Buying an Old Grizzly Jointer Used or a Newer model

[Joel Turner]

I'm looking at potentially buying a 12 year old Grizzly jointer (G1182ZX) with few hours on it according to the owner. This will be first jointer I've owned. An 8 inch jointer is out of the question due to space and shop wiring. I only have 110V.

What caught my eye about the ad was the inclusion of a brand new Shelix head still in the box. However, it's unknown how old the head is. He's asking $400 for both. The head itself new is $359.00 and I believe it can be used in any 6" jointer with the exception of Powermatic. Putting the asking price aside for a moment and assuming the jointer is in reasonable good mechanical working order (no rust, tables are flat), is it worth the effort to pursue this or buy a newer model and forgo the Shelix head? I suppose if desired I could always buy the head stand alone later.

Any advice or thoughts from the community is appreciated.



--Joel

[Stephen Cherry]

Seems like a good deal to me. I have a 12" grizzler jointer, and it has served well. If you had the juice, the space and the money, something better would be nice, but it seems like this one could get you going on a tight budget. Plus, you could upgrade later without loosing your shirt.

[Ken Platt]

Having just switched to helix type heads, I would suggest that having one of these is a significant improvement. They reduce the need to always be watching and adjusting for your grain direction, tear out on figured stuff is reduced also. It's really nice to just toss the boards on the jointer and not have to try to figure out which way gives me less tearout - and then be saying bad words when it happens anyhow. I don't know the market in your area, but 400 for the jointer and the helical head sounds pretty good; I would be curious what the price of new with helical head is.

Are all the 8 inchers 220 volts these days? The one I had could be wired for 110 (Yorkcraft, no longer available) and I used it that way for years.

Ken

[Joel Turner]

Having just switched to helix type heads, I would suggest that having one of these is a significant improvement. They reduce the need to always be watching and adjusting for your grain direction, tear out on figured stuff is reduced also. It's really nice to just toss the boards on the jointer and not have to try to figure out which way gives me less tearout - and then be saying bad words when it happens anyhow. I don't know the market in your area, but 400 for the jointer and the helical head sounds pretty good; I would be curious what the price of new with helical head is.

Are all the 8 inchers 220 volts these days? The one I had could be wired for 110 (Yorkcraft, no longer available) and I used it that way for years.

Ken

As far as I know all the 8 inchers I've looked at are 220v. None of them are under 2 HP. A new Grizzly is $525 and one with their spiral head is $904 with shipping. The only thing that gives me pause is the age of the unit but the seller claims it really hasn't been used.

[Matt Meiser]

Unless it was a basket case I'd jump on that deal fast. At that price, things I wouldn't put in the major problems list include light rust or needing bearings on the head (I'd change them anyway installing the Byrd) or appearance-only issues. Any other problems should be easy to research how easy/hard/expensive a fix might be. A motor wouldn't scare me since it should be a standard 3450RPM, 56-frame motor, but I'd use that as a negotiation point. Warped tables might scare me but misaligned ones could e a negotiating point as well. Check that the ways aren't cracked which could be caused by lifting any dovetailed-way jointer by the beds.

[scott spencer]

Sounds like a fair deal to me if it's in good shape and if you're interested in that cutter head. The 1182 is a well proven tool.

[Rich Riddle]

Buy the older one with the Shelix head if you are definitely stuck with the 6" jointer. An 8" jointer can run on 120 volts; it's quite easy, but that's another story all together. Good luck with changing the head though it's simple if you have even a modest amount of mechanical ability.