Cutting down a Grizzly bandsaw base

[Sam Murdoch]

Any of you owners of the Grizzly GO55 series bandsaw see cutting 2" or 3" off the base as practical?

Any ideas how to do it cleanly? I am contemplating the purchases of a 14" bandsaw. I think the GO555LX would be more than enough saw for my intended use but the table to floor height of 43" is just tooooooooo tall. I'd always be working with my elbows up. Add a mobile base and I would need a step stool. (Yup, I'm a little guy :).) The Rikon 14" Model 10-325 (currently on sale) has a table from floor height of 39-1/2" which would be much better, but is that a reason to buy one saw over the other?

I have looked into buying another base for the Grizzly but I haven't found anything suitable that is less than the same 24" that comes with the saw. So, can I cut it down?

[Wade Lippman]

That's a good one, buying a new saw with the intention of damaging it. We are doing April Fools posts all month, right?

[Sam Murdoch]

That's a good one, buying a new saw with the intention of damaging it. We are doing April Fools posts all month, right?

No - not damaging it - making it work for me. No joke. I'd be happy to find a shorter stand but reluctant to try to build one out of wood.

[Chris Rosenberger]

Why not build a wood stand & keep the original stand in case you want to sell the saw later on.
A few years ago I built a short stand to go on a 14" Delta band saw. It was for my neighbor, he is in a wheel chair.
If I can find a picture, I will post it.

[glenn bradley]

Hi Sam. I heavily modified a Grizzly stand for a recent sander purchase but, this involved replacing parts, not directly modifying them by cutting metal. I would be more prone to making a base that suits you and setting the bandsaw on that. The G0555X base at least has a door in it but most 14" saw bases serve little purpose other than to elevate the machine.

Smaller saws are used for curvy, almost scroll like work and the table heights are set as such. My 17" saw is nearly a half a foot lower. I would just ignore the original base, build a base of the height you prefer and build drawers into it that would hold your bandsaw goodies right there at the machine. Kills two birds with one stone.

My sander was supposed to look like this:

259635

I couldn't stand giving up that footprint without so much as a cubby to stash the miter gauge in, so I did this:

259636

Now all my spindles, table inserts, drums, discs, wrenches, miter gauge and rubber abrasive cleaner are right at hand.

[Stephen Cherry]

Why not build a wood stand & keep the original stand in case you want to sell the saw later on.
A few years ago I built a short stand to go on a 14" Delta band saw. It was for my neighbor, he is in a wheel chair.
If I can find a picture, I will post it.

3/4 ply pocket holed and glued. Maybe a bag of sand or two inside the base for stability. My little inca saw has a wooden base, and it works fine.

[Sam Murdoch]

Yes, thank you guys - maybe a wooden base :confused: . I know how to build one, just am not too keen on the project, though Glenn - your base is inspiring.
Here is a photo of the kind of bandsaw on its base. As you can see, it is not one with the door.

259639

[John Schweikert]

I own a 555LX and the stand is made of pretty thick gauge steel. I don't know if a plasma cutter would be needed but I doubt you could go at it with basic metal cutting tools and it be worth a darn afterward. Also the adjustable feet screw into flat steel welded in the base corners.

The proposed idea to build a new stand to your needed height is probably best. The Grizzly stand is 50+ lbs so just factor that in as a minimal weight for your new stand. I also have several 25 lbs lead shot bags draped on the stand sides at the bottom for extra mass. I use a bow roof shed with a joist and 3/4" ply floor for a workshop.

Great bandsaw. Does everything I could need.

[Wade Lippman]

No - not damaging it - making it work for me. No joke. I'd be happy to find a shorter stand but reluctant to try to build one out of wood.

If you say the Rikon is shorter, and is on sale, buy the Rikon. Am I missing something?

[Curt Harms]

I bought the Rikon 10-325 and still found it too tall. I build a wooden base out of 2 X 4 with glued in place 3/4" plywood panels and a door for storage. It works fine, I wish I had built it lower yet, made the table the same height as the table saw and Jet Jointer/planer.

[Dennis Ford]

I will go against the grain here. As long as you don't plan on reselling the saw; make it work for you. I don't see anything wrong with cutting the base down and don't believe it will be hard to do. A 4-1/2" grinder with abrasive cut-off wheels would be my tool of choice (two or three wheels may be needed). A little bit of clean up and some paint would be required.

[scott vroom]

Another approach...

[glenn bradley]

Another approach...

Bwaah-ha-ha-ha. Whew, that one got me :)

[Sam Murdoch]

Yeah - there had to be one wise guy :D.

I wonder if Grizzly would sell a saw without the base - hmmm...

Of course I could always buy the Grizzly 17" bandsaw . On that one, the floor to table height is only 37 1/2".
That's about a $ 100.00 more for each inch less :rolleyes:

[Peter Aeschliman]

Another option is to build a platform around the saw... Of course that assumes you have enough room to make the saw stationary.

[Bill White]

Sam, the 0555LX is a great small BS. I'm very happy with mine.
There are only 4 bolts holding the saw to the stock stand. Shouldn't be a big issue with building a shorter stand that will accomodate wheels. I have wheels on mine, and it is a bit "tippy" when moving it away from the wall wher it is stored. Not a big issue for me 'cause I'm aware if it, but a bigger footprint for wheels would be a bit safer.
Bill

[Alan Bienlein]

I also lowered my G0555 band saw so that it was at the same height as the out feed table of my table saw. I just made a new base with 2 drawers in it for storage and used the 3" double locking casters I bought from peach tree when they were on sale. The casters shown in the pictures are not the ones currently on the saw as they were what I had on hand at the time.
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[Sam Murdoch]

Nice Alan. You guys are persuading me that if I buy this saw I will build new rather than cut down the metal base. I have some good maple stock from a disassembled bench that would be perfect and I can do some mock ups to find the optimum height. I don't think I would go much below 38" or 39". I do like my bandsaw higher than the table saw and shop benches - just not above 40". Thank you for thinking this through with me.

[david brum]

I don't think it would be that hard to cut down the stand either. I would cut off the top of the leg platform, then re drill the holes for the big curved rails. Then you can put the cap back on and no one will see the cut portion.

[John Schweikert]

Won't work. All pieces have an angle. Cut anything from the top and cap will no longer fit on. This is heavy gauge steel with zero flex or forgiveness. It goes together as is, cutting the legs top down and nothing will fit back together.