John Miliunas
06-09-2003, 8:41 PM
I say, "semi-gloat", as I'm not as satisfied as I thought I would, could or should be with the unit. The following stands as my "1st impression(s)" of the unit, as well as the actual email I sent off to Grizzly Tech Support this morning. It read:
Greetings,
I took delivery on one of your G1182HW jointers this last Thursday, June 5th. First, the good: Quick delivery, as I had just ordered the unit the previous Saturday! The shipper, who delivered the unit, also gets very high marks. They were in contact with me before the delivery was made and went to, what I believe to be, extra pains to make the delivery. Impressed! The unit was packed very well and came out of the carton without a scratch to be found anywhere! Again, very impressive and I was pleased.
The actual assembly instructions leave a bit to be desired, but I was able to get it together, albeit with some degree of difficulty on mounting and aligning the motor. I also opted to put a “Link-Belt” on to help suppress some of the vibration inherent with rubber belts. There was probably enough “Cosmoline” on the ground surfaces to take care of *two* units, but that’s OK. Once cleaned, the surfaces looked beautiful and, at least with the straightedges I have available, appear to be quite flat. The preset 90* on the fence was also very acceptable.
Now, the bad. Minor, but still an issue. I set the out-feed table per instructions and adjusted the in-feed to only take a touch over a 64th/inch off my stock. Not wanting to waste expensive stock to tweak it in, I used plain old, soft Pine. The piece I tried was clear, but warped. In the end, I was able to achieve a flat surface, BUT, the piece also had two very distinct ridges to it, running the length of the piece, about three inches apart. I rechecked the knife settings and all three looked to be very well set from the factory. I double-checked to be sure all the “Cosmoline” had been cleaned off and that all the gib bolts were tight. All looks good, but the ridges are there.
I suppose a guy could go ahead and order some new knives or have the current ones sharpened, but I don’t know that I can justify that with a brand new machine, which is otherwise in great working order. Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
John K. Miliunas
**********************************
OK, so in general, I was kind of pleased with the overall condition and the way the transaction was handled. The bottom line, though, is the machine failed to perform the way I had expected in the one function it's built for. I did receive an email from Grizzly Tech Support. In a nutshell, they indicated that "the knives aren't guaranteed and that this is caused by nicks in the knives". It further indicated that "...this could have been due to a hard spot, knots, metal..." or such in the wood. No further recourse, suggestions or help was indicated in the email, except for "an apology for the inconvenience".
THIS is where the "semi" part of the gloat comes in. As far as I'm concerned, in Grizzly's book, *I* caused the nicks in the knives and therefore it's a done deal, except for an empty apology and "their hope that I will buy more equipment from them." Well, that *HAD* been my intention(s)!
Oh, I totally understand them not guaranteeing the knives, as such things can and do happen. My point is that, I was extremely careful in the setup and the subsequent testing of the machine. When I said "plain old soft Pine", I meant it. Though I didn't mention it, this stuff was some leftover 1" stock from shelving and clear of knots. I've had a planer for many years and am well aware of issues associated with knots, nails and even dirt. I was careful to pick a couple pieces clear of any such defects. The thing which rails me is that the indication is this was *my own* doing and Grizzly simply can NOT be held accountable! This complaint wasn't lodged several weeks or months down the road. This is a *brand new* unit! Sorry, but nowhere in the assembly/instruction manual does it say to remove and inspect the knives under magnification before use! And even then, it sounds as though they'd still pawn it off as end-user error.
I don't know; Maybe it's because I didn't order one of their multi-thousand dollar units, but I'm glad I didn't, because then I'd really be torqued! As my email to them mentioned, I was otherwise very pleased with everything, from the original order right on down to the final assembly. BUT, they still managed to let me down in their "after the sale" service.
Granted, the issue is relatively minor, but it's not 100% any which way you cut it. For prepping boards to run through the planer, it will work OK until I get new blades or have them resharpened properly. I *had* intended on doing some edge jointing for glue ups, but that will now have to wait until I replace/sharpen the blades. Oh, and I don't think I'll be buying them through Grizzly, either!
Sorry for the "rant" folks, but I've had a few inquiries asking for followup on this unit (after I bragged about ordering it!). I seriously doubt you'll be seeing any future reviews from me on Grizzly products! I had intended on, at least, two more major machine purchases, both of which could have easily gone to Grizz. Guess the old saying about "You get what you pay for." applies! My next items will most likely be Jet or Bridgewood from Wilke Machinery. At least there I *know* that Jet stands behind their products 110% and Wilke bends over backwards for their customers.
There. I feel a smidgen better now. 'Scuse me while I go try to figure out how I'm going to best handle this little
problem. :( :confused:
Greetings,
I took delivery on one of your G1182HW jointers this last Thursday, June 5th. First, the good: Quick delivery, as I had just ordered the unit the previous Saturday! The shipper, who delivered the unit, also gets very high marks. They were in contact with me before the delivery was made and went to, what I believe to be, extra pains to make the delivery. Impressed! The unit was packed very well and came out of the carton without a scratch to be found anywhere! Again, very impressive and I was pleased.
The actual assembly instructions leave a bit to be desired, but I was able to get it together, albeit with some degree of difficulty on mounting and aligning the motor. I also opted to put a “Link-Belt” on to help suppress some of the vibration inherent with rubber belts. There was probably enough “Cosmoline” on the ground surfaces to take care of *two* units, but that’s OK. Once cleaned, the surfaces looked beautiful and, at least with the straightedges I have available, appear to be quite flat. The preset 90* on the fence was also very acceptable.
Now, the bad. Minor, but still an issue. I set the out-feed table per instructions and adjusted the in-feed to only take a touch over a 64th/inch off my stock. Not wanting to waste expensive stock to tweak it in, I used plain old, soft Pine. The piece I tried was clear, but warped. In the end, I was able to achieve a flat surface, BUT, the piece also had two very distinct ridges to it, running the length of the piece, about three inches apart. I rechecked the knife settings and all three looked to be very well set from the factory. I double-checked to be sure all the “Cosmoline” had been cleaned off and that all the gib bolts were tight. All looks good, but the ridges are there.
I suppose a guy could go ahead and order some new knives or have the current ones sharpened, but I don’t know that I can justify that with a brand new machine, which is otherwise in great working order. Any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
John K. Miliunas
**********************************
OK, so in general, I was kind of pleased with the overall condition and the way the transaction was handled. The bottom line, though, is the machine failed to perform the way I had expected in the one function it's built for. I did receive an email from Grizzly Tech Support. In a nutshell, they indicated that "the knives aren't guaranteed and that this is caused by nicks in the knives". It further indicated that "...this could have been due to a hard spot, knots, metal..." or such in the wood. No further recourse, suggestions or help was indicated in the email, except for "an apology for the inconvenience".
THIS is where the "semi" part of the gloat comes in. As far as I'm concerned, in Grizzly's book, *I* caused the nicks in the knives and therefore it's a done deal, except for an empty apology and "their hope that I will buy more equipment from them." Well, that *HAD* been my intention(s)!
Oh, I totally understand them not guaranteeing the knives, as such things can and do happen. My point is that, I was extremely careful in the setup and the subsequent testing of the machine. When I said "plain old soft Pine", I meant it. Though I didn't mention it, this stuff was some leftover 1" stock from shelving and clear of knots. I've had a planer for many years and am well aware of issues associated with knots, nails and even dirt. I was careful to pick a couple pieces clear of any such defects. The thing which rails me is that the indication is this was *my own* doing and Grizzly simply can NOT be held accountable! This complaint wasn't lodged several weeks or months down the road. This is a *brand new* unit! Sorry, but nowhere in the assembly/instruction manual does it say to remove and inspect the knives under magnification before use! And even then, it sounds as though they'd still pawn it off as end-user error.
I don't know; Maybe it's because I didn't order one of their multi-thousand dollar units, but I'm glad I didn't, because then I'd really be torqued! As my email to them mentioned, I was otherwise very pleased with everything, from the original order right on down to the final assembly. BUT, they still managed to let me down in their "after the sale" service.
Granted, the issue is relatively minor, but it's not 100% any which way you cut it. For prepping boards to run through the planer, it will work OK until I get new blades or have them resharpened properly. I *had* intended on doing some edge jointing for glue ups, but that will now have to wait until I replace/sharpen the blades. Oh, and I don't think I'll be buying them through Grizzly, either!
Sorry for the "rant" folks, but I've had a few inquiries asking for followup on this unit (after I bragged about ordering it!). I seriously doubt you'll be seeing any future reviews from me on Grizzly products! I had intended on, at least, two more major machine purchases, both of which could have easily gone to Grizz. Guess the old saying about "You get what you pay for." applies! My next items will most likely be Jet or Bridgewood from Wilke Machinery. At least there I *know* that Jet stands behind their products 110% and Wilke bends over backwards for their customers.
There. I feel a smidgen better now. 'Scuse me while I go try to figure out how I'm going to best handle this little
problem. :( :confused: