I am down to the short straws on purchasing a G 0453. I have viewed
the machine in the Springfield store and have seen dozens of positive
reviews with very little negative. I also have a Grizzly 1023s
cabinet saw and couldn't be more pleased.
Our son-in-law owns several pieces of Grizzly machinery and is
generally very pleased. However, he told me this weekend that his 5
year old G0551 surface planer has been the one tool that he fiddles
with the most. Nearly all his problems are related to maintaining
cutter-head height relative to table. I witnessed this once while we
were planing some stock and the head clearly sagged during the
operation. He says it is most prevalent when running rough sawn
stock. I realize the G0551 and G0453 are very different machines.
The 0551 is a top-motor design that raises and lowers the cutter
head. The 0453 is a bottom motor machine that moves the table.
I still have that ounce of doubt. Has anyone out there experienced
cutter head height or any other serious problems with this machine?
RonB
RonB wrote:
> I am down to the short straws on purchasing a G 0453. I have viewed
> the machine in the Springfield store and have seen dozens of positive
> reviews with very little negative. I also have a Grizzly 1023s
> cabinet saw and couldn't be more pleased.
>
> Our son-in-law owns several pieces of Grizzly machinery and is
> generally very pleased. However, he told me this weekend that his 5
> year old G0551 surface planer has been the one tool that he fiddles
> with the most. Nearly all his problems are related to maintaining
> cutter-head height relative to table. I witnessed this once while we
> were planing some stock and the head clearly sagged during the
> operation. He says it is most prevalent when running rough sawn
> stock. I realize the G0551 and G0453 are very different machines.
> The 0551 is a top-motor design that raises and lowers the cutter
> head. The 0453 is a bottom motor machine that moves the table.
>
> I still have that ounce of doubt. Has anyone out there experienced
> cutter head height or any other serious problems with this machine?
>
> RonB
I have a 0453 and have had ZERO problems with it. For what its worth.
Deb
RonB wrote:
> I am down to the short straws on purchasing a G 0453. I have viewed
> the machine in the Springfield store and have seen dozens of positive
> reviews with very little negative. I also have a Grizzly 1023s
> cabinet saw and couldn't be more pleased.
>
> Our son-in-law owns several pieces of Grizzly machinery and is
> generally very pleased. However, he told me this weekend that his 5
> year old G0551 surface planer has been the one tool that he fiddles
> with the most. Nearly all his problems are related to maintaining
> cutter-head height relative to table. I witnessed this once while we
> were planing some stock and the head clearly sagged during the
> operation. He says it is most prevalent when running rough sawn
> stock. I realize the G0551 and G0453 are very different machines.
> The 0551 is a top-motor design that raises and lowers the cutter
> head. The 0453 is a bottom motor machine that moves the table.
>
> I still have that ounce of doubt. Has anyone out there experienced
> cutter head height or any other serious problems with this machine?
>
> RonB
My father has the G0551 and I have the G0453. I was hankering for the G0551 for a long
time, but could never scrape up the funds to make the purchase; however, my father did.
When I finally decided to make the plunge on a planer, the G0551 had been discontinued, so I
bought the G0453 instead and I'm glad I did. I like the idea of the "motor on top with
fixed table" design of the G0551, but it just seems to have a myriad of little problems
(perhaps that's why Grizzly no longer offers it?), none of which affect the G0453. I
haven't had a single problem with the G0453, and I wouldn't let the quirks of the G0551
define your decision about the G0453.
--
"Even if your wife is happy but you're unhappy, you're still happier
than you'd be if you were happy and your wife was unhappy." - Red Green
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/
Larry Blanchard wrote:
> On Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:13:48 -0700, RonB wrote:
>
>> The 0453 is a bottom motor machine that moves the table.
>
> That moving table IS the problem. You can't use fixed supports for long
> boards.
Very few planers out there are of the opposite design. The tables on the G0453 are fairly
substantial, and I find little need to have auxiliary infeed and outfeed tables to assist
with the operation. If the boards are long enough to require support at the end opposite
the planer, I'll use my Ridgid stand
(http://media.popularmechanics.com/images/tb_rigid_suppport_lg.jpg) on the infeed side, then
walk to the outfeed side and deal with the board manually. The support stand doesn't need
to be adjusted *every* time you adjust the planer tables (it's like four five feet away,
right?). Now if you're running a production operation and feeding tons of wood through the
machine this can get a bit tiresome, but in that case it's just easier to find a helper and
dispense with the auxiliary stand altogether.
--
Free bad advice available here.
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/