used 2 elbows and a 4 to 6 adapter to connect to my 6" hose, and it gets the dust even if I forget to close the gate on my jointer.