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Jet vs. Grizzly

Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

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Messages
12,732
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
The Springfield, MO Grizzly store is only 2 hours from my home and my son lives nearby so it's not an ordeal for me to go there for something.
I called Laguna, the 18/47 lathe has cast iron bed and legs. Obviously, a good machine. The spindle is 1 1/4"X8tpi so an investment in an adapter would be required to use most accessories. Shipping to my house is about $300.00, which, I'm pretty sure I would rather use for other things. Can't knock the lathe but it's not the machine for me. Besides, it doesn't swivel. ;)
 
Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,732
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
OK, so who am I kidding? Only myself. :rolleyes: The red tractor just went off down the road on the new owners trailer. I have cash in my pocket earmarked for a new lathe. Decision time is over, it will be the Grizzly. Now, I'm planning on maybe tomorrow to drive to Springfield and pick up the G0632. I'll still need to get the 220 wiring in before I can use and will put up the old G1067Z for sale. Too many pluses on the side of the Griz to consider others. Stay tuned.
 
Jeff Bower

Jeff Bower

Member
Messages
5,757
Location
DSM, IA
Frank, I'm glad you've made up your mind. I know you ask questions, did research and lots more. I will be interested in your thoughts on the new grizzly lathe. My dad has the GO462 and I know he loves it, but wishes he could slow it done a bit. Congrats and good luck!!
 
Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,732
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
OK, got back from Springfield a little while ago. Started uncrating and rain started. Fortunately, the lathe is wrapped in plastic. Unpack and move job will wait until the a.m. I can't lift almost 600 pounds out of there myself. Might have sold a milling machine for Grizzly while I was there. A friend called and asked me to describe what was available. He'll probably be up there tomorrow getting one. Miracle if cell phones. Couple pictures, old lathe, now in garage up for sale and new one still on the arn mule. Progress photos will follow. BTW, my Grizzly shopping experience was the usual enjoyable. Nice semi-retired guy answered my questions and made suggestions. He showed me some of his turnings, we compared pens. He won, has some real fancy segmenting but bad finish. I had prettier wood and great finish. ;) All the rest were smiling and helpful especially the fork lift loader guy. Handled that machine and my lathe with the precision of a surgeon with a scapel.
 

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Bart Leetch

Bart Leetch

Member
Messages
3,206
Location
Clinton, Washington on Whidbey Island
Don't need as much truck as some thing unless your hauling a trailer or goose neck with cows or hay. I remember when I was a kid Dad hauling 2 big beef short horn about 60 miles in the back of a 1955 Chevy pickup. We had a flat right in the middle of the St Johns bridge man you never saw a tire changed so fast I don't think it was much more than 5 minutes from the time he got out of the truck & he was back in & we were rolling again. That was back between 1959 & 1961.
 
Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,732
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
A little update on my Grizzly G0632. No way do I regret my decision to purchase this make and model machine now that I have used it for a while. Would do again.
There are a couple mini complaints I have with design but nothing that would dissuade me from making the same purchase decision.
Questions did come up about power. This unit is a 1 1/2 hp, 220, 3 phase motor. I have wondered if it was 'enough' for serious turning. Yesterday, I did a little experiment and partially answered that question.
I was turning some very hard maple with my homemade version of the C1a tool. I found that this tool just cuts whatever you ask of it. So, I tried to push both the tool and the lathe to their limits. I pushed this roughing tool as stupid hard as I could into the maple. The tool just went in removing wood like a monster. The lathe never took a hard breath. Stall? No way. Slow down? Not a lick. Things might be a bit different with a large bowl blank. I'll try that later. I'll just say I have never been able to do anything like that with a gouge. Gouges (for me) will catch if forced too hard. This cutter thingy doesn't know catch, it just hogs it's way into the wood.
And, for now, at least, I conclude that 1 1/2 hp is quite sufficient.
 
Chuck Ellis

Chuck Ellis

Member
Messages
6,954
Location
Tellico Plains, Tennessee
Frank,
I think you and I had some conversation back around the first of the year when I was looking to upgrade my lathe.. I looked long and hard at the Grizzly. It had a lot a functions that I liked and the price wasn't bad at all. I finally opted to to with the Jet and the model 1442 vs the 1642 which I think is more comparable to your G0632. I liked the VS of the Grizzly and could have gotten the VS on the 1642, but with my shop layout, the sliding headstock didn't work for me. I think the Grizzly had the rotating headstock, but was longer than the 1442, which again, with layout as it is, would also have been a problem.. could have worked around that, but space does get to be a problem.
In the end, the 220 motor was the deal breaker... my shop isn't wired for 220. I'm not sure of the HP on the motor, but it's got good power. I haven't stopped the motor with a catch, but I've stopped the piece I was working on and I can hear the belt slip in the Reeves pulley.
I like my Jet, only complaint I have is same one you mentioned on the Grizzly I was looking at, the model just below the 0632... the Reeves spead lever gets in the way at higher speeds when working close to the headstock. I've mentioned this to Jet Techs, who said they would mention it to their engineers. If I could figure a way to turn the lever over so it pointed down instead of up, wouldn't be a problem.
 
Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

Member
Messages
12,732
Location
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Chuck Ellis said:
Frank,
I think you and I had some conversation back around the first of the year when I was looking to upgrade my lathe.. I looked long and hard at the Grizzly. It had a lot a functions that I liked and the price wasn't bad at all. I finally opted to to with the Jet and the model 1442 vs the 1642 which I think is more comparable to your G0632. I liked the VS of the Grizzly and could have gotten the VS on the 1642, but with my shop layout, the sliding headstock didn't work for me. I think the Grizzly had the rotating headstock, but was longer than the 1442, which again, with layout as it is, would also have been a problem.. could have worked around that, but space does get to be a problem.
In the end, the 220 motor was the deal breaker... my shop isn't wired for 220. I'm not sure of the HP on the motor, but it's got good power. I haven't stopped the motor with a catch, but I've stopped the piece I was working on and I can hear the belt slip in the Reeves pulley.
I like my Jet, only complaint I have is same one you mentioned on the Grizzly I was looking at, the model just below the 0632... the Reeves spead lever gets in the way at higher speeds when working close to the headstock. I've mentioned this to Jet Techs, who said they would mention it to their engineers. If I could figure a way to turn the lever over so it pointed down instead of up, wouldn't be a problem.
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Chuck, I have talked with others about that annoying lever and none have been able to remedy. It is what it is. That set-up exists on several Jet/Grizzly models.
I was fortunate that a friend volunteered to wire my shop with the 220. I just paid for materials.
 
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