Received my GO514x

[Liem Tran]

Hello everyone,
My bandsaw finally showed up today. I had it delivered to my warehouse because I have several docks and a forklift to unload it. I did a quick inspection to make sure everything is intact then loaded it in one of our delivery trucks with a lift gate and headed home. (I didn’t have to pay UPS $200 for lift gate service.) I brought 2 guys with me to help unload it. I ran into a little problem when I got home, the bandsaw was too tall for my garage door. We had to unbolt it from the pallet, which made it difficult to move because I can no longer use the pallet jack. Once we got it inside, I ran into another problem. How to get it on the mobile base? (Woodcraft mobile base, the kind you add your own plywood to. Works great for this saw) It took some muscle and a little bit of brain but we managed.
I spent about 2 hrs on assembly and adjustments.
Here are my observations in random order.


Fit and finish on the main frame and wheel cover is excellent..
Very large table is perfectly flat and had a mirror finish, but severely rusted on one edge and one corner. The plastic bag that covers the table and contained the cosmoline was ripped at the same edge and corner. That explains the rust. I tried to clean it with WD-40 and steel wool, which made it somewhat smooth, but still very ugly.
Wheels are very heavy cast iron with a poor paint job, has some rust.
Tires are crowned and looks decent.
The trunion is stamped steel, way to wimpy to support the large heavy table. When you bump the table it wobbles a bit. It is the worst part of this saw, in my opinion.
The guides are large double bearings with curl knobs but require an Allen wrench to adjust, fairly easy to do. The thrust bearings however, are a little harder to adjust. The bearings need slight adjustments when the guide post is raised or lowered.
Blade changing is fairly easy thanks to the quick tension lever and the large hand wheel. Tracking the blade is also very easy. The tension lever operates very smooth. The hand wheels could be better, they’re plastic.
The motor is 220v 3hp, plenty of power with some to spare. It runs almost as quiet as my 12” Jet, with very little vibration. It cuts through an 11” log with ease. I haven’t try re-sawing yet, waiting for my Timber Wolf blades.
The pulley is rusted pretty badly. It transfers a lot of it onto the v-belt. I think the pulley either needs to be replaced or taken out for a good cleaning.
Just about all the screws on this machine have some degree of rust on it. I know that sounds odd but I spent a fair amount of time with a can of WD-40 and a wire brush.
I almost forgot about the fence. Both the front and back rails is thin gauge aluminum. The fence itself is very hefty cast iron. (???) It comes with a decent re-saw fence that you can attach to the cast iron fence. The fence doesn’t slide very smoothly along the rails but silicon spray helps. It locks down pretty solid, but watch out for the thumb crushing lever when you release it. (I’m still hurting!) The locking lever is too short. I have mixed feelings about this fence, but overall it’s very useable. Overall, this saw is not the greatest but it’s not bad at all for the money. My 2 main complaints are the amount of rust I found and the wimpy stamped trunion. I wonder if anyone else has similar problems with rust on their Grizzly equipment. I will contact Grizzly tomorrow about the table and pulley. I’ll also post some pictures tomorrow.


Liem

[Frank Fusco]

Having several pieces of Grizzly equipment, I can say I have never experienced the rust problems you encountered. However, you reminded me of some problems I had with a PSI lathe chuck. To make a long story short, I sent back four before the fifth was acceptable. Two of the four came to me with serious rust problems but were heavily coated with rust preventative OVER the rust. :eek: It makes me wonder if conditions in China/Tiawan/etc. are very humid and prone to rust. Also, if training is lacking and the people doing the final assembly/packing work just do not understand why rust preventative is important.

[Liem Tran]

I just got off the phone with Grizzly. Their customer service rep. was very polite and helpful. The table and the pulleys will be taken care of soon. That's what I call excellent customer service! This is my first Grizzly tool and it probably won't be my last.

I forgot to mention the dust collection is excellent on this model. It has two 4" ports but I used only one and it still manage to collect almost all of the dust.

Frank you are very patient, I would've given up after the second chuck.



Liem

[Mark Rios]

Liem, congrats of the new bandsaw. I'm sure it will serve you well and you'll be very happy with it after you get the bugs worked out. It's a little confusing, however, to hear that heavy items like the cast iron fence and the cast iron table are supported by less substantial material. I'm a Grizzly fan but that just sounds silly. If the table moves by bumping it, I'd be concerned about the table moving while cutting, especially heavier material.


One thing that concerned me though.....did you MEAN to say "silicone" when you described the sliding of your fence? If so, may I suggest that you use another product/chemical to get your fence to slide easy. Silicone is VERY bad news in a shop where you will be making/working on something that will have a finish on it. Finishing products and silicone are mortal enimies. Actually, silicone is always the bad guy and the finishing products are always the losing victim. Just a suggestion.

Congrats again.

[Frank Fusco]

I just got off the phone with Grizzly. Their customer service rep. was very polite and helpful. The table and the pulleys will be taken care of soon. That's what I call excellent customer service! This is my first Grizzly tool and it probably won't be my last.

I forgot to mention the dust collection is excellent on this model. It has two 4" ports but I used only one and it still manage to collect almost all of the dust.

Frank you are very patient, I would've given up after the second chuck.



Liem

Liem, the compliment about my patience is really underserved. I'm not a patient sort. But the folks at PSI were very determined that I receive a good chuck and practically begged me to keep exchanging until I got a good one. This was a lesson for them also as they definately gave [explitive deleted] feedback to the factory in China. It is my understanding that the quality control on their new line of chucks is far superior to what I experienced a couple years ago. I'm a Grizzly fan but, at the same time, believe that most of the suppliers know that to remain competitive they must treat us right. The service from Grizzly that I have experienced has always been top notch. Even the few instances where exchange or repair were necessary it was done with a smile. I enjoy visiting the store in Springfield, Missouri. I have a standard routine when I go in. Invariably an enthusiastic salesman will approach me asking if he can help. I always reply: "Yes, I'll take one of each." They give me a smile, I try to give one back. :)

[richard poitras]

Liem, I have been keeping a eye on this saw for a wile now (all reviews I could find) and I appreciate your honest review of the saw, the question I have is if you had the chance to do it again would you by this saw again? ……

[Liem Tran]

Liem, I have been keeping a eye on this saw for a wile now (all reviews I could find) and I appreciate your honest review of the saw, the question I have is if you had the chance to do it again would you by this saw again? ……

Richard, that is a tough question to answer at this point because I just got the saw yesterday. If this saw was design with cast iron trunion and didn't have any rust when I recieved it, the answer would definately be yes. Unfortunately, the trunion isn't cast iron and it did have lots of rust. Before I answer your question, I think I should spend some more time with it to give Grizzly a fair chance.

Liem

[Liem Tran]

Here are some pics of the saw.

Liem

[Liem Tran]

more pictures

[Liem Tran]

five more pics and three more after this.

[Liem Tran]

here are the last 3

[Shiraz Balolia]

Here are some pics of the saw.

Liem

Liem - that rust is unacceptable. Continue working with our customer service dept. and we will replace whatever parts need replacing. If you run into a stumbling block, be sure and let me know.
Sorry about the inconvenience.

[Tim Morton]

Liem, you are a better man than me, I would have called and asked call tag and possibly a refund. No way should that have left Grizzly like that.:confused:

[lou sansone]

hi liem

excellent review of the machine. very refreshing to see such an objective view of a purchased machine. Thanks so much. best wishes with your saw.

lou

[Nate Rogers]

Liam,
Sorry to hear of your troubles, hopefully Grizzly with take care of that promptly. I recently made a bandsaw purchase also, I chose to go with the General version of this saw. The reason was that I didn't want any suprises, I wanted to see it before I took it home. On a side note I think you will love the saw, mine has been an absolute treat to use. Good luck

Nate

[Jim Dunn]

Liam that's some saw. Great gloat, now put it to good use.

[Brent Harral]

Liem, nice initial reveiw on the 514x. I picked up the same saw (at Muncy, PA) several weeks ago and found a similiar amount of rust on the pulleys. My table had just slight rust around the edges, but nothing like yours. Glad to hear Grizzly is taking care of it. I have all kinds of colors in my shop and this is my first "real" Grizzly tool. All I can say is that it's a HECK of a saw for the money. After I set up and tweaked, I resawed a 11" piece of cherry @ 1/32" right off the bat - perfect, even with a $17 blade.

To think I paid just a little less for my delta 14" makes me sick to my stomach :mad:

Hope you get it cleaned up and enjoy it!

[Liem Tran]

Liem, you are a better man than me, I would have called and asked call tag and possibly a refund. No way should that have left Grizzly like that.:confused:

Tim, I was pretty disappointed with the amount of rust. But since Grizzly was more than willing to take care of the problem, I didn't want to make such a big deal out of it. Plus it's way too much trouble to take it off the mobile base and re-crate anyway.

Liem

[Liem Tran]

Pretended I was sick this morning so the wife wouldn't drag me to work.:D
As soon as she left, I got out of bed and headed for the shop. I grabbed a bowl blank to rough out, but when I turned the saw on, what a surprise! It wouldn't come up to speed! It started, ran at a very low speed and then quit. I checked the breaker, normal, checked the wiring, normal. When I looked at the motor I noticed there was moisture coming from the start capacitor. Scratched my head, then called Grizzly. I was told to do several things. One thing that worked, was to remove the fan cover and the fan to get to the contact.... forgot what it's called. Anyway the contact point was somehow too far out on the motor shaft. That's what caused the motor not to star running. All I had to do was loosen the screw and slide it in towards the motor and re-tighten it. The tech I spoke to was very polite and helpful. It seems, I have a lemon on my hands, but Grizzly made up for it. I just hope there won't be more problems.

Liem

[Mike Cutler]

Liem.

The trunnions on your Grizzly look identical to the trunnions on my Rikon 10-340. I thought they were pretty cheesy when I first got my Rikon also. I have pushed 11" square Hickory logs, 6' long, and probably close to 300lbs over that table and it is still as square to the blade as the first nite I set it up. They look lite weight, but they seem to work.
That's a nice bandsaw you got there. Give it a chance, work the kinks out of it, and put it to work.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Could you three give me a little feedback on the runout of your blades measured from the back (i.e. where it meets the thrust bearing)? I have the Shop Fox equivalent and have had issues in that regard, to the point that I cannot set the thrust bearings to within the reccommended distance from the blade. The blade actually moves in and out of the kerf while sawing and is easily visible just watching it. I'd be curious to know if your blades track on the wheel properly. (I've tried 4 blades and have done all the tweaking to no avail.)

Thanks, Jake

[Liem Tran]

Jake, it sounds like you have a wheel alignment problem. I do notice that the blade on my bandsaw does move back and forth very slightly. As far as tracking problems and setting the thrust bearings, I don't have any problems. I plan on checking the wheel alignment this weekend though.

Liem

[Jake Helmboldt]

Wheels are aligned (coplanar) and runout of the wheels seem acceptable. They sent me a new upper wheel because there also seems to be a vibration issue but it was well outside of tolerances (0.020+ lateral runout) so I sent it back. The stock wheels are both at ~0.005 lateral and 0.003 round at the rim. However, round runout at the tire crown is ~0.010.

The runout of the blade measured at the back (where it contacts the thrust bearing) is 0.023 with a 3/4" blade mounted and about half that (0.010) with a 1/4" blade.

I don't know what is "acceptable" vibration, but it seemed to shake more than I expected. But the big issue is the grabbiness of the cut, especially with bigger resaw blades as it moves in and out of the kerf which adds to the vibration and roughness of cut.

Jake

[Barry Bruner]

I brought the same saw in March, mine has no rust. I am very satisfied with it, I would get some money back even if they sent me the parts that was rusty. They are useally pretty nice to deal with, but this is unreal. Barry Bruner

[Brian Hale]

............ When I looked at the motor I noticed there was moisture coming from the start capacitor................
Liem

Moisture? That seems like a real bad thing to have coming out of an electric motor. What did the tech guy say about that?


Brian :)