Help! Adjusting a Grizzly G0490x

[Steven Almas]

2 weeks ago I received delivery of my new jointer and excitedly put it together. My initial tests showed the the tables were slightly out of plane. I also noticed that the outfeed table wasn't perfectly level with the cutter head.

I read through the manual and set out to align the machine yesterday afternoon. I spent about 15 mins getting the outfeed table adjusted to the spiral head and then set out to make the infeed table co-planer. This is where the trouble started. After about 2 hours, all I could manage was a wedge shaped table. What I mean is that the cams further from the head were set at a higher level than the cams closer to the head. Both tables are flat to 0.002 using a Veritas 50" straight edge and some feelers.

My question, is there anyway to make sure the outfeed table stays at 180 degrees while adjusting it to the head? I think that I could finally get everything right if I can make sure that my outfeed table stays level.

I've just reread what I wrote and don't know if even I understand it, but I'll take any and all advice.

I also read the Delta DJ-20 manual, and the Jointer looks to be the exact (or close to) design of the G0490x. The only difference that I see in the adjustment section of the manual is that Delta recommends setting the outfeed to 0.015" over the head and then adjust the outfeed table keeping that 0.015" gap. Grizzly's manual shows placing the straight edge on the head itself. Which is better or more correct?

Thanks

[Peter Quadarella]

Steven, I would suggest calling Grizzly and talking directly with their technical support. The guys there generally are very helpful and know their product.

I have the same jointer which arrived last week and the beds were already perfectly set up. All I did was move the infeed table to the depth I wanted and start jointing.

[Charlie T. Bear]

Yea me too! I received my 490x and it was perfect right out of the box.

[Steven Almas]

Ugh, thanks guys. I noticed my tables were slightly off because of the fence. When I set it to 90deg on the outfeed table, it was slightly more than 90 on the infeed. I checked the fence and it is straight.

Of course, in pursuit of near perfection, I've made the tables worse. Just my luck.

Actually, what's worse yet, I ran a couple boards through the jointer before I started monkeying with it and as far as I could tell the boards came off the machine a perfect 90deg.

I should of left well enough alone, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I just hate seeing light leak past my engineer's square.

[John Hedges]

When you are checking the squareness on a machine made in China, just be sure to use Chinese made squares :D.

Sorry couldn't pass it up. Hope you get your machine back on track quickly, it sucks to have a new machine you can't use.

[glenn bradley]

Steven, I know it doesn't help that my 490x was also great out of the box. I too would call Griz tech support. They will kill your learning curve by giving you sequential steps end to end on the setup.

If it makes you feel any better, my fence had to go back as it was flat point to point, but spiraled a but. Had I needed to adjust and used this as a reference I would have been in trouble.

[Barry Vabeach]

Steven, I spent several days adjusting trying to get my Jet jointer planer tables aligned and now finally after a lot of wasted time and much thought, I think I am making progress - though still not perfect, so I will pass along my latest procedure ( omitting my instructions on how to waste several days doing - as the manual suggests - several adustments at once, or how to strip an adjuster) First, figure out exactly where each of adjusters sits in relation to the infeed and out feed tables and mark with tape on the side of the tables each of those 8 locations. Starting with the outfeed table - set the dial indicator so that it reads TDC on the cutterhead while the base is over the pivot point nearest cutterhead closest to the fence ( call that A)and then compare that to the point over the adjuster nearest the cutterhead but furthest away from the fence (call that B ) and adjust one or the other so the readings are the same. Once that is done, don't touch those adjusters again. Second you need to check the alignment of the end of the outfeed table with the cutterhead and the A and B spots that you have just set . Note that if you raise the end of the table that is closest to the fence, the portion of the outfeed table that is closer to the cutterhead than A will fall because of the location of the adjustment point and the lever effect, but that shouldn't impact too much because you set those heights at the point of adjustment, not at the end closest to the cutterhead. Place the straight edge from cutterhead to the end of the outfeed table , but not onto the infeed table, parallel to the fence both near the fence ( Test 1 ), and far away from the fence ( Test 2)and both diagonals ( Tests 3 and 4 ) You want the clearance at the ends to be the same all 4 tests ( I tried measuring at the cutterhead but found it was difficult since the head is round, it is easy to tilt the feeler a tiny amount and mess up the measurement - so instead drop the outfeed table so you can make contact with the head, then reset it when you are done) Make adustments to the rear adjusters so everything is in one plane. Once you are satisfied with the outfeed table, do the same steps to the infeed table. Once both are aligned to the cutterhead you should make final 4 tests with the straightedge spanning from the infeed to the outfeed table, which at most will show a need for a minor adjustment because in theory everything is already coplanar - if you need to tweak it, use you dial indicator to check the clearance at the 2 adjustment points nearest the cutter head on each table, if the 2 are the same on each table, leave them alone and figure out which far end of the table needs to move by comparing the measurements from parallel to the fence to diagonals which should tell you exactly which ends need to move and the direction.
Sorry for the length, but I had read a post of someone with the Jet that wasted a few hours in this adjustment, and the Jet manual describes the 8 adjusters and how to make them go up and down and then says an adjustment may involve a front adjustment, a rear adjustment, or more likely a combination of both - without any explanation of how one impacts the other, or the order in which you should do the adjustments. And it says that you may need to repeat the execise more than once to get the tables coplanar. To make an adjustment you need to lift the tables, then when done, you need to lower the tables and and lock them so it takes a while. BTW, I checked the Grizzly manual and it is far better than the Jet on coplanar adjustments in describing the staight edge and setting each table coplanar to the cutterhead though I prefer working on just one adjuster at a time.




Ugh, thanks guys. I noticed my tables were slightly off because of the fence. When I set it to 90deg on the outfeed table, it was slightly more than 90 on the infeed. I checked the fence and it is straight.

Of course, in pursuit of near perfection, I've made the tables worse. Just my luck.

Actually, what's worse yet, I ran a couple boards through the jointer before I started monkeying with it and as far as I could tell it is easy to tilt it, the boards came off the machine a perfect 90deg.

I should of left well enough alone, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I just hate seeing light leak past my engineer's square.

[Steven Almas]

Barry, Thanks for the write up. I think I was on the right track last night, but just got tired and frustrated it was taking so long. One thing I noticed was that the cams only seem to affect the table +/- 0.005". Adjusting them one at a time should work out just fine. Also, I've thrown perfection out the window since my straight edge already has 0.003" error over the length. I'm going to work on getting the obvious wedge angle out of the tables and be happy with that. Once I get it close, I'm going to run some stock and see what my results look like. That will be my final say.

[Barry Vabeach]

Steven, good luck and I think you are in fine shape with .003 over the length of the straightedge to get them close enough - at one point ( after I started monkeying around with it ) I had the straight edge touching the outfeed, and near side of the infeed, but was at least a 1/16 ( that's .06) above the far end of the infeed table.

[Steven Almas]

Well, after about another hour, a 50" straight edge, and a dial gauge, I have my table lined up. Using a 0.003" feeler as my go/no go, everything lines up square and flat. I I double check everything with a 0.0015" feeler and only got it to slide out clean in one spot (near the center of the infeed table. This is more than acceptable for me.

Now my new dilemma, My fence doesn't stay 90deg through the entire width of the bed, if I set the fence at 90 near the pulley (back of the jointer) and then reposition the fence closer to the front, the angle is less than 90. I think the carriage may be slightly out of level with the outfeed table (maybe a little higher), can this be the problem?

[Barry Vabeach]

Steven, I would suggest you call Grizzly tech and see what they say. If you can't call when they are open, two ideas come to mind from looking at the manual, and having owned a Powermatic which has a similar support - first look for burrs on the bottom of the fence and the carriage the rear of the fence rides on - a small burr somewhere can effect that angle. If everything seems smooth, another possibility is that the fence support (# 13 in the manual ) is not coplanar to the table -again any small burr can cause that - or you can just try to shim it with a piece of paper above the screws to see if that resolves the problem. You might want to check to see how it cuts first because even though it may look off - when jointing a 3/4 board there may not be any problems. Good Luck. By the way, I used the straightedge - parallel and at diagonals to the fence and a .003 as a go no go earlier this morning and got things sorted out in short order also - though I really focused on adjusting just one adjuster at a time because it was tough to predict what else would be effected.

[Steven Almas]

Hey Barry, do you work for Grizzly? Just kidding, but I swear I talked with you this morning. The Grizzly tech said to look at the exact same things as you. I'll get to it tonight. Just FYI to anyone who cares. Grizzly's spec for cast iron twist is 0.002" per foot. So for a 48" fence, a 0.008" twist would be considered acceptable. I just thought that was interesting. I know a lot of people on this board would freak out over that much twist in their fence.

Hey Barry, one last thing. Since you seem to know your way around these type jointers. My adjustment/stop screw on the infeed table (the screw and nut that restrict how far the infeed table can be lowered) doesn't seem to do anything. I adjusted it until tight and the infeed table still lowers it's entire travel lenght. I forgot to ask the Tech about it this morning. In general, it doesn't matter for usage of the jointer, since once the table is positioned and tightened, it doesn't seem to move. It's probably something I need to fix though.

[Barry Vabeach]

Steven, I saw that in the manual, but the Powermatic that I had didn't have that feature. From the manual, I would guess that there is a pin that sticks out the back of the table, and that it rldes in a slot and that the 2 screws are at either ends so that they restrict the motion up or down. If you turned the screw until it is all the way in it should stop the table from sinking lower than 1/8. So long as your scale is okay, I wouldn't worry about it in that it is extremely rare that I would set it for anything near 1/8 inch.