I recently set up my Grizzly 514X2. I've had this saw four years but could not use it due to several personal reasons. Anyway, I turned the saw on and it had a very bad vibration. With an indicator, I was getting about .010 inch of vibration. For those without an indicator, this is about 5 times too much vibration to allow a nickle to stand. Think “coffee sloshing” vibration.
When the saw was stored, it did not have any tension on the blade. However, the motor belt could easily have taken a set in this period of time. Or, I was thinking it could be a multitude of other issues.
I decided to strip everything from the saw to determine the source(s) of vibration. With just the motor running, no pulley, I was getting about .0015 inches of vibration. A nickel would stand at 90° to the motor but would wobble. Adding the motor pulley increased vibration slightly. Connecting the lower band saw wheel with a new link belt doubled the vibration.
I decided to balance everything using the Westlind method http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Ban...Balancing.ashx. Before I could get started however I recieved some leveling pads I'd ordered from Enco for the saw. So I decided to put these pads on as the first step. To my surprise, they made a HUGE difference. Although I had attempted to level the saw using wooden wedges at each corner, I guess I hadn't done a very good job.
The bottom line is I have a very smooth running saw now without having to balance anything. I thought I would post my experience because I'd read a couple of posts about vibration in this saw. I will say the saw is extremely sensitive to having a stable foundation. Further, the vibration dampening properties of the leveling pads may also have some benefit. In any case, the vibration is now well under .001 inch with everything original except the link belt.