Grizzly G0634XP – 12″ Jointer/Planer – FollowUp

Yesterday, I was able to squeeze in some shop time after returning from our trip to Nashville. I took one extra day off work because I wanted a day for decompression and this allowed me to get a lot of chores done including taking Alexandra to her first day of middle-school (6th Grade).

My last post left us with a feeling of accomplishment as I had struggled over a 4 day period to take delivery of the new combo jointer/planer and having finally wrestled it into place in my shop. I still didn’t have a functioning tool but it was in my shop.

Setup

The weekend following “delivery” I began the setup process. I began by removing the shipping bolts which held the infeed and outfeed tables, so far so good. Grizzly sells a citrus cleaner which they recommend for removing the cosmoline-style grease protecting the cast iron tables. I had a similar cleaner on hand which I used successfully to remove the semi-hardened film. I lifted both tables to their upright positions (as though in planer mode) in order to reach the coating on the planer tables, etc. It was then I noticed that a bolt which is used to lock the outfeed table was loose and the locking mechanism non-functional. It is a bit hard to describe but here goes. A through rod (lock lever) is slid toward this bolt and when turned a quarter turn, will lock the tables in the down (jointer) position. If the infeed table lock wasn’t working I don’t think I would have ever figured it out. Basically I just kept adjusting the bolt up until I was able to get it working. If you miss the correct height, it doesn’t work either and you just have to start over and keep adjusting until you get some positive feedback.

Electrical

The G0634XP comes with a 10 ft electrical cord but you have to supply your own plug. After a trip to the big box store, I carefully wired up my new plug and was happy to see that the cable actually reached my outlet without need of extension. So far so good; I was ready for a test run. Wait for it and….. nothing…..

The G0634XP has a magnetic On/Off switch and an emergency stop switch wired inline. Normal operation is to enable the circuit by twisting out the emergency stop button and then pressing the green On button. My machine was not running and I have to tell you after all I had been through to get to this point, I was a little disappointed. I had done all I could do for now, I would have to attack the problem after some research.

Troubleshooting

I used my multimeter to establish that 240V was present at the magnetic switch terminals. After a bit of testing I found that pressing the switch override, the jointer growled to life. Perhaps the mag switch was bad?? Perhaps the emergency switch was bad or had been damaged in transit. With power unplugged I used my multimeter to test the emergency stop switch which was in fact working properly. At this point I shot off an email to Grizzly customer support. I couldn’t call them because it was Sunday and they are open weekdays only. At least I could queue up for a response on Monday at start of business.

Rather than wait for an email response, I phoned support on Monday morning and found Joe, the Grizzly tech to be a very courteous and helpful fellow. I started by giving Joe a summary of my testing and it didn’t take him long to suggest my problem might be another switch, the “Limit Switch”. This switch is used to sense when  the outfeed table is in the down position and thus in jointer mode. I knew it was in the circuit but I needed Joe to help orient me as to where it was located which he did by pointing it out in the user manual. I was convinced this was my problem but it would have to wait until I got home from Nashville to continue the test.

Success at Last

One of the tips Joe had for me was to try running the machine in planer mode. The limit switch is only used to detect jointer mode so if it fires up in planer mode the limit switch would likely be the culprit. Planer mode worked, it was indeed the limit switch! Using a 10mm socket I removed the upper belt cover and located the limit switch under the outfeed table. After a quick study I could see that the switch button was stuck and after depressing it one time, it functioned normally.

Limit switch located and tested.

I buttoned everything up and gave it a test. Success at last!

First jointed surface using the Grizzly G0634XP 12″ jointer/planer

Operations

I have a bit yet to learn regarding the care and feeding of my new machine but I am pleased to finally have a functional unit to begin my education. I’ve decided to celebrate by working on a simple nightstand!

Thanks for sharing the triumphs and failures of the Turtlecovebrewer