Any Grizzly G0490x assembly tips?

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks to the reviews on SMC I purchased a Grizzly G0490x 8" jointer. I am upgrading from a Delta 6" I have had for years. My shop is in my basement and I think an 8" is all I can lug down the 4 stairs. The decision was also helped along by getting the magical 10% coupon forwarded to me by another Creeker, thanks again, the jointer arrived today.

I have read a bunch of threads and found a few "assembly tips" here and there. I'm sure I missed some so if you have any please post them. We still have about a foot of snow here so it will be a couple of weeks before I can drive around to the hatchway and get it into the basement.

Any unpacking, assembly, cleaning, moving, adjusting, etc. tips would sure be appreciated.

Thanks


310616

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jebediah,

The G090X has a history of having pulley set screws loosening and thus misalignments occur. When I got mine, I took the time to use a threadlocker. I removed all the set screws including the one on the drive motor, put thread locker on them and reinstalled them. I haven't had a single problem.

Congratulations! I truly enjoy mine. It's not perfect but it's a great bang for the buck!

[Jim Andrew]

I would probably open the carton enough to get the book out. The book explains each step to assembly, and cleanup as well. WD 40 works well, as does paint thinner. Lots of paper towels. I like the little tube wd40 comes with to wash around the cutters if you got the helical head. And if the boxes are going to set outside, get a plastic tarp to cover it with.

[Wade Lippman]

It is really easy to put together; you shouldn't need any tips.
I use a credit card to get 90% of the gunk off. Am I the only person to do this? I have never seen anyone else suggest it.

[Jebediah Eckert]

THanks Ken, I did pick that up from an earlier post, I will definitely do that.

The boxes are in the garage until they can be moved, and I will try the credit card trick for sure.

[Scott Brandstetter]

Jebediah
I will be very interested to hear how it goes for you. I just received and installed my first Grizzly power tool today, GO 691 Table Saw. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the instructions and the quality of the machine, I certainly was. I have an 8 inch jointer on the way without the spiral cutter head (hope I haven't made a mistake here). Please let us know your thoughts once installed.

[Alan Wright]

I just bought this jointed a few weeks ago and put it together. I followed directions step by step, dust didn't see any steps telling me to take the side panels off the base. Figured it out myself and it made putting together pretty simple. I expected it to come without a plug like several of my other grizzly tools, but it came preinstalled, so I had to go get the matching socket, which is different than mY other Grizzly tools. Take your time and you will be up and running in 2-3 hours. Love the tool by the way. The spiral head is very quiet....

[William A Johnston]

Ive had this jointer for about 8 months and you will really like using it. I had trouble aligning the beds with a straight edge so I gave up in that and just started running some boards on edge to get my correct height. Run a board adjust and repeat. Didn't take long at all. I check my fence to make sure its 90 degrees every time I use it because it seam to get out of adjustment after I use it for a while. Not an issue to me because for the price its a excellent tool.
It is really quite and the dust collection works good.

[Randy Red Bemont]

I have the same machine. It's a very simple build. You'll have no problems.

Red

( I used to live up the street from you on Eastwood Drive in East Hartland! I owned/ran wood stiles woodworking from there at the time.)

[glenn bradley]

Locate an even section of floor for the assembly. My shop has a slanted floor so I can't find a level spot but, I can find an even one . :) Assemble the base leaving the sides off. Have help for aligning the motor (I used a small block and tackle from a rafter, worked great). As mentioned, when you align the pulleys, make sure you double check the tightening of your allen screws. The newer versions already have closed chutes and serpentine belts so the previous "standard" fixes to the DJ-20 format machines are not an issue on this version. Once you have the base even on the floor, the motor positioned and whatever else is involved with the switch (IIRC), have a friend help you lift the tool onto it and fasten it down. I added a longer cord during assembly. I also added a bit of UHWM tape to the fence 'foot' where it contacts the table to ease sliding/avoid scratching. I don't know if the small measuring rule rabbet is still present at the left end of the fence but, the edge on this was quite sharp and I eased it with a file.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks. I went out this morning and debated an attempt at getting it around back to the hatchway. Not going to happen. Tips are great I will update when I do it.

[Jebediah Eckert]

I have the same machine. It's a very simple build. You'll have no problems.

Red

( I used to live up the street from you on Eastwood Drive in East Hartland! I owned/ran wood stiles woodworking from there at the time.)


Small world, if you look up on net there's a story about a woodworking shop that burned two days ago. I guess the boiler exploded it said? I looked it up on the map of East Hartland but it has a different address then you were at. I forget the name. I'm not sure your place is still there? It looks residential on the map, I will have to take a drive by and check it out.

[Mike Goetzke]

I have this jointer too. Clean the beds while it's in the box. If you search my name - I had problems getting tables aligned and found they used too many shims under one of the cutter heads bearing blocks. I think it's quicker/easier to align the tables to each other and then shim the head to be parallel to the tables.

Mike

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks Mike makes sense.

Ken, what color loctite did you use. I recall there is a few for different purposes but it's been a long time since I have used it.

[Joseph Montroy]

Blue is what you want: serviceable. Holds stiff in place, but you can take bolts back out if you ever have to.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks on the "blue."

I have a small block and tackle setup for hanging game, that may work for the motor. I didn't expect it would be that heavy but I can see how that would help.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

"Blue" Loc-tite is what I used. The screws remain removeable.

I used my Little Giant ladder and a Come-along with some straps to lift and put the table assembly on by myself. Be careful! If it doesn't "feel " right...it's not!

[rudy de haas]

hi:

I have the craftex (Cdn) version of it - you'll find assembly is easy and the manual generally correct,. However:

1 - I used acetone to get the grease off. If you do that, make sure you do it outside and allow lots of drying time before trying to carry the thing inside.

2 - When I finished, I had one machine screw left over and spent hours trying to figure out where it goes. Still have no idea... but the machine works well.

[Jebediah Eckert]

hi:

I have the craftex (Cdn) version of it - you'll find assembly is easy and the manual generally correct,. However:

1 - I used acetone to get the grease off. If you do that, make sure you do it outside and allow lots of drying time before trying to carry the thing inside.

2 - When I finished, I had one machine screw left over and spent hours trying to figure out where it goes. Still have no idea... but the machine works well.

Oh well, I guess one extra is better the one short?

[Phillip Gregory]

I simply picked one end of the bed up, put one edge of the bottom of the bed on the top of the base, and then picked the other end up and squared it up. The bed itself only weighs about 300 pounds and it's over 6 feet long, so you get a lot of leverage to work with and it's not too tough to manhandle.

I ended up with several extra screws. Grizzly usually ships several extras with their equipment, as well as all of the hex and open-ended wrenches you need to assemble the machine.

I degrease my tools with paint thinner. It's cheap, I always have it on hand, it doesn't hurt paint, and it works pretty darned well. There are better/faster organic solvents out there such as Goof-Off and brake parts cleaner but they are much more expensive and stink to high heaven. Most of the brake parts cleaner I have used will take paint off metal very easily as well.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks for all the advice, I'm sure it well help. I will post back When I finish, maybe I will come up with a tip or two for the next one to assemble.

[Jebediah Eckert]

The snow is finally gone and the ground was dry enough to drive the tractor on. I got both the crates the jointer came in into the basement shop. It wasn't as bad as I thoight. I started to uncrate and read the directions. Hopefully it won't be too bad. Going to give it a start tomorrow, the blue loctite is ready to go.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Well last weekend I got my old jointer out and help to lift the bed onto the stand. Went at it today because now I really need it. Went together easy and the fit and finish was good (better then I expected). The directions were good and it was problem free until the beginning of the "important part".

I'm comfortable the pulleys are aligned correctly when I put the belt on. I tensioned it as instructed but it starts to roll off when I turn it by hand. It rolls off towards the back starting on the bottom pulley. I rechecked everything, motor level, and pulleys still aligned. The belt arrived badly twisted with a crease. I suspect, and hope, that this is the problem because I am at a loss. Grizzly is sending me out a new one but in the meantime I have it stretched out and flat using a clamp and sitting in the sun hoping I can get rid of the twist and crease.

Second, when I installed the fence it sits lopsided. When facing the jointer the right side sits on the bed and the left side sits over a 1/4" high. Any idea how to correct that? I called Grizzly and they said they need up to 48 hrs to research a solution. I don't see anywhere in the manual where it addresses this adjustment. I'm guessing you can shim up the track on the right side but I'm not sure if I shim it that much will there be enough track left to grab onto when you lock it down?

Anyone have any ideas on a solution? I need to get this up and running, I don't think my handplane skills are good enough.....

[Jebediah Eckert]

Ok, for anyone reading this in the future I was able to level out the fence. The two bolts that mount the whole fence assembly to the jointer bed were the culprit. I loosened those bolts and put one side on the extreme highestest and one on the lowest side of the hole. There is a little play when mounting. It's heavy so somebody holding the one side up while you tighten would be helpful.

No luck straightening the belt. The clamps don't seem to be working. I really don't want to wait 3-5 days for another. If anyone has a quick fix for the belt let me know. Otherwise a trip to the automotive store for a higher quality belt may be my best bet.

[glenn bradley]

Second, when I installed the fence it sits lopsided. When facing the jointer the right side sits on the bed and the left side sits over a 1/4" high.

There is a foot on the left that rides the outfeed table. I put a piece of UHMW tape on this as I didn't want the marks left by the metal on metal as designed. This is normal unless they have changed the design.

314480 . 314481 . 314482

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thanks. Tape sounds like a good idea.

[Bill Space]

I have the same jointer. When I shut it down it used to have a bit of a banging sound.

I found that that this was caused by my not having the little feet on the end where the foot pedal is, which is used to elevate that end of the jointer for movement,set low enough. So when the foot Pedal was released, the jointer still rested on the wheel at that end and the two wheels on the back end.

Once I set set the foot pads so that they rested on the floor when the foot pedal was released, the jointer became much quieter when turned off.

I also made made a simple gage fo checking drive pully position, which cannot be done easily witha straight edge due to obstructions. I posted a picture at the beginning of the tips and tricks thread. (Hope I got the thread name right ))

Bill

[Randy Red Bemont]

I hope you get your new belt soon. It really is a great jointer. Enjoy.

Red