Grizzly shipped my lathe on Wednesday. A day later than they promised but that's ok. They shipped by SAIA who doesn't deliver to residential locations. They hand the freight off to another carrier who has bobtail trucks and they deliver. I was glad I caught that because they said it would be the middle of next week before I would have it. They held it across town for me and I picked it up this morning. Really nice guys at the shipping company and they loaded it up for me. I got home and took the box apart. BTW the letter on the Grizzly shipping container are now black instead of green When I got the top off the first think I noticed was the top of the invert case had a bad case of rust Disappointing to say the least. I tried to clean it off but it had gone all the way thru the paint. I pulled the manual out of the bottom of the box and was surprised to see it had a 1/4 inch hold torn all the way thru it. Cont.
The plastic bag it was in did not have a hole so some worker or machine put it in there that way. I pulled things out one piece at a time and actually put the entire thing together without any help. I luck out and the tailgate of my truck lined up perfect with the bed of the lathe so it was easy to slide the head stock back on the bed. I plugged the lathe in and it runs great. Really smooth. Next it was time to clean up the banjo and install it on the lathe. When I turned it over I was surprised to see the casting had a bad spot in it. Totally unacceptable and would most likely scratch the bed. Cont
So I called Grizzly and they are sending me a new banjo casting, a manual and opened a inquiry up on the case for the inverter. It is not listed as a separate part so they are going to have to see if they can find one or order it from the factory. So I can't use the lathe until I get a new banjo housing. They said they would ship one out UPS hopefully today. This is my first purchase from Grizzly and not impressed so far. I am sure once I get this taken care of I'll be a happy camper. Until then it back to my old lathe. Harold Pictures to come.
Well I guess I don't know how to put pictures in a message but I think I uploaded them to the files photos section if you want to see them.
They should have caught that banjo flaw with QC at the factory. The inverter case is likely due to travel across the ocean and sitting in the warehouse for some time. It should have been inspected at the distribution center before shipping. It is cosmetic, and could be sanded down and some Rustoleum paint sprayed on it, but I certainly would have taken pause as well. Grizzly will do everything it can to make this right...they value their customers.
Sorry to hear your new lathe didn't arrive in good condition. I know it's frustrating but Grizzly will make it right. It's just aggravating to have a brand new lathe and can't use it because your waiting on the UPS truck. Hopefully in a couple of days, this will all be taken care of and you'll have years of good service out of your lathe. Please keep us posted on developments. I haven't had to deal with Grizzly warranty service yet so I'm curious about their service. They seem responsive from what I've read.
I used my G0766 yesterday and made a cherry vase about 14" tall from basically firewood. I kept hearing a rattling sound after I transferred the vase to my Nova G3 chuck, then I realized I'd left the ram rod inside the hole. DOH. This lathe is wonderful - 4-1/2 years, and the only issue has been the cheap Chinese speed potentiometers. I am on #3, and have a Cutler Hammer NOS in the storage underneath just in case. Save the crate and make an under storage cabinet. You'll really love the ability of this beast to conquer and tame just about every piece you put on it.
Got my new banjo today. Only took about 20 minutes to swap out. The replacement is perfect as you would expect. I have actually been turning a little with the defective one. I filed on it a little so it wouldn't scratch the bed but it's in the trash now. Larry at Grizzly called me today just like he said he would and they found the part number for the Inverter cover and ordered me one. It's nice when someone does what they say. Will take about 3 weeks but not a big deal. If you look you will see they left that part out of the manual by mistake. It's in the manual for all the others. He did throw in a couple of cans of Grizzly touch-up paint at no charge for my trouble. Nice of him. I will say I am very impressed with the Grizzly customer. I had taken pictures of the bad parts expecting to have to argue to get replacement parts. Not needed at Grizzly. They smile and happily send the parts no questions asked. They know how to make the customer happy Harold
Wonderful Harold! You've found out what most of us already knew, so you can have confidence in your purchase going forward.
Glad you are being taken care of Harold. Enjoy your new lathe. There are so many directions you can go when you get into woodturning. I've headed off down the segmented turning rabbit hole. I've been having a blast making and buying tools and contraptions to make that easier.
