ma_mulcahy

Back in March, I purchased a combo disc sander from Grizzly along with some 150 grit PSA sheets for less aggressive sanding. One thing led to another and I did not put the equipment to use until today. Well, first of all, the disc platen was not perpendicular to the motor shaft, so the platen has about 1/16" of runout at the edge. I decided to press on and replace the 80 grit paper with 150 grit paper I ordered from them and guess what? The adhesive is barely tacky and would not stick to the platen at all. What a drag!

I just sent off an e-mail to Grizzly to ask for assistance. Stay tuned and I will let you know what they say. Just beware that their quality control seems to leave a lot to be desired......

blvdbuzzard

Grizzly and Harbor freight are pretty much the same tools. A lot of parts will swap between the two. Some of the high dollar Grizzly have better QC, or so I am told on a few other tool forums.

I have had disc that would not stick to them selves until I heated them with a heat gun. Then that would stick like they are suppose to.


Buzz.

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

Typically knock off brands like that are going to be thrown together, very little QC. But unless the plate is cast wrong its something simple like the disk-plate isn't seated right, have you tried to re seat the plate?
if not
Take the shield off, loosen the set screw and re set the plate square.

I have sanding disks that are very old, the adhesive has gone bye bye,,I use 3M Spray 77, they stick fine after that

good luck

DavidAgar

My Feedback: (108)

Yup, 3 M 77 will glue the discs on.....Good Luck, Dave

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

I bought several shop tools from Grizzly over a decade ago and they were head and shoulders above Harbor Freight as far as quality and customer service. I hope they haven't gone downhill to the HF level but anything is possible. Good luck.

Propworn

My Feedback: (3)

I have a completely different experience with Grizzly. Ordered a lathe was delivered to Canada in record time. Came on a truck with hydraulic lift and the delivery person used a pump truck to help me wheel it straight in my garage.

Took the day off work, set it up and wired it in place, filled it with oil and run the gear train and feed box in as per instructions. I have been using it for 5 years now and it just keeps getting better. I had a chuck that was tight they sent me a new on no charge and told me to keep the old one.

I would buy from them again nothing but good experience with the service and the machine.

Very few machine suppliers build their own most of them are farmed out so its in your best interest to set it up and run it as soon as you receive it. If there is a problem your well within the warrantee period to get it fixed/replaced. If the warrantee is one year like mine was you are nearing the end of your warrantee.

Dennis

My lathe cutting cylinders for a 5 cylinder radial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWJ9HChgBBQ

ma_mulcahy

Hey Scale, yes, the first thing I did was to pull the plate and see what the problem might be. Nothing obvious. The motor shaft seems to be pretty robust and correctly cut. The proud side of the plate is the side where the key is cast for the flat side on the motor shaft.

Oh, and thanks for the recommendation for the 3M adhesive. Obviously, that's a correct solution, but the better solution is to have fresh discs that actually stick! I guess I just felt the need to whine.....lol

I did receive a prompt reply from Grizzly. They are shipping me free discs and sending a return label for the sander. They said if it's found to be defective, they'll replace it. If not they will keep it and charge me a 10% restocking fee. I think that is fair and appropriate. However, I did ask just how much runout the sander needed to have to be considered to be defective. I would just like to know. Maybe their acceptable amount of runout is too much for me.....

Stay tuned and thanks for the replies!

scale only 4 me

My Feedback: (158)

I hear ya, ya pay good money you expect it to be right
Nice to hear they are taking care of you,, if it's the one I have the Delta version of,, the run out is near zero.


Good luck

topspin

I look at Harbor Freight as disposable tools. I buy some but I never expect them to last.

ma_mulcahy

Update: Grizzly has sent me replacement PSA discs no charge. Kudos to them! The sander is on its way back to them. Their tech support responded to me saying that runout of .010 is the maximum acceptable on a 6" disc, and that is agreeable to me. So I will wait for another sander to arrive. Stay tuned for a future update!

em14

I have several wood working tools in my shop and have never had any problems with them. They work as well if not better than many higher priced tools. They are well known for quality and great customer support!
Glad you are seeing their good customer support. They sure as h___ are not anything like Harbor Freight! Their CEO is very active on the woodworking forums providing solutions to any problems some one has with his company!
Leo