I posted awhile back that I had purchased a new Grizzly 0452 6″ Jointer. Someone asked me to post back after I used it and give a review. Here it is from beginning to today. The jointer arrived in good shape–nothing broken or missing. Assembly was simple and straightforward. There were a few nuts and bolts mislabeled from the instructions to what I actually had–the sizes were listed wrong. I did call Grizzly’s support line and they were excellent at helping me understand the problem I was having.
The jointer tune up was very easy. The cutter head was in line with the infeed and outfeed tables. The knives were also in line/parrallell with the tables. The adjustment of the outfeed table with the cutter head was a snap. (I am planning to buy the disposable knife set from Grizzly–don’t want the hassle of sharpening these knives and have them out of square.) The fence stops at 90 and 45 were very easy to set. And the jointer worked well on the thick piece of ash I was preparing for the front of my new workbench. Light cuts cleaned up the edge just fine and sqaured the edge to the face just like it should. I did take a light pass on the face of another piece of ash and the jointer performed better than I did–had trouble keeping the piece pushed against the fence as it went across the cutterhead. My bad. I was tired and called it a day after that. All in all, I am very pleased with the performance of the jointer. For a total of $425 (jointer, shipping, liftgate service with SAIA freight) this jointer is great. The rack and pinion fence is a breeze, and the built in casters make moving the jointer around easy. I recommend the liftgate service. The driver took the jointer off the truck and moved it to the garage for me. From there, it was a snap. The only negatives are very minor–mislabeled bolt in assembly, and difficult access to one of the bolts holding the jointer to the base unit–you have to put your arm up through the dust chute and blindly start and tighten the bolt. Not that big a deal, but my arm was sore for a few days. I’m very pleased with the purchase and the tool and will buy from Grizzly again. A+ Hope this helps. Tom
Replies
Thanks for sharing the experience. Nothing beats real experiece. I'm wanting the 8" jointer now.
I don't blame you a bit. If money wasn't such a concern, I'd have bought the Grizzly 8" model that replaced the one reviewed in FWW. For half the price, I was able to get a jointer that would work well. I hope in a few years when my shop is more put together, I can step up to the 8". Overall, Grizzly makes a great product. Tom
Yep, I have a lot of green in the shop. The TS & BS and a horizontal boring machine. If you can live with the risk of buing on-line and handle it correctly, then they are a good option. My ts was delivered damaged (not griz's fault). I rejected the shipment and had another one delivered in a week. Had nothing but good experiences with CS, and saved a ton of money to boot. Enjoy the new equipment. I have a 6" delta that I hope to get rid of to fund the new 8" griz. Take care.
A bandsaw is next on my never ending list of tools to buy. How do you like yours and what model is it? I have a friend who bought the Rikon 18" from Woodcraft when it was on sale for ~$800. He loves it. I don't have a 220 outlet, so I need to stay with a 14". Rockler here sells the Delta 1 hp closed stand for $550. And I've been looking at the Griz ultimate 14" bandsaw. I'd like to hear others experience with theirs. Tom
Below is a link to my thoughts on the G0513 17" BS. That was back in 04, and I still have the same opinion. It is 220, but can be wired for 110 (keep in mind it will run warmer potentially shortening the life of the motor). I do like it a lot. I chucked the stock blades and bought Timber wolfe blades and it has been a great combo. They have a new version G0513x that has cast iron wheels and a bigger table. I don't know that it would be worth the extra 100 bucks or not. For the money ($795 + shipping) it was well worth it. Rikon was just coming out when I bought, so I could not get a lot of information on it. It is very similar to the Grizz. I would bet they are probably made in the same factory. Good luck on the decision.
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=17846.9
I have the same saw you do. I think I would rather have gotten the X, for the iron wheels mostly. If it's a beefier construction, I wonder if I could have run wider blades for resawing.
That said, with a good blade I've had no trouble resawing 10" curly maple, 8" cherry, and 8" oak to 5/32". I got that Grizz for a lot less than I could have gotten a comparable Delta, including shipping, and I'm very happy with the thing.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
For, me it was a budget of 2200 and I needed everything. I only had the shopsmith. So I got the TS & BS in by budget instead of blowing it all on one of the needs. I played the E-bay game for several months and never did see anything used I was willing to take a chance on. So, for me no regrets.
I checked the extreme version .vs. the standard and the blade capacities are the same. Blade length is the same. the tables are definately different.
Edited 6/27/2006 3:09 pm ET by bones
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