Jointer Choice – Ridgid, Grizz or Yorkie
Hi Folks:
I got a jointer for Christmas! View Image But now I need to choose one in my price range!
My budget is lean and fixed but workable ($350 plus tax), but I am luckily in driving distance of Grizzly (4 hrs), Wilke Machinery (2 hours) and Home Depot (20 minutes) View Image.
The features I am considering that seem to differ are:
Width of cut (6″ vs 6 1/8″)
Knife adjustment (jackscrews vs springs)
Fence size (35″ vs ?)
Mobile base
Warrantee (Lifetime vs 1 year)
Here are the details:
I had been eyeing the Yorkcraft for months, basically because of the generous fence size and mobile base. The Ridgid seems to be a very nice machine too, though, and HD currently offers a lifetime warrantee on all Ridgid tools, even for normal wear-and-tear. Burn the motor out, you get a new one free.
The Grizzly has the same big fence and mobile base, and also has springs and jackscrews on the blades which is a nice feature. The cutter width, however, seems to be 6″ and not 6 1/8″ like the two other machines (this is according to Grizzly) View Image
My decision has become more difficult after I spent some time speaking with Grizzly and Wilke about these machines. I have been told by the tech support people at Wilke Machinery that the Yorkcraft tables are ground together, in-place (like the Deltas), whereas the Grizz tables are ground separately. He claimed that this makes the tables more co-planar and Yorkie a better-finished machine.
The big question I have, however, is how important is the warrantee on a jointer? The Grizzly technician told me that he thought it wasn’t very valuable because the motor, belt and cutterhead bearings are the only parts that are likely to wear out. His argument was, buy the features you want because it will be years before anything wears out.
Any thoughts?
Replies
I've been happy with my Griz. You can't go to wrong with any of those, but I like the Griz and YC better. The Ridgid is slightly lower to the ground with slightly shorter beds. The YC has a larger fence, both Griz and YC have built it wheels. The YC has the rack and pinion fence adjust, which works great but takes up space in the back.
Pick a color and the features you like.
Look at the Yorkcraft and the Grizzly real closely and I think that you will see that the biggest
difference is the color, and my quess would be that they are made in the same Geetech factory in Taiwan and I can't imagine that they change the table grinding process just because they're going to paint then a different color. Just my 2 cents.
Ron
Thanks very much for all the advice. It is very helpful in making the decision.
Another quesion:
How much credit should I give to the Grizzly machine for the springs they include in their knife adjustment. Is this an important feature?
All things being more-or-less equal, buy the one with the longest combined bed length; you'll be glad you did!
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Has a Ridgid.. Gets stuff flat.. All I need.. I'm sure there is better but for the price I'm not squakin'!
Pretty funny story from Wilke, LOL. Yorkcraft seems to be a very good machine (based on user reports and reviews) and you are at an advantage if you live close-by. They biggest problem with them for most people is the high shipping charges they levy. However, as far as flat and coplanar tables go, it's easy to go to the magazine reviews to check that. Whatever the weakness of mag reviews, a measurement is a measurement, and my recollection is that at least for the 8" jointers, Grizzly is exceptional.
I wouldn't worry too much about that extra 1/8" -- your lumber is likely to be a smidge less than 6" or way over 6". The pros can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'd not want to be pushing wood that was exactly the width of my cutterhead anyway.
Tough decision between the Grizzly and the Yorkcraft. What length warranty do the two offer? If Yorkcraft is way more than Grizzly I'd go with the Yorkie. Yep, a motor might fail, and they are not cheap.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Don't overlook the used market I saw a Delta DJ15 on ebay and it went for 362 bucks and change. Nice thing about HD is that if their is a problem you can take it back.
Good luck
Troy
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