Grizzly Jointer Woes

[Michael Fross]

Hello everyone,

I received my G0452 jointer a day or two ago and finally got time to unpack it. I'm sorry to say I got hit with the bent struts problem many are experiencing. It looks to me like it really needs to be supported better when packed because a decent drop could cause this. There was no evidence of any shipping damage and the boxes seemed to be packed very well.

I called Grizzly and a woman was very helpful and I'll get a call early next week to decide what to do. I'm hopeful that it will be resolved quickly.

Time to test out their great customer service reputation.

I'll keep everyone posted...

Michael

34729

[Don Baer]

That slide base looks kinda flimsy to me...Sorry that your is bad and you won't have a chance to use it this weekend.:(

[Craig Zettle]

I am still trying to resolve my bent cabinet return problem, and I received a note in my mailbox today that a certified letter from Grizzly awaits my signature. So yet another day of their 30 day time limit they imposed to return the bent cabinet goes in the books, and they have my credit card info waiting to charge me for the replacement cabinet. This stinks to high heaven. They should be gracious in their rectifying of a situation I (we all) had nothing but inconvenience from. But I guarantee that as soon as I find out what they want me to do with the bent cabinet i will take care of it ASAP. Because that is the way I do things.
Good luck. I hope you like jumping through hoops and putting your credit card in a hostage situation.

[Steven J Corpstein]

Sorry to hear you also got a bad one. I was seriously looking at the Grizzly's (G0490) but not anymore after everybody has had the same trouble.

Sure Customer Service has taken care of the problem, but in the mean time, Grizzly is still shipping them without correcting the root cause. I'd hate to spend that much for a piece of machinery only to have to wait for replacement parts, and then there is the effort to rebuild it.

A person shouldn't have to rebuild a new machine. That would take all the joy out of it for me.

[Dennis Peacock]

Sure do love my new Powermatic.!!!:D

Sorry to hear about the several troubles folks are experienceing with their new jointers. I hope that they get resolved quickly.

[Barry O'Mahony]

Based on the number of reports like this; 'sounds like and Engineering Change Order (i.e., a design tweak) is in order.

[Dev Emch]

Based on the number of reports like this; 'sounds like and Engineering Change Order (i.e., a design tweak) is in order.
If it were me, I would remove the strut-ology and measure out the bolt pattern on the sides and the frame pattern for the motor and then take a road trip down to the local steel fabricator or supplier. Get them to cut a slab of 1/4 inch thick steel plate to fit in there. The outside of this steel shape must fit the jointer so its gotta be kinda accurate. Nice to have the steel dude use a plasma or laser cutter to do this (i.e. worth the upcharge to have them cut the cookie shape for you). Then drill and tap the holes as needed. Prime, paint and install. Forgive me for posting this but its the Tim Allen in me getting out again.

[lou sansone]

newton was right

F=MA and that seems to be what was not taken into consideration

best wishes
lou

[Chris Dodge]

I got the Grizzly G0586 8" Jointer w/2 HP Motor back in December and it arrive in great shape except for a little paint damage. I am sorry you got a bent one!

[Bob Weisner]

I got a new Jet Planer/moulder for a birthday present and when we got it home and unpacked it, the darn planer looked like it had been dropped off the boat!! I called the store where we bought it and told them what we saw when we unpacked it!! There was a long pause from the manager of the store. He said to bring it back and he would try to make it right. We got the planer back to the store in about 1 1/2 hours and they saw that the planer was in BAD shape!! I had gotten the open stand planer but all they had available was the closed stand model to replace it with. They asked me if that would be OK? HUM.......I had to think about that for about,.... oh.... 1/1000th of a second!!:D :D :D. I said yes!!:cool:

[Rob Blaustein]

If it were me, I would remove the strut-ology and measure out the bolt pattern on the sides and the frame pattern for the motor and then take a road trip down to the local steel fabricator or supplier. Get them to cut a slab of 1/4 inch thick steel plate to fit in there. The outside of this steel shape must fit the jointer so its gotta be kinda accurate. Nice to have the steel dude use a plasma or laser cutter to do this (i.e. worth the upcharge to have them cut the cookie shape for you). Then drill and tap the holes as needed. Prime, paint and install. Forgive me for posting this but its the Tim Allen in me getting out again.

While we're at it Dev, we might as well just build it from scratch.

It is frustrating. My 0490 is still sitting in my garage mostly packed up. After buying a crowbar I spent 40 min trying to uncrate the replacement base. I'm about 1/2 way done. Then I have to get someone to help me remount the motor (really a two person job). Not to mention getting at least 3 people to help with the bed...

[Don Baer]

While we're at it Dev, we might as well just build it from scratch.

It is frustrating. My 0490 is still sitting in my garage mostly packed up. After buying a crowbar I spent 40 min trying to uncrate the replacement base. I'm about 1/2 way done. Then I have to get someone to help me remount the motor (really a two person job). Not to mention getting at least 3 people to help with the bed...

Rob you are so correct. And judging from the number of these units that creekers have bought and the number of units that have had shipping problems with I personaly think that Grizzely needs to look at some serious design changes. I would be willing to bet that of all of the ones bought by creekers there would be more damaged one then not. I can understand if 1 or two were damaged in shipping but this seems like an epidemic.

This just reinforces my personal belief of not buying any major tools if I can't go and pick it up myself.

[Andy London]

If it were me, I would remove the strut-ology and measure out the bolt pattern on the sides and the frame pattern for the motor and then take a road trip down to the local steel fabricator or supplier. Get them to cut a slab of 1/4 inch thick steel plate to fit in there. The outside of this steel shape must fit the jointer so its gotta be kinda accurate. Nice to have the steel dude use a plasma or laser cutter to do this (i.e. worth the upcharge to have them cut the cookie shape for you). Then drill and tap the holes as needed. Prime, paint and install. Forgive me for posting this but its the Tim Allen in me getting out again.

That has been my thought for some time, I am willing one could pick up a piece of 3/16" flat steel for probably $30.00 or less and be a lot better off....my 2 cents

[Michael Fross]

Dev,

My only concern is that the angle iron that is welded to the base is also bent. If it were just the motor support bars, that would be a fairly easy to repair.

I have no experience with Grizzly before this, but I'm getting a bad feeling this will not be an easy thing to rectify. I'm not aware (yet) of their policies or procedures, but Craig's comments above are not very encouraging.

However, I've heard they have a very good customer service reputation (one of the reasons I purchased from them) and am optimistic.

I was told to expect a call on Monday so I'll keep a running log here of how they do. This will influence my future purchases.

Please keep the comments coming...they are really helpful.

Michael

[Mark Rios]

Sorry to hear you also got a bad one. I was seriously looking at the Grizzly's (G0490) but not anymore after everybody has had the same trouble.

Sure Customer Service has taken care of the problem, but in the mean time, Grizzly is still shipping them without correcting the root cause. I'd hate to spend that much for a piece of machinery only to have to wait for replacement parts, and then there is the effort to rebuild it.

A person shouldn't have to rebuild a new machine. That would take all the joy out of it for me.


According to a recent post from Terry Hansen, http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=33512 , the problem HAS been taken care of. And it looks like the problem has been dealt with just fine. Thanks in part, according to some of Mr. Balolia's posts, to all who posted the issue in the first place. I'm not going to hesitate to get one (when I can find room in my utility trailer for it :D )

[Michael Disorbo]

Sorry to hear that a few of the 490 folks are not real happy. I picked mine up at Grizzly and everything was fine. The problem is shipping them with the motor attached. According to PaPa Griz, they used to ship tools with the motor bolted to the pallet, but there were to many whiners. So Grizzly tried to make it good and save a little work and this is the result. These shipping companies are very hard on these packages. I just got a package through UPS and there were tire tracks on the box. The box was smashed, but everything inside survived.

All I can say is that if I would have received one with bent struts, I sure would be running it until the new base came. It took me about an hour to assemble everything and with 3 people lifting the table to the base took about 5 minutes.

Make some sawdust with that hunk of iron!! It is a fine machine, best buy out there for an 8" jointer. I looked at them all including Powermatic. Powermatic's six inch is way over priced and the one I looked at was very cheaply made. As far as their 8" with the parralogram beds, come on its not worth what they are asking. You are just paying for the name. Still made overseas and I would put the 490 up against it any day.

If Grizzly is replacing the base everything should be fine and you guys should enjoy the 490 for the rest of your lives. We all took a chance, we knew it was a new product and there would be bugs. I remember some of the early post before they started shipping them and we all had concerns. Most of the problem is with the shipper not the machine. Shiraz will make it right.

I will say one thing, it took a month to dull those knives and that really surprised me. I thought for sure that they were cheap and would be nicked the first day I used them. I was wrong. 30 days later and well over 1000 brd ft of hardwood, they are getting dull but no nicks!!

Good Luck,
Michael

[Allen Bookout]

Sorry to hear you also got a bad one. I was seriously looking at the Grizzly's (G0490) but not anymore after everybody has had the same trouble.


"EVERBODY" has not had the same problem. Some of us received units with no damage at all and worked perfect out of the box. I feel sorry for the ones that got the damaged ones but I do not know what percentage of units shipped were damaged. I think that if you discounted the tool for this reason alone that you could be doing yourself a disservice.

Allen

[Bill Fields]

The problem is in inadequately tested packaging.

I'm in the bicycle business, and 95%+ of cheap bikes are from China (surprise).

The brands (Schwinn/Next, etc.) sold a t mass-merchants such as WalMart/Target learn and react swiftly to unforeseen shipping damage.

When they did not react properly in the past they paid a huge penalty. The bikes in the offending packaging were simply shrink-wrapped, palletized, and returned to the importer --with--a huge charge for damages, pemnalties, shipping, etc.

In an environment where the importer hopes to make $6 or $8 per cheap bike, and suddenly you are losing $20--you learn fast.

BILL

PS:

But, the bike shop bike brands figured this out 20 years ago with Taiwan sourcing. Now a reject is a rare occurence. B

[Dev Emch]

newton was right

F=MA and that seems to be what was not taken into consideration

best wishes
lou

Thanks Lou... I am laughing madly out load. I have not heard that little ditty in quite some time. But hear this... if force is conserved and acceleration is increased, you have but one option.... reduce the gage thickness of the metal (i.e. mass). Hmmmm, strange design principle.

I am wondering if maybe a container got dropped. A number of these reports have surfaced and the lack of explicit damage to the box makes one wonder.

[Dev Emch]

Rob you are so correct. And judging from the number of these units that creekers have bought and the number of units that have had shipping problems with I personaly think that Grizzely needs to look at some serious design changes. I would be willing to bet that of all of the ones bought by creekers there would be more damaged one then not. I can understand if 1 or two were damaged in shipping but this seems like an epidemic.

This just reinforces my personal belief of not buying any major tools if I can't go and pick it up myself.

I would say its hard to acess what is causing this damage. I had an old recipricating hack saw sent by yellow freight. When I got it, it was banded sideways to the pallet and they insisted that it was fine. I had to argue with them that the huge cast iron recip arm that was being held together by the blade incidently, should not have a huge crack in it. The whole arm was cracked. Now this goes beyond a bit of rough handling... this is more like air freight with drop gate service and no parachute!

This jointer problem must be costing grizzly a nice sum of cash bucks. Maybe everyone buying one should insist that any future jointers be shipped with the motor detached. I am still thinking about what type of action could cause this damage.

[Rob Blaustein]

I am still thinking about what type of action could cause this damage.

My guess is that at some point these were laid on their side which would allow the weight of the motor to pull on the struts. I would be surprised if there was enough force to bend the struts if the unit is maintained in its typical upright position, or even in the proper upside down shipping position, unless there was significant lateral force. Grizz argues, and I would guess they're right, that this is an issue of designing it better for shipping, not daily use. When I spoke to them they made it sound like they would be using thicker material in the future and in the mean time they are bracing it as shown in another thread.

[Dennis Peacock]

I looked at them all including Powermatic. Powermatic's six inch is way over priced and the one I looked at was very cheaply made. As far as their 8" with the parralogram beds, come on its not worth what they are asking. You are just paying for the name. Still made overseas and I would put the 490 up against it any day.


I highly disagree.....I've never been a "name" fan.....but I was so impressed with the higher quality of Powermatic...no matter if it's made over the big pond, It's still a very fine machine. If my PM is just like the 490? Then why isn't my stuff bent and twisted? I bought a quality machine....and I got one!!!!

'nuff said. This dawg is bowing out....don't need no more dawgs in this fight.:p :D

[Dennis Peacock]

Solution to the 490 Jointer woes.....

:D :D :D

[tod evans]

I highly disagree.....I've never been a "name" fan.....but I was so impressed with the higher quality of Powermatic...no matter if it's made over the big pond, It's still a very fine machine. If my PM is just like the 490? Then why isn't my stuff bent and twisted? I bought a quality machine....and I got one!!!!

'nuff said. This dawg is bowing out....don't need no more dawgs in this fight.:p :D

this might be like comparing two white bandsaws, both made overseas,on paper the 18" tai/chi offering looks impressive but when it comes down to the n#t cutting the lil` ol` 16" italian unit is chosen by almost every person who has driven both.......regardless of price difference....02 tod

[RichMagnone]

Mine arrived last night and I've been putting it together this morning. No problems with the struts. The wooden bracing was included with mine and there were no problems.

[Michael Fross]

Just to be clear guys, I got the 0452, not the 0490. I wish I had the 0490, but my hobby budget just allowed for the lower cost item.

There were no wooden support pieces in my shipment.

Here is a pic:
34809

Michael

[Scott Vigder]

Sorry to hear you also got a bad one. I was seriously looking at the Grizzly's (G0490) but not anymore after everybody has had the same trouble.

Rash generalizations like this are uninformed, ill-advised and not helpful.

[Russ Massery]

Scott, I couldn't argree more. My G0490 has worked flawlessly. I can't think of a piece of machinery that's a better value.

[Jay Knoll]

Sorry some people are having problems. My struts arrived in fine shape, there was a bit of a "bend" in one of the panels but nothing that a rubber mallet and a piece of plywood couldn't fix.

The beast has been gobbling up wood just fine when I feed it, which, hasn't been as much as I would like.

I saw a DJ20 at the wood working show in Orlando a few weeks ago. I am so glad that I bought the Grizzly, the fit and finish on the Grizzly was far superior to the DJ20

Jay

[Rob Nolan]

My G0490 is working great ... no quality issues what so ever ... no dents, scratches or bent metal (3 2x4's were strapped around motor). I went and picked mine up at the shipping co to make sure it didn't spend any more time on a truck than it had to.

I also unloaded it from the back of my pickup and into my basement all by myself ... I don't consider myself a strong person either. I used ramps (2x8's with ramp ends) and slid it gently off the truck and used the same ramps to slide it into the basement (5 steps down). Then used an engine hoist to lift the joiner onto the stand. I was sore the next day ... but that's to be expected. :eek:

My experiance with Grizzy has been great! I also have a G1023 Cab saw also arrived in perfect shape. You can't beat the price ... it's all by buget will allow.

Good luck getting your jointer base fixed/replaced!

[Michael Fross]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to give everyone an update on my Grizzly jointer issue. Tomorrow is one week after I initially placed the call to CS and let them know about the problem.

It's also the day when a new jointer cabinet base will be delivered and the damaged one picked up.

So far I have been very impressed with Grizzly customer service. While I'm not going to pass any final judgement until it arrives, I'm very confident that they will work hard to resolve my issues.

And, since I'm in the market for a drill press and bandsaw, this is good news for both Grizzly and me!

Thanks for listening. I know one of the quality engineers I spoke with read this post on the creek.

Michael