Grizzly G0490

[Caron Miller]

I recently purchased the G0490 jointer.

Everything was going good until it was time for a test cut. Before I turned on the machine I checked the blades with a straight edge at the back, middle and front. All four just kissed it. Ran a piece of poplar through on edge and flat and I get ridges. Tried again with a ridiculously slow feed rate and I get the same results.

The jointer vibrates pretty good. I think I have narrowed it to the pulley on the motor. Will this cause the ridges or ripples I get in the jointed board? Should I be looking elsewhere? Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd

[Russ Massery]

Carefully put the guard back and inspect the knives. With the unit UNPLUGGED of course. Sounds like you have nick in the knives. The reason for the grooves in the work piece. Also check the belt tension and pulleys. Make sure there tight. Could be the reason for the vibration.

[Caron Miller]

No knick in the knives. It acts as if one knife is higher than the others. However they are all set the same. I will talk to Grizzly tech on Monday. I don't expect much help. I had a 6 inch Delta for years and changed the knives 3 times and never had a problem. I suspect the tool will be going back.

[Cary Falk]

I have heard the pully is a common problem on this jointer. I wouldn't think the ripples in the wood would be caused by the vibration unless it excessive. Whatever the issue is I know Grizzly will make it right. My guess they will ship out a pulley instead of you sending it back. Some people also add a link belt to reduce vibration. My Shop Fox version was so smooth I don't have to bother with a link belt.

[Jerry Booher]

I have a new G0490X. The belt seems to be too long. When the jointer is running, the belt is sloppy and and is hitting the slot in the base from the motor to the drive pulley. Since there is no adjustment on the motor to tighten the existing belt, I will be replacing it with a link belt.

Jerry

[Jim Kountz]

I have a new G0490X. The belt seems to be too long. When the jointer is running, the belt is sloppy and and is hitting the slot in the base from the motor to the drive pulley. Since there is no adjustment on the motor to tighten the existing belt, I will be replacing it with a link belt.

Jerry

Jerry, you should have plenty of adjustment for the belt. Mine has two sets of slots. I did have to relocate to the higher set of slots but I have lots of room for adjustment, could go another 3/4 to 1" more if my belt should stretch. Right now I just have it tensioned enough to not slip and mine is running smooth. I can talk over it without even raising my voice hardly at all.

[Cary Falk]

Jim beat me to it. From the Grizzly manual, page 20. Loosen the bolts pointed to in black. I have seen people move the motor all the way to the top and add a much shorter link belt to reduce the belt slap on startup.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q297/caryincamas/g0490.jpg

[Jim Rohloff]

Hi All.
This is my first post here so the first thing I should do is thank all of you for all the good information that I get by reading your posts. My dad always taught me to watch, look, and listen, and to only inject when one has something to add.

That being said-- I have been dealing with Grizzly for a number of weeks regarding vibration issues with a new G0490. Thus far I have added a Link Belt, replaced the motor pulley, and replaced the cutterhead pulley (not fun) with the pulley replacements sent by Grizzly. The motor seems fine with minimal run-out. I still have a fair amount of vibration. They even sent me a new V-Belt knowing that I had installed a Link Belt and I put it on just to cover all bases. The vibration grew much worse with the new V-Belt.

At this time a new cutterhead with bearings is in UPS on the way to me. It has been a major frustration but Grizzly has been trying to help. If you would like, I can let you all know how it works out.

Jim

[Chip Lindley]

I must suspect something other than an unbalanced pulley to cause the planer marks you discribe. The vibration of a pulley or belt would definately be a nusiance, but not affect the cut, considering this is a new machine with masses of cast iron! You are getting the same effect caused by one knife being set higher than the other three (doing all the work). Something is moving, I suspect!

These marks show that something may be *loose* regardless of balance. If your gib bolts are all tight, your knives are not moving. An out-of-round cutter head is very doubtful but not impossible. A brand new bad bearing is doubtful, but its journal could be a sloppy fit. Either would cause the cutter head to rotate nicely for you to check your knives by hand with a straight edge, BUT wobble horribly out of round under power. Check to see that the cutter head journal bolts are snugged down tightly to the frame. Check that there is no play in either in- or outfeed table when locked down. Any vibration causing these to jump up and down would cause your knife marks as discribed.

I hope this may help! Good Luck!

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Chip. A jointer dancing about is not good but I wouldn't expect scalloping from vibration in and of itself. I am a fan of Grizzly but we all have our threshold. Jim states "weeks" on this effort which would have me in a state of mind to expect a new machine showing up ASAP. He has already gone above and beyond the call of duty.

It seems like we are wandering off Caron's OP so as long as I am giving free opinions, I'll try to veer back his way. I'll assume the jointer is vibrating much more than another machine, like your tablesaw, just as a point of reference. I won't be near my machine till Monday but I will try to check it with some quantifiable 'thing' and report back; nickle test or cup of coffee or something scientific like that ;-) Jim's issue should caution Caron to take copious notes and keep good records of his interaction with Griz in case things go south. I tend to lean toward the three-strikes rule on this stuff; if you aren't feeling the love, ask to talk to someone's boss.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Please post the outcome. We definately want to know and I would like to see the final solution post for reference in case some else runs into the same issue.

[Mark Buchanan]

If or when you solve the problem check all the allen set screws on the entire machine. None of the ones on my 490 were even hand tight. It is a real pain to re-align everything on these machines becase of slack ass assembly practices. I had a host of problems including shipping damage and the belt that came with mine was to long for first set of holes and to short for second set. Good old NAPA came through. This is my first and last grizzly eguipment.

Mark

[Neal Clayton]

mark, as jim said grizzly's idea on the jointer seems to be for you to adjust the motor height yourself to apply the proper tension (even though it wasn't stated as such in the manual). i bought a 0593 to replace my old 6" last week and had to adjust the motor height on mine as well.

i didn't have the problem you describe of the allen screws all being loose, though, that's definitely an error on their part.

fwiw, other than adjusting the motor height mine didn't require anything other than grease cleanup and assembly. the outfeed table was dead on, the head was level, fit on the fence was good, even the depth guage on the infeed table was accurate.

hope you guys get yours sorted out.

[Caron Miller]

OK guys it is a new day. I started this morning with the 2 hour round trip to Woodcraft to get a magnetic base for my dial indicator.

1. Checked the cutterhead height in relation to the outfeed table. It was .031. Adjusted the outfeed table to .062 as per the instructions.

2. Checked infeed table in relation to outfeed table. It was .085 below the outfeed. Adjusted it to zero. Tightened it backup and reset depth indicator to zero.

3. Checked all blade heights. I had some off by .0015. Reset all blades to .002 above the new outfeed table height. These were all measured at the back, middle and front. (I had one blade that measured .0025 at the front)

4. Ran a piece of soft maple.

5. Same results. (tiny bit better) It is still to scallopped for a glue joint. Got disgusted and took break for lunch.

I guess I may pull the drive pulley and check for runout. I will be calling grizzly first thing Monday. I will document all conversations. I don't know about changing everything out to try to make it work. If I am going to do that they might as well send it to me in pieces to start with.

[Jim Kountz]

Wow Caron I really feel for you, this stinks! I really hope you get this all taken care of and soon, its really a nice jointer and you obviously have something horribly wrong with yours. I guess you got "the one". Sorry for you troubles and keep us posted!

[Shiraz Balolia]

I recently purchased the G0490 jointer.

Everything was going good until it was time for a test cut. Before I turned on the machine I checked the blades with a straight edge at the back, middle and front. All four just kissed it. Ran a piece of poplar through on edge and flat and I get ridges. Tried again with a ridiculously slow feed rate and I get the same results.

The jointer vibrates pretty good. I think I have narrowed it to the pulley on the motor. Will this cause the ridges or ripples I get in the jointed board? Should I be looking elsewhere? Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd

Hi Caron/Todd. Please PM me your activity number. I could not find a purchase under Todd Miller or Caron Miller.

Thanks.

[Barry Vabeach]

Todd, post back when you get your problem sorted out. I am not expert, but I can't think of much that will cause excess scalloping - other then 1 knive going higher than the others. Either they are not set exactly level, you might want to try to wood stick method to see what that tells you about the height, using a feeler or dial indicator can be tough because it is hard to find TDC, or something is causing the knives to seem like they are all at the same height when rotated by hand, but change when it is under power - loose knife or gib, loose - bad bearing or bearing mount allowing the cutterhead to wiggle when under power, or, and this is far fetched, cutterhead speed is so slow, that you get scalloping with a normal feed rate. I doubt it would help much, but you might want to try edge jointing furthest from the front, then move the fence to the middle, another edge joint, then move up to the front, and try again, to see if there is any variation in the scalloping depending on where you hit the knives. Hope it gets sorted out by Grizzzly soon.

[glenn bradley]

Caron, I don't know if you are aware but Shiraz (two posts above this) is the president of Grizzly. I would respond to him ASAP. He will get you taken care of.

[Caron Miller]

Update:

Talked with tech support on Monday. I have to say this is the best expierence I have had with customer support of any company. The cutter head has been sent back to Grizzly for them to check it out. After I removed it, the mounting blocks felt loose on the bearings. I would think this should be an interference fit. They are sending a new drive pulley.

I did contact Shiraz Balolia. It is good to see someone from the company surfing the forums.

I will let you know how things work out.

[Jim Rohloff]

Hi All:
Good news to report on my new G0490. The new cutterhead arrived and it has been installed. The jointer now runs with little to no vibration. After a full alignment the machine cuts like a dream. My shop is fully functional once again.

Thanks
Jim

[Caron Miller]

Thanks for the update. I can't wait to get going again. I have a bunch of QS white oak that is too wide for my old six inch jointer.

Todd

[Jeff Cord]

I also have a G0490 (have had it for a couple of years) that leaves small grooves (or ripples) across the board when I joint wood (it's not a nicked blade).
I thought this was normal. I tried slowing down with no improvement.
How big are the ripples you are getting?
thanks,
Jeff

[Anthony Whitesell]

Are the high/low spots of ripples/ridges in the feed direction or the knife direction (perpendicular to the feed)?

I didn't notice and ripples on my test pieces which were pine, but once I changed to hard word they appeared. The low/high spots on my wood were in the knife direction, perpendicular to the feed direction)...ie. scalloping. I slowed my feed rate WAY down and that cleared it up. So for the first few cuts I go fast, but for the final pass I go really slow. So slow that if I was using a router it would cause burning.

I wonder if the shelix head would have the same issue. Any one know?

[Peter Quinn]

Remember those old Lowe's adds with the customers installing walls that fall down or lighting that catches fire and stating "I am not an electrician"? That is how I feel about new machinery; "I am not a machinist". I do not rebuild new equipment that I have purchased, I do not change bearings, motors, cutter heads and the like on new machines under warranty. I do not add shims to compensate for poorly manufactured castings, not even maybe. I went down that road with Laguna, I got stuck fixing a new tool which may be the last I ever buy from them.

I do expect to do a thorough set up to verify factory settings and make adjustments as necessary, its a great way to learn a new machine in any event. But I do not get warm feelings when a company offers to send me replacement parts on a brand new machine and help me diagnose their mistakes. Its not that I'm incapable as a mechanic; I actually like fixing my older and used machines. Am I a minority or are there others that expect new machines to work or be replaced entirely?

That said it seems Grizzly has great customer service which will be a great asset to owners as their machines age with use and require the inevitable maintenance. And having the president of the company take notice to help customers certainly sets the a good tone for their CS program. I am thankful I have never needed that for any item purchased from Grizzly. I am considering a planner from them next year but I can't help wondering will it work out of the crate or will I be forging a strong relationship with a CS rep?

On the jointer issue I have an old Delta DJ-20 that cuts so smooth with sharp knives a few swipes of sand paper will remove the lines quickly. You should expect similar performance from yours once all is fixed. I hope my jointer never breaks because Delta's CS is not great IME.

[Neal Clayton]

well, you could opt for a different planer from a local dealer for a thousand or two more, which they will probably gladly exchange should you not be pleased with it. that's what the extra money is for.

i too would be impatient if i were to get a dud (thankfully never have), but i don't think i'm owed both the best price and on-site service as well.

[Caron Miller]

I have had this machine for a month now and haven't used it. Replacement parts have trickled in slowly. Today I received a new cutter head. It was packaged in a box that I could fit 6 cutterheads in. It had bubble wrap only around the drive pulley end. It had about 2 inches of peanuts in the bottom. To get a better idea of the protection the cutter had you could put a couple pennys in a coffee cup and shake it. The bubble wrap didn't work as well as someone thought because the drive pulley broke and then chipped the blades.

Customer service has been very responsive. However if I had bought a new LCD TV I would hope to get a new one if it wasn't right and not a capacitor here and a resistor there.

I was ok with replacing the pulley on the motor. But now I get to reassemble the cutterhead and shim it. Oh Boy now I am a machinist. I hope my experience is not the norm, however I am going to think long and hard before buying any more Grizzly equipment.

Maybe they should have service techs to fly around the country to set these machines up.

Getting frustrated,
Todd

[Dan Friedrichs]

Caron,

While it must be frustrating, you have to realize that if you expect that level of on-site service or immediate entire replacement, you're going to have to pay a LOT more. You're getting a great deal on what will be a quality piece of equipment (once you get it set up).

I haven't bought from Griz before, and hadn't really ever considered buying from them before I joined SMC, but to see the personal attention from Shiraz along with so many satisifed Creekers is something very hard to find these days. My next purchase (a band saw, most likely) will be from Griz, mostly because of their reputation for incredible customer service.