What bandsaw would you buy? - The answer

[John TenEyck]

After consideration of your very helpful input, the gracious offer of one member to come look at his MM16, and lots of reflection I decided to order the Grizzly G-0636X. It met all of my criteria at the lowest cost - by far. I also have a friend who has one so I got a chance to look at it in the flesh. It was extremely well designed and built, so as long as Grizzly had not substantially changed the machine in the 7 years he's had his I felt confident it would meet my needs - IF I could get it into my basement shop.

I ordered the machine on a Wednesday and it arrived the following Tuesday via UPS Freight.

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The driver graciously agreed to leave it on the pallet jack so we could pull it up to my garage, 120 ft away.

A friend and I uncrated it and then two friends and I pulled it under my garage door using a winch on the back of my car through a snatch block I screwed to the ledger plate of my house.

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I won't bother you with all the details. Suffice to say it was quite an undertaking to get it down my basement stairs. I used winches and a chain fall instead of muscle power to make the process as easy and safe as possible. To lighten the 620 lb load, I first removed the wheel covers, wheels, and table. I tried to remove the motor, too, but could not remove the set screws that hold the drive pulley to the motor shaft. I soaked them in penetrating oil overnight to no avail, so I had little choice but to leave the motor on. How do you remove those set screws? I suspect they were installed with some kind of permanent Loctite product.

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Turning the saw around the corner to basement stair way as I knew it would be. But we finally managed it and down the stairway it went, on its back, lowered with a chain fall in the top of the stair well.

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Once at the bottom of the stairs I put it on the mobile base.

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From there it was easy to wheel into my shop, where I put the parts I had removed back on.

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No injuries to body or machine. Now I just have to bring power and dust collection to it. I'm very impressed with design and build quality of the machine. The fit and finish is first rate. It meets all my expectations and I think it will be a pleasure to use. I bought a 1.3 Woodmaster CT for it and I'm looking forward to sawing some 12" wide veneer with it.

Thanks again for you thoughtful input.

John

[Patrick Harper]

Nice. Looks like a lot of work to get it into the shop, but it will all be worth it soon.

[Scott Brandstetter]

I think you're going to love the saw. I have the exact saw and for two years it has done everything I have asked, flawlessly. Obviously, new blades will be in order but as far as power, control, the foot brake, change of blades, etc., it is great. I also find the dust collection ports are perfect and maybe because of my dust collection but I swear, never had a bit of dust in the bottom (unless I forget to turn the collector on) and I only have a 2HP DC with a Dust Deputy. Let us know your thoughts once you have used it a bit. Congrats

[Ben Rivel]

Wow! Well done! Enjoy the new tool!

[mreza Salav]

congratulations! and nice job getting it down there.

[rudy de haas]

Thanks for the report.

I found the responses to your initial question interesting and having this report on how you got it in answered a lot of secondary questions raised in the discussion.

[John Lankers]

That's a very nice and impressive looking saw.
What would Stumpy Nubs say - You earned it my friend :).

[Bruce Page]

Congrats on a beautiful looking bandsaw. I hope you're not planning to move anytime soon!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Congratulations! May it serve you well!

[Allan Speers]

I have the 21" Grizzly Industrial BS, and absolutely love it, so I think you're going to be happy.

I only wish I could retrofit Laguna-type guides, but that's not a huge thing. (Oh, and if your experience is like mine, be prepared to change those strange black tires fairly soon. They wear quickly and are kind of sticky. I highly recommend the "Blue Max" tires made in NJ and sold on Ebay.

[Mike Berti]

Congratulations on the new saw!
Please don't forget to update us on how it performs and if expectations were met.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Congratulations on the new saw!
Please don't forget to update us on how it performs and if expectations were met.

x2. This is the machine I plan to buy once I'm done getting my basement ready for my shop. there isn't a lot of info out there on it, so I'd love your thoughts.

[Victor Robinson]

Congrats! Count me in as looking forward to your thoughts as well.

[Jon Nuckles]

Nicely done and documented. Add me to the list of people waiting to hear how it performs for you.