damaged grizzly G0490

[David Romano]

Hi group,
I'm a newbie that discovered this forum a month or so back and have gotten alot out of it, thanks for being such a great bunch of contributers.

Like a lot of you, I've had my eye on the G0490 jointer and finally ordered it. It arrived yesterday. After hearing about others' experiences with Grizzly, and taking all that with a grain of salt, I was a little unsure of what to expect.

The shipping crates looked fine from the outside, no obvious damage. The jointer bed cleaned up with some mineral spirits but I made the mistake of getting some of it on the newly painted sides of the bed and my cleaning rag turned green. (dunce cap please) It didn't mark the paint too bad, but it's noticeable and I think also fixable. The "bed lip" is an aluminum piece directly attached to the bed where it meets the cutter head. One of these had been struck from the side by something with an edge which dented it and left a raised burr on the top side. It's small and can probably be filed down without issue.

The real problem was with the cabinet base. The slotted vertical bars that the horizontal bars bolt to, along with the motor itself, were badly bent, cracking the paint and breaking the weld on one of them. For the size and weight of motor that they're holding, not enough is done to brace and immobilize the thing during shipment. There is a 2x4 cable tied to the assmbly to brace for downward loads, but nothing for side to side or if the box is dropped wile on its side.

The good news is that as I expected, the Grizzly rep happily took care of it for me and is getting a new cabinet sent to me in 1 week. He said that they may not even ask for the damaged one to be returned, so maybe I'll end up with a spare motor and electrical box.

I hope to be happily up and running in a week.

David

[Don Baer]

Congrats on the new machine and I am sorry to hear about the fact that it arrived but is not in usable condition. I hate it when something like that happens.

Welcome to the creek. Remember we want to see pictures..

[Phil Winn]

I think that is GREAT Customer Service...btw, I don't own any "Grizzly" products....
Phil

[Rob Nolan]

David,

Welcome to the Creek!

Sorry about your experiances with the G0490. I'm sure it will all get resolved and you'll be on your way.

I just bought a G1023 Cab Saw from Grizzly .. I went and picked mine up from the frieght company ... didn't want it to spend anymore time in a truck than it had to ... so far so good still setting it up.

How did you move the G0490 into your shop? Was the weight a big problem? Was putting the bed on the stand difficult? If all goes well with my G1023 I'll be ordering the G0490.

Thanks!

[David Romano]

A very skilled and professional truck driver backed an 18 wheeler down my 150 ft gravel driveway between trees and off a narrow road with an unforgiving ditch on one side. It was impressive to say the least. He backed up right to my garage shop, lowered the lift gate and rolled the crates in on a pallet jack.

Because the cabinet needs to be replaced, I haven't yet assembled the jointer, but it's darned heavy. I'll need my neighbor in addition to my wife to help out.

david

[Rob Nolan]

Nice truck driver!

I was thinking of renting an engine hoist when I get mine. My back is injury prone.

[Jim Becker]

'Glad the folks at Grizzly are taking care of your needs. One note, however...mineral spirits shouldn't be taking any paint of the machine. MS is a very mild solvent and paint shouldn't re-dissolve if it's put on correctly. You may want to ask them about that, too.

[David Romano]

'Glad the folks at Grizzly are taking care of your needs. One note, however...mineral spirits shouldn't be taking any paint of the machine. MS is a very mild solvent and paint shouldn't re-dissolve if it's put on correctly. You may want to ask them about that, too.
It was actually a product called "oops!", that smells like MS and is definitely a petroleum distillate. Ironically, it is made by a company in Bellingham, WA. I figure that these machines were manufactured not too long ago and that the paint may not have fully cured.

David

[Allen Bookout]

Nice truck driver!

I was thinking of renting an engine hoist when I get mine. My back is injury prone.
I have had a folding engine hoist for several years and will not give it up. I use it for a lot of things. Never have to wait for help lifting anything. When folded up it does not take up any more room than my router table and they are not that expensive.

[Steve Clardy]

Nice score. Grizzly has always taken care of the minor issues I've had in years past. Great CS

[Vaughn McMillan]

It was actually a product called "oops!", that smells like MS and is definitely a petroleum distillate. Ironically, it is made by a company in Bellingham, WA. I figure that these machines were manufactured not too long ago and that the paint may not have fully cured.

David
As I understand it, Oops is a paint remover. Sounds like it was doing its job. ;)

Glad to see the folks at Griz are taking care of things so quickly. That jointer should be worth the wait.

- Vaughn

[Scott Coffelt]

They seem to being doing a good job on the CS front with these. Does seem like most of them have one problem area and that is the base. I hope in future orders that take care of this piece and the rest should be top notch. The nuts and washers were missing on the bolts that held my bed to the crate, the bolts were there but not the other required fastening devices. Luckily, the damage was limited to two adjustment knobs having chipped paint. I may leave or request new knobs.

[Curt Harms]

Of course, beware of Tyler. He WILL be on You about photo documentation! Being fairly new, he MAY take it easy on You but I wouldn't count on it. Yours isn't the first reported instance of damage to motor supports on the G0490, looks like something the people at Grizzly need to look at. Regardless, I'm envious. Congratulations!

Curt

[Michael Disorbo]

My 490 was in great shape, although I picked it up at the wharehouse and avoided any trucking company. The base was perfect and those struts were as straight as arrows. I have been putting that beast through hell and it purrs like a kitten. Just face jointed over 200 brd ft of 7 and 8 inch cherry with no problem at all. It is so easy to just throw a board on that long table and go with it. I also ordered a second set of knives from Dynamic Saw. Amana's with 18% Tungstun. Now all I got to do is dull the ones in the jointer. So far, not a nick. They did a good job of the knives as well.

Michael

[Howard Norman]

I received a damaged stand for my G0490 also. When I received the replacement stand I had to remove the motor from the old stand and put it in the new stand. Not a major job but in retrospect I should have asked Grizzly to send a stand with the motor installed. You are absolutley correct in that those vertical posts are not heavy enough to support the motor during transit. I believe that Grizzly has already increased their cross section in manufacturing in the PRC.

Howard

[Allen Bookout]

I received a damaged stand for my G0490 also. When I received the replacement stand I had to remove the motor from the old stand and put it in the new stand. Not a major job but in retrospect I should have asked Grizzly to send a stand with the motor installed.

Howard
I am thinking that it might be better to get the stand without the motor as it seems as though the damage is comming from the weight of the motor being attached. If it were me I would rather switch out the motor when the new stand arrives and not risk the same type of damage again.

[Rob Blaustein]

Just got my G0490 this evening--7:30 PM which is 2 1/2 hrs later than the time frame they told me. But the struts are bent. I'm somewhat annoyed for two reasons: I had emailed Grizz about this problem hoping to head it off at the pass and was told that they would be bracing things better to prevent it. All I saw when I opened up the box was a 2x4 that appears to be helping hold the motor via nylon straps, but I'm not sure how that would prevent the struts from bending. I'm also annoyed since it means taking yet another afternoon off if I want the base replaced, but that's part of the Grizzly gamble I guess. I've emailed Bill Crofutt about it and will see what he suggests. I guess the question is whether it is worth it to have them just send the base and I will re-attach the motor, or have them re-send the base with the motor and risk the same problem happening, and the need to take yet a third 1/2 day off. I haven't looked hard at the inside--how much work is it to re-attach that motor? Is it a two person job?

[Allen Bookout]

I haven't looked hard at the inside--how much work is it to re-attach that motor? Is it a two person job?
Mine unit was OK so I did not have to change the motor but it doesn't look like much of a job to me. There are four bolts that hold the motor frame to the struts and you have to loosen them anyway to put on the belt and adjust the belt tension. There is plenty of room to get to them easily.

If one person was having trouble holding the motor and installing the bolts I think that you could set the stand on end and just set the motor on the struts (it should just set there as the struts should be level in this configuration) and install the bolts, washers and nuts and set it back down.

Allen

[David Romano]

Rob,
Yeah, that 2x4 with the nylon strap just helps to suspend the motor, which is fine as long as the box is kept in the normal orientation. As soon as the box is turned on its side or upside down, there is no support at all.

It really smacks as an afterthought, and that is the thing that bothers me the most. This kind of thing is completely avoidable. At the company I work for, we put everything through a shock and vibe test as part of our product development to catch things not nearly this obvious. Think of what could be saved in terms of money and reputation if this simple step is taken.

David

[Michael Disorbo]

Shiraz stated in an earlier thread that they were supporting these motors and everything would be fine UNLESS the base was laid on its side.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=306394#poststop

Michael

[Howard Norman]

I replaced the motor on my G0490 stand and I had help and consider the job a two person job. One person could probable do it but a second person really helps.

Howard