glenn bradley
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the range on the new planer isnt any thicker is it?? and so like alan asked, what is your thoughts on the final out come from the planer ?? is it as good as you had hoped for and how would you compare it to the old planers finish..???
The G0453Z has a range of 8". I would almost never use this and that is part of the problem. If I put the 6" Wixey on, about a year from now I would need 7", not remember to remove the Wixey mechanism and trash the poor thing.
Final outcome:
For $1400 I don't see how you could ask for more out of a machine. Relatively quiet (I removed the lift rods and put a bit of rubber between the belt cover surfaces, they would occasionally "sing" as I was planing certain material) and the height adjustments are very smooth. When lowering the table you can just give the wheel a spin and it will free-wheel for about 1/2" before it starts to slow down.
The table locks operate with less than 1/4" turn from locked to free. When operating (I filled my DC bin twice yesterday) the process is something like; run board, set board on return rollers, unlock table turn wheel, lock table, run board. Goes very smooth and quick.
The fast speed is great for really hogging off material. The slow speed is about half of the fast speed. I do get more chips left on the board when running at fast speed. I am probably overrunning my little 1HP bagger. The jury is still out as to whether or not to run a drop from the cyclone. If I do I may as well run one for the jointer too and get rid of the bag unit (I could use the space).
I had to make minor adjustments to the bed rollers to eliminate a bit of snipe on one side. This is very easy as a set screw and an eccentric roller are used. I was able to get the rollers at .001" proud very quickly. These type of adjustments take a lot more effort on something like my table saw so, that was an added bonus. Feed roller, chip deflector and all those other adjustments were great right out of the box but, they are all just as easily manipulated.
The belts run smooth and have no start-up or wind-down slap. They are to be re-tensioned after 16 hours of run time. That will probably be somewhere around this time next month for me. Gear oil gets changed at about 20 hours but is only done after the first 20 hours. That's a good thing because draining and filling are a big pain. I rigged a piece of plastic hose on a squeeze style bottle to do the original filling which helped some.
There has been some discussion on the dust hood and the fact that the port is at 45* in the pics and straight out in reality. The pics and manual are for the 15" and the 20" model of this planer. Some pics are from one and some from another and they vary slightly in some respects.
My duct shoots straight out. Murphy was asleep and happened to allow a gas main to pass right overhead so a bit of rope and a couple knots.
When not in use the rope stores nicely on the foot of one of my overhead stored roller stands.
I know the trials of trying to make a decision on a new tool. When the price moves into this area, the more info the better. If I had been able to get my hands on this machine like I was the PM, Delta and JET cousins I still would have ended up here. I would buy it again; that about says all I can say.
As a footnote, here's a shot of the foot:
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