Does Anyone Have Experience With a Grizzly G 1538 16" Bandsaw?

[Richard Kee]

I picked one up cheap off C/L and want to know if anyone can make recommendations on this saw.

Meaningful data:
15 1/2" cutting width
10 1/2" cutting height
1 1/2 HP motor; 110/220V
3 Speed
Probably made in early 1990's

Condition is dirty but should clean up nicely.

I can sell the motor for what I have in the entire unit, but if this is a reasonable good unit, then I prefer to clean it up and use it.

Richard

[Mike Kauffman]

I have on that I got from my Uncle. Not a bad saw, not a great saw - pretty much what you would expect from any of the older 14" imports - just 16".

The biggest problem is that Grizzly has discontinued ALL parts for this model, and so far they haven't been too helpful suggesting compatible alternatives.

My blade tensioner pivot broke, as it has on every one of the imports I've owned, but this time I'm stuck. When I get time to call Grizzly's technical support again, I'm going to see if I can get the dimentions on the tensioner assembly from the G0555. If they are the same dims, or at least close I'll try to fit one it. Otherwise, I'll ultimately part this one out.

Alternatively, if you decide to part yours out, would you want to sell the blade tensioning assembly?

[Mike Kauffman]

Update to the previous post...

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with Grizzly tech support talking to Steve. First of all, he was great to work with. It took quite a bit of backtracking, but by starting with the G0555 and working back through 3 iterations of discontinued saws, he was able to determine that the part numbers had been revised, but ultimately, the tensioner and other pieces I needed were the same through the years.

I don't have the parts yet to confirm, but for $23 (inc shipping), it seemed worth a shot to revive an otherwise useless saw.

I'll let you know if it doesn't work.

[Mike Kauffman]

Another update on my saga...

I got the parts and everything looked like it was gonna work great, but the upper wheel shaft on the G0555 is more than an inch shorter than the shaft on the G1538. But it looks like the rest of the parts will work. So I took everything to work where I have access to a full machine shop. They are going to drill out the shaft from the G0555 in the hinge and press in the shaft from the 1538.

Stay tuned.

[Mike Kauffman]

Sorry for the long delay, but I thought I would close the loop on this in case anyone else is affected. I had to wait for my machine shop to get through a 6 week backlog before they could get to my personal project. Anyway, the new shaft was drilled out and the old upper wheel shaft was pressed into the hinge. Everything is assembled and works great. It certainly was NOT a direct swap though, so I guess these parts really are discontinued. Good luck to others.