My machine arrived last week.
br /1. This is a large heavy (800+ lbs} machine. It comes on a large wooden pallet. I needed to cut down the pallet to even get the machine thru my shop door on a pallet jack and needed to do a fair amount of cribbing with an auxilliary jack to remove the machine from the pallet.
br /2. There were 2 problems when I got into the machine -- the motor mount shaft had lost a bolt/washer (in the farthest inaccessible corner of the cabinet) and it took an hour + to get the motor back mounted correctly. Also, a set screw was loose on the top belt roller bracket -- which led to it being ejected the first time I turned on the belt tensioner switch. It was simple to put it back in place and tighten the set screw.
br /3. The instructions DO NOT tell you the machine has continuous air bleedoff when you run it. The air noise is normal -- do not adjust to stop the noise -- or you will have more work to re-adjust!
br /4. The instructions DO NOT caution you to be careful when installing the sanding belts to make sure they are INSIDE the air oscillation horseshoe -- I lost 2 belts before I figured out what was happening.
br /5. The 5 hp motor DOES really require 35 amps each line 220v, even though my Delta Dnisaw 5 hp motor only needs 20 amps 220v.
br /6. The machine itself is 5 star quality. Belt changes are really about 30 seconds -- giving substantial time savings over any of the sanders requiring you to cut and roll sandpaper on the rollers to change grits. The platen arrangement allows the actual sanding surface to be only the 2 bottom drums for coarse sanding, the 2 bottom drums and the platen, or just the platen for fine finishing. I have found top quality Klingspor sanding belts available to fit this machine.
br /7. The manual is available on the Grizzly website so you can review in advance to learn more. Other than as noted above, the manual is very detailed and provides great pictures and descriptions.