Just purchased this jointer and am very happy with what I've gotten.

The performance has been excellent. I placed the order on last Monday, it
arrived at the carriers on Thursday morning and I went a picked it up on
Friday afternoon. There would have been an extra charge for a lift gate
truck and I have a long driveway on a cul-du-sac, and I doubt they would
have backed the truck up to my garage.

But to my question. Everything went together very easily, the fit and
finish is good. But I had trouble aligning the motor drive pulley with the
cutter head pulley.

The manual says to make a plumb bob (which I did) or use a straight edge.
There is not enough room to use my 2" X 24" precision straight edge. And
because the pulleys are not plumb to each other, I could only use the plumb
bob on one edge of the pulleys. I had to shift the motor drive pulley in
some (as instructed). For now the pulleys are close, but I have no way to
determine if the two pulleys are actually planner (like on my bandsaw). So
far it seems to be running well, but there is a little vibration (I believe
that most of this is due to poor quality belts)..

How have some of you insured that your pulleys on these machines are lined
up properly. I've sent this same message to Grizzly tech support, so far
they have been good about answering my questions before the purchase. But I
wanted to get a jump on your thoughts.

Before the machine arrived, I down loaded the latest manual from the Grizzly
site. In hindsight, the manual only mentions using a straight edge to align
the pulleys. The interesting thing is that the jointer arrived with an
older manual (one for a GW1018, + a parts list insert for the GW1018HW).
This manual was not as good as the latest, but it did have better
instructions (use a plumb bob) for aligning the pulleys.

Also the belts that came with this machine are terrible. The machine uses
two 3L520 belts. They don't seem to match very well. It appears that they
both are not tensioned the same. There are some wide lumps where the belts
are connected. And they already seems to have a bit of set to them. I have
been using the power twist belts on my Jet contractors saw and on a jet band
saw, as well as on my old Delta 6" jointer. After researching and reading a
lot of the recent post, about link belts, I had decided to use the supplied
belts. But it seems these belts need to be replaced.

Thanks again for your advice.

Darrell

plumb bob will work if it is on a truly level surface to begin with (don't
have any of those in my garage/workshop so can't help you with that). I'd
rely on hand turning by sight and skip the micrometer...it is a jointer, not
a space shuttle. Level the feet as best you can to eliminate any rocking
and take it from there. There is enough cast iron on the bed and fence to
do what it supposed to do and you should devote your time to those instead
of some minor vibration. As for poor quality belt, it will work just
fine...its only purpose is to drive power from the motor to the cutter head.
If you get the alignment reasonably close, it will "forgive" the rest. If
way too out of line you can kiss your cutterhead bearings "bye-bye" but I
think that would be a tough act to do.

"Darrell Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Just purchased this jointer and am very happy with what I've gotten.

The performance has been excellent. I placed the order on last Monday, it
arrived at the carriers on Thursday morning and I went a picked it up on
Friday afternoon. There would have been an extra charge for a lift gate
truck and I have a long driveway on a cul-du-sac, and I doubt they would
have backed the truck up to my garage.

But to my question. Everything went together very easily, the fit and
finish is good. But I had trouble aligning the motor drive pulley with
the
cutter head pulley.

The manual says to make a plumb bob (which I did) or use a straight edge.
There is not enough room to use my 2" X 24" precision straight edge. And
because the pulleys are not plumb to each other, I could only use the
plumb
bob on one edge of the pulleys. I had to shift the motor drive pulley in
some (as instructed). For now the pulleys are close, but I have no way to
determine if the two pulleys are actually planner (like on my bandsaw).
So
far it seems to be running well, but there is a little vibration (I
believe
that most of this is due to poor quality belts)..

How have some of you insured that your pulleys on these machines are lined
up properly. I've sent this same message to Grizzly tech support, so far
they have been good about answering my questions before the purchase. But
I
wanted to get a jump on your thoughts.

Before the machine arrived, I down loaded the latest manual from the
Grizzly
site. In hindsight, the manual only mentions using a straight edge to
align
the pulleys. The interesting thing is that the jointer arrived with an
older manual (one for a GW1018, + a parts list insert for the GW1018HW).
This manual was not as good as the latest, but it did have better
instructions (use a plumb bob) for aligning the pulleys.

Also the belts that came with this machine are terrible. The machine uses
two 3L520 belts. They don't seem to match very well. It appears that
they
both are not tensioned the same. There are some wide lumps where the
belts
are connected. And they already seems to have a bit of set to them. I
have
been using the power twist belts on my Jet contractors saw and on a jet
band
saw, as well as on my old Delta 6" jointer. After researching and reading
a
lot of the recent post, about link belts, I had decided to use the
supplied
belts. But it seems these belts need to be replaced.

Thanks again for your advice.

Darrell

Laser line.

Jim


"Tom Kohlman" wrote in message
et...
plumb bob will work if it is on a truly level surface to begin with (don't
have any of those in my garage/workshop so can't help you with that). I'd
rely on hand turning by sight and skip the micrometer...it is a jointer,
not
a space shuttle. Level the feet as best you can to eliminate any rocking
and take it from there. There is enough cast iron on the bed and fence to
do what it supposed to do and you should devote your time to those instead
of some minor vibration. As for poor quality belt, it will work just
fine...its only purpose is to drive power from the motor to the cutter
head.
If you get the alignment reasonably close, it will "forgive" the rest. If
way too out of line you can kiss your cutterhead bearings "bye-bye" but I
think that would be a tough act to do.

"Darrell Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Just purchased this jointer and am very happy with what I've gotten.

The performance has been excellent. I placed the order on last Monday,
it
arrived at the carriers on Thursday morning and I went a picked it up on
Friday afternoon. There would have been an extra charge for a lift gate
truck and I have a long driveway on a cul-du-sac, and I doubt they would
have backed the truck up to my garage.

But to my question. Everything went together very easily, the fit and
finish is good. But I had trouble aligning the motor drive pulley with
the
cutter head pulley.

The manual says to make a plumb bob (which I did) or use a straight
edge.
There is not enough room to use my 2" X 24" precision straight edge.
And
because the pulleys are not plumb to each other, I could only use the
plumb
bob on one edge of the pulleys. I had to shift the motor drive pulley
in
some (as instructed). For now the pulleys are close, but I have no way
to
determine if the two pulleys are actually planner (like on my bandsaw).
So
far it seems to be running well, but there is a little vibration (I
believe
that most of this is due to poor quality belts)..

How have some of you insured that your pulleys on these machines are
lined
up properly. I've sent this same message to Grizzly tech support, so
far
they have been good about answering my questions before the purchase.
But
I
wanted to get a jump on your thoughts.

Before the machine arrived, I down loaded the latest manual from the
Grizzly
site. In hindsight, the manual only mentions using a straight edge to
align
the pulleys. The interesting thing is that the jointer arrived with an
older manual (one for a GW1018, + a parts list insert for the GW1018HW).
This manual was not as good as the latest, but it did have better
instructions (use a plumb bob) for aligning the pulleys.

Also the belts that came with this machine are terrible. The machine
uses
two 3L520 belts. They don't seem to match very well. It appears that
they
both are not tensioned the same. There are some wide lumps where the
belts
are connected. And they already seems to have a bit of set to them. I
have
been using the power twist belts on my Jet contractors saw and on a jet
band
saw, as well as on my old Delta 6" jointer. After researching and
reading
a
lot of the recent post, about link belts, I had decided to use the
supplied
belts. But it seems these belts need to be replaced.

Thanks again for your advice.

Darrell

Tom,
Thanks, I'll make sure it's level. I did not do this before, not sure what
I was thinking. I've not checked my garage floor, but I'd guess it's not
all that level. I have the jointer in a Jet universal mobile base, but I
can shim the wheels where needed.

I do realize that I'm not trying to send a man to the moon, but I don't want
to screw up my new machine either. It just seems to me that the pulleys
should be as co-planar as possible, and there's no real good way to check
this as I can see. It sounds like your suggesting that close is good
enough.

Grizzly tech support wrote me back but I don't think they understood my
question, maybe a better answer tomorrow. All they said is that alignment
can be tricky and that I should move the pulleys in or out as needed. I
knew that already.

Also, the big problem with the belts is just that, they are "belts" not one
but two. They don't seem to be all that close in length (not a matched
pair), so one belt doesn't seem to be in good tension, and again, they are
both a little lumpy at the connection point. Grizzly did suggest that link
belts could help with vibration if needed, but I don't feels it all that
bad. I can stand a nickel on the tables after start-up. My main concern
was the lumps in the belt and the lack of tension in one of the belts.

Darrell

"Tom Kohlman" wrote in message
et...
plumb bob will work if it is on a truly level surface to begin with (don't
have any of those in my garage/workshop so can't help you with that). I'd
rely on hand turning by sight and skip the micrometer...it is a jointer,
not
a space shuttle. Level the feet as best you can to eliminate any rocking
and take it from there. There is enough cast iron on the bed and fence to
do what it supposed to do and you should devote your time to those instead
of some minor vibration. As for poor quality belt, it will work just
fine...its only purpose is to drive power from the motor to the cutter
head.
If you get the alignment reasonably close, it will "forgive" the rest. If
way too out of line you can kiss your cutterhead bearings "bye-bye" but I
think that would be a tough act to do.

"Darrell Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Just purchased this jointer and am very happy with what I've gotten.

The performance has been excellent. I placed the order on last Monday,
it
arrived at the carriers on Thursday morning and I went a picked it up on
Friday afternoon. There would have been an extra charge for a lift gate
truck and I have a long driveway on a cul-du-sac, and I doubt they would
have backed the truck up to my garage.

But to my question. Everything went together very easily, the fit and
finish is good. But I had trouble aligning the motor drive pulley with
the
cutter head pulley.

The manual says to make a plumb bob (which I did) or use a straight
edge.
There is not enough room to use my 2" X 24" precision straight edge.
And
because the pulleys are not plumb to each other, I could only use the
plumb
bob on one edge of the pulleys. I had to shift the motor drive pulley
in
some (as instructed). For now the pulleys are close, but I have no way
to
determine if the two pulleys are actually planner (like on my bandsaw).
So
far it seems to be running well, but there is a little vibration (I
believe
that most of this is due to poor quality belts)..

How have some of you insured that your pulleys on these machines are
lined
up properly. I've sent this same message to Grizzly tech support, so
far
they have been good about answering my questions before the purchase.
But
I
wanted to get a jump on your thoughts.

Before the machine arrived, I down loaded the latest manual from the
Grizzly
site. In hindsight, the manual only mentions using a straight edge to
align
the pulleys. The interesting thing is that the jointer arrived with an
older manual (one for a GW1018, + a parts list insert for the GW1018HW).
This manual was not as good as the latest, but it did have better
instructions (use a plumb bob) for aligning the pulleys.

Also the belts that came with this machine are terrible. The machine
uses
two 3L520 belts. They don't seem to match very well. It appears that
they
both are not tensioned the same. There are some wide lumps where the
belts
are connected. And they already seems to have a bit of set to them. I
have
been using the power twist belts on my Jet contractors saw and on a jet
band
saw, as well as on my old Delta 6" jointer. After researching and
reading
a
lot of the recent post, about link belts, I had decided to use the
supplied
belts. But it seems these belts need to be replaced.

Thanks again for your advice.

Darrell

Darrell

I have Delta 6" on Delta mobile base. For leveling, wheels do not seem to
matter (for whatever reason they seem to find appropriate ground) and the
stationary "feet" are adjustable via the bolts and even they seem to have
enough play in them to compensate for less than level surface. Again I
would only worry about getting the "rocking" out of the thing and go from
there. Perfect "co-planer" on the pulleys can't be that critical since
there is (are) rubber belt(s) running the whole thing and it (they) has
(have) some play. Again I think the "eyeball" test will get you close
enough to avoid problems. Too far out of alignment and you may have trouble
with the upper bearings but that will take some doing (study all the cast
iron surrounding the mount and you will probably see my point). Barring
that you may get faster belt and maybe pulley wear if too far out of line so
get it as close as you can but I wouldn't sweat it to the extreme. Pay more
attention to the table, cutterhead and fence alignments and you will be a
happy camper.

Enjoy the tool...jointer is one of my personal favorites.

"Darrell Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Tom,
Thanks, I'll make sure it's level. I did not do this before, not sure
what
I was thinking. I've not checked my garage floor, but I'd guess it's not
all that level. I have the jointer in a Jet universal mobile base, but I
can shim the wheels where needed.

I do realize that I'm not trying to send a man to the moon, but I don't
want
to screw up my new machine either. It just seems to me that the pulleys
should be as co-planar as possible, and there's no real good way to check
this as I can see. It sounds like your suggesting that close is good
enough.

Grizzly tech support wrote me back but I don't think they understood my
question, maybe a better answer tomorrow. All they said is that alignment
can be tricky and that I should move the pulleys in or out as needed. I
knew that already.

Also, the big problem with the belts is just that, they are "belts" not
one
but two. They don't seem to be all that close in length (not a matched
pair), so one belt doesn't seem to be in good tension, and again, they are
both a little lumpy at the connection point. Grizzly did suggest that
link
belts could help with vibration if needed, but I don't feels it all that
bad. I can stand a nickel on the tables after start-up. My main concern
was the lumps in the belt and the lack of tension in one of the belts.

Darrell

"Tom Kohlman" wrote in message
et...
plumb bob will work if it is on a truly level surface to begin with
(don't
have any of those in my garage/workshop so can't help you with that).
I'd
rely on hand turning by sight and skip the micrometer...it is a jointer,
not
a space shuttle. Level the feet as best you can to eliminate any
rocking
and take it from there. There is enough cast iron on the bed and fence
to
do what it supposed to do and you should devote your time to those
instead
of some minor vibration. As for poor quality belt, it will work just
fine...its only purpose is to drive power from the motor to the cutter
head.
If you get the alignment reasonably close, it will "forgive" the rest.
If
way too out of line you can kiss your cutterhead bearings "bye-bye" but
I
think that would be a tough act to do.

"Darrell Dorsey" wrote in message
...
Just purchased this jointer and am very happy with what I've gotten.

The performance has been excellent. I placed the order on last
Monday,
it
arrived at the carriers on Thursday morning and I went a picked it up
on
Friday afternoon. There would have been an extra charge for a lift
gate
truck and I have a long driveway on a cul-du-sac, and I doubt they
would
have backed the truck up to my garage.

But to my question. Everything went together very easily, the fit and
finish is good. But I had trouble aligning the motor drive pulley
with
the
cutter head pulley.

The manual says to make a plumb bob (which I did) or use a straight
edge.
There is not enough room to use my 2" X 24" precision straight edge.
And
because the pulleys are not plumb to each other, I could only use the
plumb
bob on one edge of the pulleys. I had to shift the motor drive pulley
in
some (as instructed). For now the pulleys are close, but I have no
way
to
determine if the two pulleys are actually planner (like on my
bandsaw).
So
far it seems to be running well, but there is a little vibration (I
believe
that most of this is due to poor quality belts)..

How have some of you insured that your pulleys on these machines are
lined
up properly. I've sent this same message to Grizzly tech support, so
far
they have been good about answering my questions before the purchase.
But
I
wanted to get a jump on your thoughts.

Before the machine arrived, I down loaded the latest manual from the
Grizzly
site. In hindsight, the manual only mentions using a straight edge to
align
the pulleys. The interesting thing is that the jointer arrived with
an
older manual (one for a GW1018, + a parts list insert for the
GW1018HW).
This manual was not as good as the latest, but it did have better
instructions (use a plumb bob) for aligning the pulleys.

Also the belts that came with this machine are terrible. The machine
uses
two 3L520 belts. They don't seem to match very well. It appears that
they
both are not tensioned the same. There are some wide lumps where the
belts
are connected. And they already seems to have a bit of set to them.
I
have
been using the power twist belts on my Jet contractors saw and on a
jet
band
saw, as well as on my old Delta 6" jointer. After researching and
reading
a
lot of the recent post, about link belts, I had decided to use the
supplied
belts. But it seems these belts need to be replaced.

Thanks again for your advice.

Darrell