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Thread: What do you think of a Grizzly GO634XP?

  1. #1
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    What do you think of a Grizzly GO634XP?

    Right now I have an older Powermatic 60 8" jointer and a Jet JWP-16OS planer. Admittedly I probably don't use either one as much as I could now. FB has Grizzly GO634XP 12" combo listed that I was considering. I know nothing about a combination unit. Is this a viable step up? I'd get rid of 2 footprints and be able to go a bit smaller. And V helical head would be nice too. Guy is asking 2900, says he's had it a year (I'm assuming he bought it new). Going to offer 2500. Reasonable if I could get it at that price? Anything else I need to consider? Mind you, I'm not interested in any other set ups. This came up and it was close and doable if I could get it for my price. Thank you

  2. #2
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    The only reason, and the absolute only reason, I'd consider that machine is if space was a premium and you can't wait for or afford a better quality unit. Otherwise, I'd much rather have a separate jointer/planer because switching back and forth is annoying.
    JonathanJungDesign.com

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Jung View Post
    The only reason, and the absolute only reason, I'd consider that machine is if space was a premium and you can't wait for or afford a better quality unit. Otherwise, I'd much rather have a separate jointer/planer because switching back and forth is annoying.
    Another reason is to get a 12" jointer. That's a large part of the reason I got a jointer/planer combo. I can find rough boards wider than 8" pretty easily. Combos don't usually have as long jointer tables as dedicated jointers - mine are 55" but I find that long enough. I think a combo would be a pain in a production environment unless you were able to establish a work flow with batch processing. But then a production environment isn't as likely to be space constrained.

  4. #4
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    I agree, it's so subjective to one's needs. For my work, 12" is a good width, but it's the long jointer tables and ease of bouncing between jointer and planer that I crave. My 8" jointer has a shorter bed and so I'm often using a track saw or my 16" jointer with 100" bed for all the rough sawn material I get.
    JonathanJungDesign.com

  5. #5
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    I would be questioning why someone would be selling one a year after buying it. It could be they just found the conversion too painful with their workflow. Or it could be they weren't happy with the quality of the machine. That's something you'll need to decide if you go to take a look at it. I would take something flat to check the surfaces. I would also swap back and forth a few times checking the table to the cutter each time to test the repeatability. I don't know exactly how that machine works but I would bring an accurate square too so you can check the fence to make sure it stays square. How long has it been forsale? If not long then there's more of a chance that you could sell it if it doesn't work out for you.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan Jung View Post
    The only reason, and the absolute only reason, I'd consider that machine is if space was a premium and you can't wait for or afford a better quality unit. Otherwise, I'd much rather have a separate jointer/planer because switching back and forth is annoying.
    My thoughts exactly

  7. #7
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    Alex Zeller raised some good points. On a whim, I looked on Amazon, the and the few reviews were not that stellar. I would do some on-line searches for reviews as in the not too distant past, I recall some negative reviews about a jointer/planer from one of the tool suppliers.

  8. #8
    both the old Europeans I knew best had combo machines and used them 40-50 years.

  9. #9
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    There's a review on Lumberjocks from a few years ago. He seems happy with it. As for why it's being sold? There are so many reasons that could be valid and none because they had machine issues.
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 06-08-2022 at 8:34 AM. Reason: Removed forum link

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ray Newman View Post
    Alex Zeller raised some good points. On a whim, I looked on Amazon, the and the few reviews were not that stellar. I would do some on-line searches for reviews as in the not too distant past, I recall some negative reviews about a jointer/planer from one of the tool suppliers.
    I haven't paid much attention to JJPs since I got mine but recall negative reviews as well. What I recall though I certainly wouldn't swear to it is that it had to do with the fence not remaining square after being moved. I recall that Grizzly reworked the fence after that. The reason it's for sale after a short time might be that the purchaser simply doesn't care for the work flow of a combo machine. It's hard to know.

  11. #11
    Hi Greg, I have that machine now. Bought it over the holidays and used it quite a bit since then.

    You can read the reviews on grizzly as well. This machine is an older unit that’s been around awhile, but has an upgraded V helical head that replaces the older 32 cutter head with 48 inserts. It took me a long time to get it set up and had a few things to sort out, but once you learn it’s quirks, it’s a nice machine for the money. 5hp is plenty good and never really bogged it down.

    It’s hard to get a 12” helical jointer planer under 5k these days from other brands, and Grizzly’s is probably the least expensive out there.

    I bought mine new for 3200 ish before the price increase. Grizzly has it on summer sale for $3400 or so now. I really like having the 12” width to join wider pieces. 59” beds are a compromise but you can always buy portable bed extenders.

    if you’re in a garage workshop and need to save space, it’s a good compromise. I sold off my portable 13” cutech planer. Thought I would hate the changeovers but it’s not that bad if you’re a weekend warrior in the shop.

  12. #12
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    Couple things I noticed with a combo machine. One is to try to perform one operation on as many pieces as possible before changing over. The second thing that made my life simpler was to add a DRO to the planer bed. If you need 4 pieces, process 4 pieces and - Oops - mess one piece up it's quicker to plane another piece if you can set the planer table to the correct depth without a bunch of cut and try. Another consideration with the Jet and I assume other JJPs is that the infeed roller is serrated metal. I can't take really thin passes without marks made by the infeed roller not being removed. I had a Delta 22-580 planer before getting the Jet JJP-12, the Delta's rollers were both smooth so there were no marks.

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