band saw help

[Richard Barbosa]

I am in the market for a band saw and have it down to a jet JWBS-14CS or grizzly g0555lx. I have seen the jet and it looks like a good machine. I have only seen the Grizzly in pictures and have never seen a Grizzly tool in person. Price difference is about $60, jet being higher. Any suggestions or personal experiences.

Thanks
Richard

[Joseph Tarantino]

go grizzly. i couldn't wait to rid myself of a jet 18" BS. replaced it with a rikon 10-340. much better machine, in every way imagineable.

[John Lanciani]

I'd take a vintage US made Delta 14" over either of those. They've been popping up on CL pretty regularly lately, I just picked up one for $75 that needs only tires to make it right.

[Richard Coers]

No experience with that Grizzly band saw, but I had a horrible experience with a larger machine. It was a machine that was basically unusable out of the crate. After a couple weeks of ordering parts back and forth, and lots of hours of rebuilding, they finally agreed to take it back. Swore I would never buy a Grizzly machine again.

[Milind Patil]

Not defending Grizzly, but it really sounds like you got a lemon. In general Grizzly machines are of very good quality with a great value for money. I own table saw G0690 (I hope you would consider that as a larger machine) for more than two years now and I couldn't be happier.

[Richard Coers]

It was not a lemon Milind, it was poor quality and poor quality control. The quality of the wheel castings were horrible. They did not have enough material on the faces of the wheel to machine, so half of the face on the wheel would be machined, the other side a raw casting. They riveted on steel plates to one side of the wheel, and drilled 10 holes in the back of the other side of the wheel in an attempt to equal out the poor casting. This was the bottom wheel, and it should have never been put on a machine. When I got a new wheel that looked completely different, I then found out the top wheel was also out of balance. The machining on the table split pin was also bad. If I set the pin in half way, the tables would align. If it was pressed in all the way, the table halves would not align. Once again, poor machining, not a lemon.

[Jim Rimmer]

More specific to the OP, I have G0555X and love it. It was easy to set up and resaws great. I don't know how it compares to the LX but I have 2 Grizzly tools and have not had any trouble with them. Sometimes I wonder if I bought too soon; the 555X was about $300 more than the LX. Before you buy, get Mark Duginske's book "Everything You Need to Know About the Band Saw". It will help you determine what to look for and will be a great help after you get a saw.

[Doug Richardson]

Own 3 Grizzly products of major size. A G0651 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/10-Heavy-Duty-Cabinet-Table-Saw-With-Riving-Knife/G0651) table saw, a G7948 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/12-Speed-20-Floor-Drill-Press/G7948) drill press, and a 2HP dust collector. More than happy with all three items, and IMHO, definitely the best bang for the buck!

[Tony Leonard]

I've owned a Jet for many years. Never had an issue with it. I added a riser a couple of years ago. It works great. I was using it to resaw some tiger maple yesterday. I've never done a lot to tune it, but it has always worked real well. I added a set of cool blocks to it also. To qualify, I am an evening and weekend woodworker. Most of the work I do on the BS is 3/4 stock cutting curves and such. I do some resawing fairly often. I use the Highland Woodslicer fore resawing and Suffolk/Timberwolf blades for everything else (1/4" I think).

Never used a Griz BS, but I have a Griz 6" jointer. After my experience with them, I swore off Griz, but the jointer has been an excelent machine for over ten years, so I have no complaints.

Tony