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We have one in a high school wood shop, model G0454Z, it gets used and abused hard every week for the past 7 or so years. Its been a good machine, cuts very clean though it will snipe the wood. Putting in a leader and follower stock stops that. This planer is a happy home owner machine, it is not a industrial strength planer. The motor is not as strong as you would expect. It will bog a little bit cutting 1/16" (1 full rotation on the table height handle) off a 19" wide piece of pine. The knives on both the helical and the spiral head are at 90deg. to the feed. All that being said, I would definitely buy another one. I think its the most bang for your buck your gonna get.
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01-17-2020, 09:22 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-17-2020, 09:23 AM by paul2004.)
I have a Jet 20" planer. One thing to keep in mind with getting these huge planers and drum sanders is that they need very good dust collection. For example, the Jet planer has a 5" dust port and that should probably not be reduced. If you don't already have a large cyclone dust collector, you might need to buy one. Maybe this is obvious, but it was a surprise to me 10 years ago when I got mine
Oh and I love the 20" size. Most of the time I can pass 2-3 boards at a time. It's a big time saver. It's also nice to be able to run glueups that are 20" wide or smaller through it.
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I have a Grizzly 20" since 1989. back them it came with a 3 hp motor and only straight blades, about 8 years ago I upgraded it with a grizzly spiral . to my surprise the 3 hp was struggling with it. so I put in a new grizzly 5 motor now it hums again, BTW huge noise factor reduction with the spiral head
I also have a Grizzly 8" jointer with the spiral head. love it to. solid machines smooth cut NO tear-out.
Life is what you make of it, change your thinking, change your life!
Don's woodshop
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Lot of great testimonials in favor of Griz planer with spiral carbide cutter head - I'll add mine.
My 8" jointer and 15" planer are of the Shopfox variety. Planer came with the Griz spiral head; the jointer I ordered with straight knives and later replaced them with a Byrd head. Both cut great and are much quieter. Cannot tell the difference in the quality of the cut.
FWIW, before I bought the planer I had an opportunity to have a PM chat with PapaGriz (Grizzly CEO). Asked him specifically about the Griz vs Byrd heads relative to quality of cut. He said they had run extensive tests on both in their shop lab and could not tell the difference. Man was good for his word IMO. As I said, neither can I.
Doug
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I've had this planer for about a year and a half. Ordered it two years ago -- 6 month wait on delivery. I have a hobby shop but I'm retired and out there a lot, and it has been a great planer. Only gripe has been the difficulty in finding a reducer from the 5" dust port on the planer to a 4" dust collection hose. So far duct tape has been my friend.
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(01-19-2020, 03:34 PM)Girk Wrote: I've had this planer for about a year and a half. Ordered it two years ago -- 6 month wait on delivery. I have a hobby shop but I'm retired and out there a lot, and it has been a great planer. Only gripe has been the difficulty in finding a reducer from the 5" dust port on the planer to a 4" dust collection hose. So far duct tape has been my friend.
Below is the 5" to 4" reducer I used until recently when I installed permanent 6" Spiral pipe.
Woodstock - 5" x 4" Reducer . I used a 5" HVAC
IMPERIAL 5-in x 5-in Galvanized Steel Round Duct Elbow from Lowes with it and it worked great. I have two of each gathering dust in my attic now.
![[Image: w1037-7a192e2cbde61c9601249991ac4186d2.jpg]](https://cdn0.grizzly.com/pics/jpeg500/w/w1037-7a192e2cbde61c9601249991ac4186d2.jpg)
![[Image: 063467883074xl.jpg]](https://mobileimages.lowes.com/product/converted/063467/063467883074xl.jpg)
"Well, my time of not taking you seriously is coming to a middle."
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Thanks! I'll check this out!
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(01-15-2020, 10:39 AM)rwe2156 Wrote: I've got the G1033, plane w/ knives. Very reliable.
BTW, castings are identical to PM, Jet.
With a spiral head, you'll have a nice planer.
Castings may be identical but you will find the Grizz motor, and switch are cheaper. Not sure about the bearings but wouldn't be surprised if they are cheaper too .
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How about a detailed definition of "cheaper", i.e. how is it manifested?
Doug
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(01-21-2020, 05:02 PM)Tapper Wrote: How about a detailed definition of "cheaper", i.e. how is it manifested?
Doug
When I bought my planer (long ago, things may have changed), the Jet had "
1. larger infeed/outfeed tables.
2. a ridge on the table underneath the cutterhead to keep the wood inside the cutting zone if fed in not perfectly straight.. At the time, Griz did not have it.
There may have been one or two other changes.. Keep in mind, I bought mine approximately 10 years ago.. Again, the purpose of this is not to bash Grizzly. The point is, one can't just say "It's all the same".
Manufacturers can customize it however they want to.. All you can do is look very closely and research the differences. Read every spec carefully and decide for yourself.
