Shout out to minimax

[Sam Beagle]

Got a new to me minimax bandsaw at a great price last month. Well I've been busy and finally this past week I got time to plug it in and use it. Wow. What a pleasure to use. I had a new 17" grizzly. And I hated everything about it. It was cheaply made, lots of plastic parts and things just randomly fell off for no reason.
Anyway back to the minimax. It's a 17" inch saw as well. It just cruises through all the logs and burls I sent through it. I'm a turner so I only use for bowl blanks. It's just such a pleasure to use after that grizzly saw I bought brand new 2 years ago.

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm not personally a fan of Grizzly. Their stuff has many satisfied customers.

I'm curious how much more you had to pay for a top shelf machine like the MM? I can't justify that kind of equipment in my hobby shop - Grizzly and the like are more my range - but I'd sure love to have one.

Fred

[John TenEyck]

Glad you like the new new to you saw. Which Grizzly did you have? I bought a G0636X, 17", 5HP BS with 16" resaw capacity last Summer and it is a joy to use. Very well made, powerful, smooth and quite, and everything I've ever wanted.

If you are going to diss Grizzly be specific.

John

[Van Huskey]

I am going to assume the Grizzly was a 513.

It is all about budget and expectations, the lower end of the 513 series are the least expensive 17" saws you can buy new and comparing them to the best steel-spined saws made today is not really fair. They are simply different classes of saw. The 513 series are fine saws for the money and properly setup (save the rare lemon) are very fairly priced and do what one should reasonably expect from them. There is always something better out there if one adjusts their budget upward the key is getting what you pay for and both Minimax and Grizzly both tend to meet reasonable expectations for their price tags.

Which MM did you get?

[Sam Beagle]

Not all grizzly products, just this saw. I have the right to call the saw that because i bought it brand new and it was a total wast of my time and money. I sold it for almost nothing to get it out of my shop. It was the anniversary edition black bandsaw w the bear graphic on it.
VAN, you helped me w the saw when I first got it. It's a cream colored one. You told me what blade to buy.
It's funny how delta always gets a bad rap on the forum here for customer service and parts. Everyone slams them. I love my older delta machines, but people get offended when you talk about grizzly. I live right near muncy pa where grizzly was for years. Around here, grizzly has a very bad name, I've personally bought 4 different machines from grizzly. And every one has the same issue. All the handles are adjustable parts all break and just fall off. Yes I have a sour taste in my mouth for grizzly because there 0-4 in giving me a machine that I actually like using. Now I've never bought there better stuff. I have only bought starter type stuff from them. Planer, jointer, bandsaw, and higher end drill press. They all give me the same issues. The motors run just fine. It's the plastic parts that drive me crazy. I have numerous powermatic machines w plastic parts that never break or fall off

[Van Huskey]

Before we get off the rails, what MM did you get? Let's concentrate on the good stuff as I assume you want to forget the past and start enjoyin' the future!

[Sam Beagle]

It's the low end minimax. S45 I think it is called. 1.8 HP. It just runs so smooth and I really like it so far.

[Sam Beagle]

Best part is, I paid a good bit less for the minimax than I did the griz brand new.

[Frederick Skelly]

Best part is, I paid a good bit less for the minimax than I did the griz brand new.

Man, that's great! Good for you!
Fred

[lee cox]

I am with you Sam. I own a Minimax S45 which I bought used. What a nice bandsaw. I am no expert but I owned a Rikon I bought new before this. I really like the S45 as it is so smooth and much better than my Rikon was in my opinion. I have never owned a Grizzley product so I can not compare. I tend to buy old Iron tools and referb them. I have Delta Unisaws, jointer and an old Atlas drill press. All craigslist finds.

[Jerry Wright]

Isn't the 513 new about $1100 and the S45 new about $3200?

[lee cox]

I paid $600 used for my Minimax S45 bandsaw plus I had to buy a fence and miter gauge.

[Rick Fisher]

Mini Max sells awesome bandsaws.. You got a lifer machine .. Good for you .

[Steve Peterson]

Isn't the 513 new about $1100 and the S45 new about $3200?

A few years ago, the S45 retailed for around $1800 and the MM16 was around $2800. All of the Grizzly 17" saws were around $1000, so it would be natural to assume a few quality differences. Even the "low end" S45 should be a step up from the G0513.

Steve

[Patrick Walsh]

I understand where I the original poster coming from.

Its not so much about expressing ones disatisfaction with a machine or brand but rather expressing ones satisfaction and lessons learnt after a disapointing experience or making due with a entry level hobby machine for a time.

When i first started building a shop i knew little of woodworking machinery. Tools i had a great handle on but machines not so much. Being i dont know anyone whom is a woodworker, not sight carpenter i know plentynof those i did what most would do these days. I turned to the internet. I did reasearch wadding through piles of online reviews and old conversation on forums. Afterall when one knows they know nothing and they are going to spend what feels like a small fortune on a shop full pf machines even a $1000 bandsaw feels expensive when one can be had for $400.

So i guess i have a couple points. While a $1000 bansaw os not a $3-5K band saw nor can it be expected to be, one also expects that a $1000-15000 bandsaw will be heads ans shoulders above the $400 bandsaw. Now clealry most $1000 bandsaws are much better than the $400 saw but not always. Add this reality to the input you will get from others online or via review hunting and you might find yourself disapointed if you expectations are not very close to inline with for those whom advice or oppinion you seek. As a newby to machines there is a steep learning curve imop from acquiring and be satisfied with a grizzly or rikon bandsaw to say finding out you dont have the patients for a blade that cant hold tension or little plastic odds and ends falling off leading to some kind of jury rigging and thus moving on to something like a minimax.

I know i for one i us my tools for both work and play. For work i dont have the time to mess with jury rigging something up to make the machine perform as it could or should. For work purposes i also can not afford to comprimes the quality of my finished product on account of making due with a sub par tool. For play purposes and at least for me i build things to see jut what i can and cant do. I shoot for perfection always striving for the piece i am working in to be that much better than the one prior. Now some say its the indian and not arrow and i agree. On the other hand if the indian is always jurry righing his arrow back together before he can take a shot they he might run into problems otherwise ovoided if he just had a decent arrow to start with.

My other thought is that some people value their money more than their time and visa versa. Some would much prefer to make due with a sub par machine knowing it will get the job done just maybe in a bit of a round about way vrs the more expensive options. And some just dont expect and or strive for perfection from themself or there tools. The jurney is about something else for them and thats fine.

Clearly when one finds themself in this predicament with a machine purchase it becomes clear you get what you pay for. It also becomes clear one could not expect the uninitiated to have such a understanding right out of the gate. I think once this experience is had once it is on the purchaser to identify his expectations honestly and purchase with a open wallet.

[Prashun Patel]

Sam, people don't get offended when others talk about Grizzly. We get offended when general criticisms are made about the quality of their products when we have had experiences to the contrary. I'll be the first to admit the holddown clamp I purchased from them was so bad, the casting snapped in half under modest pressure. But I have owned 2 bandsaws from them (G0555 and G0514x2) and have experienced the fit and finish to be reasonably good, and the performance to be as expected. Certainly not garbage.

I'm not a Grizzly zealot, but some blanket criticisms of the brand appear to me over-reaching. Based, however, on your review (thanks!) I certainly won't be considering the Anniversary model anytime soon!

[Sam Beagle]

Let me try and set the record straight here. While I honestly cannot stand grizzly, I was talking directly about the bandsaw I had. IT was total trash, not all grizzly. In fact I know a lot of people who have great success w griz stuff. I'm just not one of them. I chose to buy entry level stuff from them and learned my lesson. However 3 weeks ago I was out doing a floor and the guy had a shop. Well he needed some boards replaced and I wasn't prepared for that. So I used his 20" grizzly bandsaw. This saw was not even comparable to my grizzly. It was there higher end 20" saw. It ran superb and was smooth. My griz saw would expel tires like a NASCAR car. The blades would get bound up. And I had a seasoned vet even set the saw up well for me. It was just not a good saw. At all. I love old iron now. I would take an old delta over almost anything. So listed below is the brands I have in my shop
1. Powermatic
2.delta
3. Bridgewood
4. Jet
5. Grizzly
6. Woodtek
7. Reliant
I don't bash grizzly because I'm partial to another brand. I just haven't had any luck w there products. I'm a huge Festool fan, I guess I just expect all tools to perform like old iron and Festool.

[Sam Beagle]

O yea. Add performax to that list. I just got a used 16-32 from a senior citizen co-op. This thing was never even used. I love this sander. Always said I would never get one, I don't know how I lived w/o it.

[john lawson]

I don't believe you owe any more explanations. You were very specific about your experience with the machine in question.

Since this is a woodworking forum I think you did everyone a service by calling out the problems you had.

Thanks

[Sam Beagle]

Thanks John. Yea I wasn't looking to start a big deal. No one should spend a grand and get what I got from grizzly.

[Erik Loza]

An 80's/90's vintage Minimax S45 is better built than any of the vast herd of Chaiwanese bandsaws available today but new ones are a tough sell here in the US because they are closer in price to the S400P (MM16) than to all those others. I think I sold maybe one or two new S45N's per year, versus tons of S400P's. If you can find a green or gold S45 and don't mind putting a little work into it, it will be a great machine.

Erik

[Van Huskey]

There has been an uptick in S45 discussions across the boards recently but as one could guess it is about used saws.

Erik, can you confirm if the CI for the S45 is cast in the SCM foundries? I think they still have two operational ones in Italy.

[Erik Loza]

Van, it comes off the same line as all the Minimax combo machines. Cast iron table has the same grind marks as the CU300, FS30, et al. In fact, the S45N fence is the exacy same extrusion as the CU300 fence. Really an underrated machine, just at a disadvantageous price point in the North American market. It outsells the Centauro machines in the EU.

Erik

[Randall J Cox]

An 80's/90's vintage Minimax S45 is better built than any of the vast herd of Chaiwanese bandsaws available today but new ones are a tough sell here in the US because they are closer in price to the S400P (MM16) than to all those others. I think I sold maybe one or two new S45N's per year, versus tons of S400P's. If you can find a green or gold S45 and don't mind putting a little work into it, it will be a great machine.

Erik

I bought a used S45 and love it.