G0490 Jointer owners........

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'm going to be pushing the button in the next few weeks. One of the tools I'm considering is the Grizzley G0490.

I'd sure appreciate hearing from any owners....pro or con!

Thanks

[Jason Beam]

Not a direct response, i'm a G0586 owner and love it. Fit/finish are great, machine runs PERFECTLY out of the box.

I have a friend who's a G0490 owner and i'm almost a little jealous... his was within .001" everywhere straight out of the box ... nothing really needed adjusting. He couldn't be happier.

[Don Bullock]

Ken, I just bought one and set it up this week. In my opinion it's a very good jointer, but you have to take my recommendation with a "grain of salt." I've never had a jointer before. I'm also a novice hobbiest that hasn't been doing much woodworking for quite a while.

I can say, however, that while I was very aprehensive of buying a machine from Grizzly because I'd never seen one of their machines and having it shipped really scared me, it turned out to be a very good experience. The people at Grizzly, from the customer service people who answered my emails, to the technical staff that emailed me information about electrical requirements, to the person who took my order, all of them were very helpful and patient. One little thing that did bother me was that the shipping cost listed in their ads is out-of-date and they will not honor that price. I think the difference is a $5 fuel surcharge that I understand that the grizzly "bean counters" have added since the ads were sent in to the magazines.

The jointer came in two packages, one plywood crate containing the machine, which weighs 430 lbs. and one cardboard box containing the stand, which weighs 167 lbs. Grizzly warns that even with liftgate service, a $20 extra for me, that the driver is only "paid" to drop the shipment at the curb. Fortunately the FedEx Freight driver that delivered mine wheeled it up my driveway and into my garage.

It sat there for a while until I could get some people to help lift the jointer onto the stand. It was fairly easy for four of us. Putting the jointer together was fairly easy partly because there isn't a lot to assemble. Except for the wheel and foot pedal that allows the jointer to be mobile, the base is all assembled. The most difficult task was moving the motor from it's "shipping position" to the verticle braces that it hangs on. Evidently the first jointers were shipped with the motor on these braces and many of the braces bent in the shipping. The thing that makes moving the motor so difficult is that it is very heavy. I'd strongly recomment two people for the job. The next most difficult task is putting on the fence. It's in this task that Grizzly could use make some improvements with their directions. In my opinion these directions are very unclear and since I've never owned a jointer I had a lot of problems figuring out what adjustments were needed and how to make them. In fact, the fence is still not fully in line with the table, but it still works fine. Oh, I almost forgot, as most who have a G0490 have stated, the belt bangs against the belt guard at start up and shut down. Some state that this can be improved by increasing the tension on the belt. I haven't had a chance to work on that yet, but it doesn't affect the operation or smoothness of the jointer. It passsed the "nickel test" -- that nickel stood on edge just fine.

I've only jointed the edge of a few boards of oak, but the resulting edge is fantastic. Would I do it all again? Yes, most definately and if grizzly has a tool that I want at the right price, I'll buy another machine from them.

[Cary Swoveland]

I went to Grizzly's showroom in Bellingham WA to have a look at their 8" jointers. I was undecided between the GO586 and GO490. I asked the salesperson for his advice, and he pointed to the GO593, which is the GO586 with a spiral cutterhead. I went with his advice and couldn't be happier. The adjustments were bang-on. It cuts beautifully, is relatively quiet and won't have to be adjusted for a long time, if ever.

I see the 583 is now on for $925, $330 more than the 586 and just $175 more than the 490. Since I bought mine they've added the 490X--similar to the 490 but with a spiral cutterhead--at $1195. One nice thing about the 490 and 490X is the built-in mobile base.

Bang-for-the-buck, I think the 593 is the best deal.

Cary

[Russ Massery]

I've had the G0490 for a little over a year now. I couldn't be happier with it. I highly recommended it. I feel the parallelogram bed is a much better design over the dovetail ways in the standpoint of adjustment.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Ken, the Shop Fox 1741 is the exact same jointer. Do a search and you'll find more relevant feedback. I've not run a lot of boardfeet throught mine, but it has been very good so far. Even birdseye maple comes out silky smooth with the standard 4-knife cutterhead.

[Wayne Ashing]

Ken, I also am the proud owner of a new Grizzly 0490! Everything Don said I agree with . I have a 6' Starret straight edge to test flatness of the tables, unit was dead on right out of the crate. The instructions leave alot to be desired, but if you flip the base over to remove the motor and remove both sides , then position the base to install the motor in a flat position. You don't have to fight it. Leave it loose in the mounts till the jointer is on and the belt tightened. I guess I am lucky mine has no belt slap, clunk, or whatever. It runs so smooth you can't tell it's on. Read the instructions on the on/off switch, thanks to reading someone elses woes, saved me alot of pain.

I first pm'd Sharaz, He responded the next day handed me off to a wonderfully helpful lady, Kathy, who kept me in formed evey step of the way! Big gloat here!! Thanks to my wonderful wife, the whole order was 2600#s I also received the G0453 15" planer, the G0513 17" bandsaw, the G01035 11/2hp shaper, and the G0441 2hp cyclone!!!! I will try to get a proper Gloat with pictures in the future, But I still have to assemble the cyclone. I have no complaint with the fit and finish of any of the five so far, every bit as good as the Delta 18/36 sander I bought a few months ago, Buy it you will love it!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wayne.........I can see why we don't have any photos.........No money left for film or to charge the batteries for the digital! Gee! When you walk in the shop do you hear a ROAR?

Congrats!

[john white]

ken, i recieved my new 0586 jointer last monday,set it up that night and it works great out of the box. i recieved their 1023slx ts the week before and it was dead on straight. i'm happy with both shipments from griz and ups. i'm looking into a griz edge sander now. buy the joniter, you'll be happy with it. john

[Jeff Kerr]

Ken,

I got the g0490 a year ago. It is my first jointer so I have nothing to compare to but I am very happy with it from a price and fit finish perspective.

Yes you can spend morem, but that doesn't always mean that you are getting more. I have been in several pro shops and have seen them using grizzly tools on every day production. If they can run these tools all day long, I can use them as a hobbyist and get great results.

[David Romano]

I've had my G0490 for over a year and I'm mostly happy with it. I use it alot and I've got list of complaints, but I'd still reccomend buying one. I fitted it with a link belt and that took some bending of the sheet metal belt guard. It still rattles when I start up the motor. I also had a to file a flat spot in a washer so the fence would move properly. I bought mine before Grizzly sorted out their shipping issues, so my motor supports in the cabinet were bent beyong repair and they had to send me a new one. Rewiring the motor/switch was a hassle. At the time, I was pretty PO'd. The dust collection chute is idiotically designed. You hook up the DC imagining a chute inside that leads up to the cutterhead. Instead it is just a slide, open on the sides. I created a proper tube with cardboard. Otherwise, the inside of the cabinet slowly fills with sawdust, esp when you occasionally don't turn on the DC.

The tables and fence are very flat. I have a 36 inch steel straightedge and can't fit a 1 mil shim under most spots. There is a slight 2 mil bow in the outfeed and maybe a 1 mil cup in the infeed. Good enough. The best thing about the parallelogram design is the easy of adjustment. I can't imagine making the adjustments with dovetailed ways. Shimming? Forget it. That would drive me insane.The 4 cam's on each table make adjustments pretty easy and you do need to check themn and make small adjustment periodically. The motor is plenty powerful and judging by the pulley ratio, the 3 hp choice was not a bad idea. I've run a lot of Jatoba, Hard Maple, Ash and Ipe' and the machine handles them like they're nothing. I do wish it had wheels instead of levers for table adjustments, esp for the outfeed. The lever is a PITA. The fence is nice and high and long. Spiral cutterhead would be nice, because tearout is always a problem with varying grain, maybe someday. Sharpen your own blades, get the Lee Valley tool to do it.

Good luck with your choice!
david

[Don Bullock]

... Rewiring the motor/switch was a hassle. ...The dust collection chute is idiotically designed. You hook up the DC imagining a chute inside that leads up to the cutterhead. Instead it is just a slide, open on the sides. ....
david

Evidently Grizzly has fixed these two problems as well. Unless I'm not understanding David, the "slide" for the dust collection is fully enclosed. The dust collection seems to work well. I had read about rewiring the switch. In fact someone (could have been David) sent me a PM about it. Mine came fully wired except for the plug. Since I needed a 30 amp style plug instead of the 20 amp plug that Grizzly shows in the owner's manuel this was no problem.

[brian lanning]

I'm going to be pushing the button in the next few weeks. One of the tools I'm considering is the Grizzley G0490.

I'd sure appreciate hearing from any owners....pro or con!

Thanks

I have one. It's great. I have a couple minor complaints though. First, dust collection could be better. I haven't really looked, but it's probably the dust chute problem others have mentioned. I remember reading a thread a while back about someone who had hot-glued a piece of plywood in there which made a huge improvement. This was with my old 1100 cfm DC though. My new DC is a 5000cfm monster, but I haven't hooked it up to the jointer yet. I suspect that one would get all the chips regardless of the dust chute. :-)

The other complaint I have is that with the built-in mobile base, the whole thing is a bit tippy. Others have posted problems with foot pedal not leveling the caster when it's on wheels. This has the effect of making gravity want to steer the jointer. Mine isn't quite level, but it hasn't been a problem. A bigger problem for me is the caster dropping into an expansion joint in my garage occasionally making the whole thing want to tip over. I've had a coupe exciting moments so far. Now I look for it though so it hasn't been a problem.

My only other complaint is really pilot error. I have a tendency to pass the edge of a board over the cutter head too quickly which leaves scallop marks. If I just slow down, the problem goes away.

brian

[Carl Oresick]

I've had mine for only a couple months and generally would recommend it. My only gripes so far are:

-getting it down the basement was interesting (given the weight).

-I found half of the bottom piggyback allen screws were loose - the ones that lock the table adjustment cams in place (I suggest checking these)

-the aluminum table inserts at the cutterhead look like they were cut to length by hand using an angle grinder, this is noticable from the side. The top surfaces are nicely ground so it doesn't affect function at all but it would have been nice to have made a nice clean cut here given that the rest of the machine has good fit and finish.

[Don Bullock]

...
-I found half of the bottom piggyback allen screws were loose - the ones that lock the table adjustment cams in place (I suggest checking these)...

Thanks Carl. I'll have to check mine.

Brian has a point about the base being top heavy. No matter what base it was on the base would have to weigh more than the jointer to lower the center of gravity. I've found that I just have to be careful then it's up on the wheels, but when it's down it's very stable.

[Michael Disorbo]

Have had my 490 for almost a year and half and have put it threw hell and beyond. I have had no problems what so ever with this machine. My Delta DC gets the chips out with no problems, it has never pluged and I did not make any adjustments. I must say that I have edge joined and face planed well over 5000 brd feet of all kinds of lumber on this machine. It still is as good as the day I set it up. The only complaint I have is I wished I would have went with a 10" or 12". But maybe another day. Also got Grizz's 15 inch planer and the only problem I had with that was a little oil leak at the plug on the gearbox. A little teflon tape and it solved the problem. Go Grizzly!!!

Michael

[Craig Kershaw]

I'm trying to keeping an open mind about my first experience with Grizzly. I bought the GO490 jointer and haven't gotten it put together yet. Last Friday night I started the assembly and didn't get too far when I realized I was missing quite a number of nuts and bolts. I called the customer service folks first thing Monday morning and told them what I was missing. I did try on Saturday morning last weekend but the recording said they were busy with the tent sale. (Hey, lets face it new customers are more imortant than old ones) I'm supposed to receive all the missing items except one next Monday. The one item on back order is the bolt that holds the motor to the stand. At first they told me that the remaining bolt wouldn't come in until 11/8. When I said I might as well go to the Home Depot to get the bolt they said they would make other arrangements and that I should have that bolt by the end of next week. So hopefully NEXT weekend I can put the jointer together.

[Tom Ruflin]

Ken,
I am also looking at the 0490. In the Woodwork magazine I just got, it shows the G0490 on sale for $725 with $139 shipping starting November 1st. Thats a $70 savings. I'm going to wait or call them to see if they will give me the sale price in a couple of weeks. First I have to figure out how to fit it into my basement shop. I know I can get it down the stairs but don't really have any space for it.

[glenn bradley]

SHAMELESS THREAD-JACK - but it could help Ken too . . .

What size breaker / wiring are you guys running your 3HP Grizzlys on?

[SCOTT ANDREWS]

SHAMELESS THREAD-JACK - but it could help Ken too . . .

What size breaker / wiring are you guys running your 3HP Grizzlys on?


220V,20 amp breaker,10 ga. wire.

[Allen Bookout]

220V,20 amp breaker,10 ga. wire.

Same here. I wired a 25' #12 wire replacement cord to the machine. I wired it directly into the box on the machine and did not have any problem with it.

I REALLY like my GO490. Was perfect out of the box except for needing to enclose the dust chute. I got mine about a year ago I guess so from what I am reading here I suppose the dust chute is enclosed now.