(I think) my planer was built on a Friday

[Ben Grefe]

I’ve come to the conclusion that my planer was built on a Friday. Before I got into detail, I want to say I really like my Grizzly G0454Z 20 inch planer. I wouldn’t trade it for (most) other brands or machines (maybe the 24 inch version). I’m pretty sure the Grizzly’s are made by similar people/factories making the Powermatics/Jets/etc. I’ve also had great experiences with my other Grizzly tools (18inch bandsaw, 8 inch jointer.

I received my planer a year or two ago, right after Grizzly had changed factories. I even got the letter from Grizzly’s president apologizing for the 4+ month wait after purschase. I was eager to put it to use and remember taking delivery from a freight truck fondly. I went through the entire manual, setup the infeed/outfeed/head/bed rollers, etc. Everything that was called out in the manual, I did.

I probably should have called Grizzly at this point. Right off the bat I found that the cutter head was something like .100 off from the far right to far left. I used some shims and got it within .002 (shimming the bearing block on the right side of the planer). I actually forgot about this operation until now. Got the rollers setup ‘well’, never really got the pre and post chip breakers setup as much as I wanted.

After using the planer for only a few weeks it started to make a very concerning rattle/grumble noise. It cut great, but I was getting concerned about this noise. Then it went away and I (wrongly) went on with life.

Finally this weekend I decided I was way over due for an oil change and a tune up. Way past the manual’s recommendation of 20 runtime hours I bet.

Taking the unit apart I started to find some concerning items. First, I took the gearing cover off (not oil filled gear box, but the black cover ontop of it). To my horror I found what must have been the noise many months ago. The right side pulled bolt holding the outfeed gear on was mashing between the cover and the gear. The bolt was destroyed. The gear (not teeth, but casting) took some minimal damage. No where in the manual did it say to torque or check these bolts upon arrival, but clearly this one was loose and worked its way out.

I decided to keep poking around to see what else was loose. Turns out 2 of the four bolts holding the planer bed to the stand were nearly falling off, the bolt holding the motor alignment system was falling off and there is chipped paint all over - all inside the machine.

I tightened everything up and decided to keep going with the tune up. I was very happy to find that the infeed, outfeed and cutter head adjustments I made on arrival were nearly perfect. I’ve decided to change them up slightly, but they really only drifted .010 over all that time (mainly from left to right). For a machine this size, I think that’s pretty good.

However, I found another annoyance that I had forgotten. The chip breakers are of really poor quality. The infeed chip breaker says to adjust it to .040 below the cutter head. Mine must have .075 or more variability along it’s length making this adjustment impossible. There are just random dips in the casting.

Then the outfeed chip breaker (not the official name). For some reason mine doesn’t have any spring pressure on the left side, making it impossible to get it down to .008 below the cutter head. Nothing I can do will get it there.

Even with these issues, the machine cuts PERFECTLY. Goes a long ways to show how well they’re designed (IMO). I replaced the mangled bolt with a perfect match from the ACE down the street. I’m still thinking about what (or if) I should do anything with the outfeed chip breaker.

I guess the lesson is to really inspect these things on delivery and torque all the bolts - just in case. Knowning what I know now I wouldn’t have sent it back, but I would like to figure out chip break replacements.

[Larry Frank]

Hopefully, the Grizzly Man Shiraz will respond to your concerns.

[glenn bradley]

Certainly when you are purchasing a tool that is 40% or more below the price of the competition you should expect differences. You also should expect a machine that is serviceable in the important areas of operation. I sit in the camp that holds sellers responsible for their product. It's good for them and it's good for the consumer to do this.

You sum it up well in your last paragraph; one should never accept a machine that is delivered by gorillas and appears to have been mishandled. All setup and alignment steps should be performed as soon as possible after delivery. Any anomalies should be presented to the seller for resolution. This helps the seller track his QC, gets a speedy fix for anything you might need fixed and you still save a chunk of change for other supplies. Win-win.

I have a lot of colors of paint in my shop and some of my better 'bang for buck' purchases were Grizzly tools. One example is my jointer that came so well set up I kept going back to check because I was sure I had missed something. I did need a fence replacement as it was out of spec. Got the replacement within a week. The planer was not so well aligned off the pallet but, following the manual and recommendations for variation on the manual's settings given on many forums, I have never had to re-align the machine in years of use.

[Rod Sheridan]

Ben, hopefully everything will be resolved to your satisfaction.

That said, machinery needs commissioning. Whether by the service group of the manufacturer, or the owner or an independent Tech, there are things that need checking and calibrating on larger machinery.

I often find during commissioning that I'm simply measuring and verifying, as well as providing a bit of training for the customer, and of course signing off on the documentation that the machine met performance specifications.

Having been a Tech in industry for 40 years, I consider this a normal pre-use operation, however today many home owner/non technical people buy machinery that would never have been purchased by a hobby user previously. ( Your 20 inch planer, or a Felder/Mini-Max machine for example).

Many hobby and non technical people aren't aware of commissioning for machinery because they don't work in that sort of an environment. When you purchase an automobile it goes through commissioning at the dealer, which they call a Pre-Delivery Inspection, and then it goes back after a period of time for a second checkup at the dealer.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your new planer, that's a pretty large one, I only have a 12 inch machine.

Regards, Rod.

[Bill Space]

"I received my planer a year or two ago..."

Ben,

It sounds like your message is that when one receives a new piece of equipment he should inspect it and contact the seller if there are problems. As Rod said, initial setup is to be an expected chore (or pleasant learning experience ).

I do not get the impression that at this point ( if you are like me could actually more than two years past the delivery date) that you are expecting any resolution to be driven from the Grizzly end. I wouldn't personally.

Most important is that you are happy with the planer and its performance. I envy your 20" planer. Mine is a Grizzly as well, and over 20 years old but still doing its job, but just 15". I lust for a 20" but only occasionally.

[Shiraz Balolia]

We will help Ben out if he needs it. In the meantime we have alerted our Asia Office about the potential for such issues to arise and they will put it on the lengthy QC list to check for before machines leave the factory.

Sorry for the problems, but do contact us if you need any help or parts.

[Ben Grefe]

It sounds like your message is that when one receives a new piece of equipment he should inspect it and contact the seller if there are problems.

Bill, you are correct - I think that’s the only take away from my experience. It’s also a reminder how important it is to perform regular maintenance on a machine this complicated.

Shiraz,

I plan on emailing Grizzly this weekend with some pictures to figure out the outfeed side chip breaker adjustment. That’s really the only problem I can’t solve on my own so far.

Ben

[Brice Rogers]

I think that the problem of fasteners either being insufficiently torqued at the factory or coming loose during transit to the US is a fairly common occurrence based on both things that I've read as well as my own experience. In some cases, perhaps the mfr. should be using some sort of thread-lock or at least a torque wrench (or both).

I bought a G0766 lathe about 6 months after it was introduced and of the 3 bolts holding the motor, one had fallen out and was found in the bottom of the crate, one was loose but hadn't dropped into the crate and the third one was literally holding on by a few threads. There were a couple of other fasteners that were loose (finger tight).

I easily took care of those minor issues. There were some other issues where I needed help, but Griz addressed them in due time. The lathe, as originally introduced, wasn't quite ready to be distributed to the general public. A few were design issues and one or two were quality issues. But a year later they fixed the majority of the issues were supplying a significantly better product. Tech support did a decent job helping me.