Problems setting up Grizzly G1033X Planer

[Brian Stelly]

Recently upgraded from Dewalt 735 to the Grizzly 1033X. It was a big step up but much needed for my home shop.

1033X was unboxed and assembled with little difficulty (other than the heavy weight !).

Thought I would run a couple boards to get an initial impression - was assuming the factory settings would be pretty close.

That’s when the problems started. First board (5/4 rough sewn white pine) stopped dead in its tracks when it hit the infeed roller. No problem - I’ll double check all the settings as recommended in the manual.

4 adjustments later and still not working as well as my previous Dewalt 735. Boards stuck at infeed roller, some twist as they go through, and others won’t exit the machine. I’ve tried 3/4 to 2 inch white pine, yellow pine, and walnut. Various widths.

So I called Grizzly Tech Support and was disappointed in their responses. Basically the guy was reading the manual (and very slowly at that). Really didn’t offer any help. When I asked why the infeed roller and chip breaker were set at same distance from cutters (0.040 BDC) - he said that’s what the factor sets them at. I asked if the chip breaker moves up (on a spring) similar to the infeed roller, and he said no, it was stationary. That doesn’t seem logical and seems the wood would “hit” or “scrape” the chip breaker when the infeed roller moves up on it’s spring. That probably explains the screeching noise I’m hearing and the orange paint on the wood. So - he recommended raising the breaker bar “a little bit” and see if that helps.

So for now, I will adjust as Tech Support suggested - but seems to be a guessing game at this point. I I’ve seen the Powermatic and Jet recommended setup distances, and am tempted to try those, but surely there is some engineering logic in the way the Grizzly machine is designed.

Another alternative - do you of you have previous experience and recommended settings for Grizzly 20” or similar planers ?

One last question - what to the bed rollers do other than help wood slide freely along the bed surface ? I thoroughly cleaned the cast iron sources with WD-40 and denatured alcohol and applied 3 coats of wax.

Thanks for any and all thoughts and recommendations.

[Craig Farrell]

I purchased a used/new G1033 this past fall. It was still in the crate. Got it cleaned up, waxed table, setup and topped off the gearbox. Thought I would do the same and run some board through to check it out. Does the same thing. I measured the board and set the planer to take a very light pass. Every time the board started to pull in and it stopped. I got the boards to go through by holding down on the board at the far end. Once it started in the planer it went on through. I have not spent any time with it since. Interested to see what you find out.

[Mike Kees]

Brian and Craig if I were in your shoes I would go through these planers and adjust everything. Go on youtube and look for Bob Vaughn's setting up a planer video. he shows how to do it as well as the set up measurements for chip breakers ,infeed and outfeed rollers, pressure bar and bed rollers. Doing this is well worth the effort as you will be rewarded with a machine that works properly and most likely will not need to be adjusted again for a long time. I would also recommend a book by John White called " Care and repair of shop machines" that is an excellent reference for planers, jointers, TS etc. This book also details everything you need to know to set your planers up.

[Alex Zeller]

I got my 1033X last spring. The problem I had is the lower table. When they machined it flat it has a slight bow to it, as in the center is about .003" higher than the ends. Not a big deal. When they machined the slot for the infeed lower roller it left a very sharp edge. With the lower roller set up based on the edge of the table it was almost flush with the table. When it would feed a board in the slot would act like a hand planer and try to shave wood off the bottom of the board or, most of the time, the infeed drive would just slip and the board would stop.

Be very careful but feel to see if yours is also sharp. Check below the table to see if there's any shavings from the board passing through. I think others have had this problem as well. What I did was lower both lower rollers as far down as they go, put some thick cardboard in the slot between the roller and the table and use a dremel with a grinding wheel to chamfer the edge so the board passes across it without issue. Here's the settings I used. I have both of my tables set parallel to the main table. I get a slight bit of snipe on the very end of the board coming out. If I lift up slightly on the board it's all but gone. If I don't one light pass on my drum sander removes it. Hope this helps.

451614

[Andrew Hughes]

Your post reads that your trying to plane rough sawn boards without flatting one face first. Even with one side flat from the jointer rough sawn can get stuck when you have a high spot in the middle.
I might be way off here your post reminds me of something I encounter. I have a Pm 15 hh that I don’t really like that much. Floor standing machines are pretty tough Ive been trying to kill mine for several years now.
I miss my 735.

[Mikail Khan]

I have had a 1033x about12 years now. Boards have stuck like that with me on the first pass when they are tapered.

Try sending board through with a lower depth of cut. I plane lumber in batches. Some board won't get planed at all. Increase depth of cut by half a turn at a time initially. Then you can increase to one full turn if you would like.

Regards

Mikail

[Brian Stelly]

Thx for all the input. I think I may have it working - will know more in the next few days/weeks.

I checked out Bob Vaughn’s video on YouTube. A bit dated, and his planer had knives vs spiral cutters, but I used his recommended setup
Infeed roller 1/32” (0.032) below BDC
Chip Breaker 0.025 below BDC
Pressure Bar 0.003 above BDC (this was biggest difference from Grizzly recommendation)
Outfeed Roller 1/32” below BDC
Table rollers 0.005 above the table.

Seems to be working pretty well. Boards still twist a little going through, but not frequently. I did notice the outer table roller had a slight bow in it and measured about 0.007 - 0.008 above the table surface (vs 0.005 at the ends). Between the slight bow in the roller and the “nature” of a spiral head, I’m not too surprised there is a little twist.

I did notice the very sharp edges on the cutout in the bed on each side of the roller. Think I’ll leave them alone for now, don’t want to risk screwing something up.

Couple of other notes
- I ran mostly milled lumber (walnut, pine) of various thicknesses and widths.
- depth of cut ranged from “0” to 1/4 handle turn to 1/2 handle turn to 1 full handle turn (1/16”). Was trying to see if the planer behaved differently at each cutting depth. No real differences.
- snipe was minimal to none at all. I may lower the rollers to 0.002 at each end which would be 0.004 - 0.005 in the middle (on my table).

And final thought: I was almost ready to return the 1033X to Grizzly and buy the Powermatic equivalent. Yes, it costs more, but SURELY they don’t have setup problems like this 🤔. But after I completed the 8th setup, I was reasonably happy with the final result. I’ll continue to tweak over the next several weeks.

[Rod Sheridan]

Glad you have sorted out your issue.

When I had a planer with bed rollers I set them below the table.............Rod.