Eric Apple - Central IN
05-22-2003, 4:20 PM
I've read a few other lengthy reviews of this bandsaw. So, I will keep mine short. The shipping was extreamly fast to Indiana. I ordered it on a thursday, and it arrived on monday. This beats even UPS shipping. I was impressed.
I found the table was not flat and called Griz for a replacement. They shipped out a new one quickly and about a week latter it arrived via UPS. UPS managed to trash the table, bending it and causing a large crack at a support rib. The table was also covered with a lot of rust. While UPS takes the blame for the physical damage, the rust was due to inadequate shipping preperation.
So back on the phone, and a new table was promised. I mentioned that the old one goes into the trash in 4 days- so if you want one of the old ones returned let me know before trash day. Well 4 days latter, the phone rings and a series of about 5 phone calls and they want the garbage man's bandsaw table. No way to do that, so they agree to take the original that started the whole thing and ship a new table.
About 5 days latter I get the table packed much better with only a small amout of rust and it's flat. A couple of hours of tweaking latter - I find it's flat until it goes on the saw.
I really like working with local agents better then having to deal with all this over the phone. But the price from Grizz was pretty good.
I found the cast iron tables are so thin and unreinforced you can flex it about 3/16" just with moderate thumb and forefinger pressure over the blade relief cut. There is a "pin" that keeps the table "halves" aligned. This pin prevents stock from snagging while traveling over the blade relief cut by keeping both sides of the relief cut aligned horizontally. But the halves of my tables sort of peak at the relief cut. Additionally, the trunnion supporting the table is "flexy" and you can easily flex the table about 1/4" down or up by apply only moderate force to the top.
The included fence is nice and the 1HP motor provides good cutting performance.
The flexy table and uneven bowl blanks can result in sort of an oscillation where everything just starts to bounce. Apply downward force stops the shakes. I'm not used to having to hold things "down" on the bandsaw.
Overall at about $430 with shipping, the saw provides OK performance. It falls pretty short of Ultimate. But it's OK for the price. I'd expect more at the competitors prices.
I found the table was not flat and called Griz for a replacement. They shipped out a new one quickly and about a week latter it arrived via UPS. UPS managed to trash the table, bending it and causing a large crack at a support rib. The table was also covered with a lot of rust. While UPS takes the blame for the physical damage, the rust was due to inadequate shipping preperation.
So back on the phone, and a new table was promised. I mentioned that the old one goes into the trash in 4 days- so if you want one of the old ones returned let me know before trash day. Well 4 days latter, the phone rings and a series of about 5 phone calls and they want the garbage man's bandsaw table. No way to do that, so they agree to take the original that started the whole thing and ship a new table.
About 5 days latter I get the table packed much better with only a small amout of rust and it's flat. A couple of hours of tweaking latter - I find it's flat until it goes on the saw.
I really like working with local agents better then having to deal with all this over the phone. But the price from Grizz was pretty good.
I found the cast iron tables are so thin and unreinforced you can flex it about 3/16" just with moderate thumb and forefinger pressure over the blade relief cut. There is a "pin" that keeps the table "halves" aligned. This pin prevents stock from snagging while traveling over the blade relief cut by keeping both sides of the relief cut aligned horizontally. But the halves of my tables sort of peak at the relief cut. Additionally, the trunnion supporting the table is "flexy" and you can easily flex the table about 1/4" down or up by apply only moderate force to the top.
The included fence is nice and the 1HP motor provides good cutting performance.
The flexy table and uneven bowl blanks can result in sort of an oscillation where everything just starts to bounce. Apply downward force stops the shakes. I'm not used to having to hold things "down" on the bandsaw.
Overall at about $430 with shipping, the saw provides OK performance. It falls pretty short of Ultimate. But it's OK for the price. I'd expect more at the competitors prices.