Grizzly G9860Zx 12 x 80in. Z Series Jointer

Bought the G9860ZX in April of 2021 and it finally arrived on the last working day of May 2021. 12" jointer has been on my wishlist for a long time and it is a much needed upgrade from the older 8" jointer. Lifted it off pallet and onto two heavy duty furniture movers. This bad boy is extermely heavy and one really should have several buddies help. Nonetheless, my ignorance and pride are impatient creatures and I was able accomplished the task solo. The fence installation was extermely easy. Except for replacing the electrical cord, everything on the setup was smooth. The short cord is the one low point for this machine considering the amount paid. Grizzly should have included a 5 to 6 foot cord. The factory installed cord as it utterly unusable. It is so short, that it wouldn't even reach the shop floor. Not even Tyrion Lannister would have mercy for this wee little thing. With the electrical cord issue solved, I plugged it in for first cuts. It is considerable quieter that the old 8" jointer it replaced. Started by face planing a 11" wide blank of English Walnut. What a beautiful job it did! Then edge jointed Beech, Maple, Lyptus, and Thermo-Treated Poplar. Each board came out perfect and smooth! Two minor issues I discovered when jointing my test timbers. 1st, the cutterhead guard needed to be raised up 1/16" of an inch. The carbide knifes sliced off a little snipe, about 1/64" from the guard, It's alumium and shaved it off effortlessly with no damage to the carbide inserts. I had to drop in two shims for the fix. 2nd issue with the cutterhead guard, is that I had to help it out swing out of the way when edge jointing two of the boards. I moved the fence over at different test positions along the 12" cutterhead. It pinched and bound the material agianist the fence when more of the cutterhead is exposed. The greater cutterhead span somehow prevents the cutterhead guard from pivoting out of the way and allowing the board to traverse. Other than those issues, it is a good machine and borderlining on great! If you are looking for a jointer, then get one with spiral cutterhead. It is the best way to go. Not sure why anyone would settle for anything less and can't imagine someone buying the "outdated" knife style machine. Spiral carbide cutterheads are the bee's knees! Other than those three noted issues, this is a mighty fine 12" jointer.

I bought one of these over 10 years ago and it is the centerpiece of my shop. Every piece of wood I use starts first on this beast of a machine, where one side and an adjacent edge are left dead-flat and perpendicular to each other. My previous jointer was an old 6" unit with conventional knives, and it was great to move up to a machine that can take just about anything I can throw at it, with minimal fussy adjustments. The parallelogram design is stays aligned much better and is easier to adjust. One other reviewer commented on the power tripping out when doing anything other than light cuts. One thing to check on is the connections from the wiring to the overload relay. If they are loose, they can heat up which will cause the relay to trip. I had this issue on mine and re-did the connections, and it's been running flawlessly ever since. Another thing to remember is that dust collection is essential with this machine.

I've had this jointer for over a couple of months now and it's a great machine. Flat, true, and quiet... all you'd expect for a machine of this size. Tearout on boards is very, very minimal or all together non existent. Great machine thanks Grizzly!