Looking to buy a new bandsaw

[James Jayko]

OMG ! Woodworking is dangerous , you might get hurt, maimed , or killed while doing it. Bandsaws have been around a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time without brakes and msot still don;t have them. They've been used safely by millions without them too. Other tools take time to coast down and present danger while spinning . Does your drill press, router or shaper have a brake ? Tablesaw? Belt or Disc Sander ? Even your dulling chisels are dangerous and the only safety feature they have is between your ears , behind your eyes.

NONE of the saws up for consideration have brakes. None have lights, none have mobility kits or...... Yes, those could be added and adding a brake or braking motor via electronics is not feasible - it becomes a slippery and non-productive slope to campaign for feature(s) not within the scope- no matter how wonderful and useful they may be.

I can never understand why people rally against safety features. Yes, people still run Unisaws or whatever without any sort of safety technology. But why would you buy one today, if you had other options? Its like my buddy from HS who to this day refuses to wear a seatbelt because he's convinced that if he HAD been wearing a seatbelt (and not been thrown from the car) when he got into an accident 25 years ago, he would have died. That may be true, though I'd guess not. Progress is not always bad, when it makes it less likely for you to massively injure yourself. Sure, the possibility is (somewhat) remote, but given that a bandsaw with a brake is ~$200 more than the similar saw without one, why would you rally about the safety feature being unnecessary?

Also, to be fair, your drill press, router table, shaper, table saw all spin down in a few seconds. A big bandsaw takes FOREVER to stop. So its sorta apples and potatoes.

[Michael Sebar]

I can never understand why people rally against safety features. Yes, people still run Unisaws or whatever without any sort of safety technology. But why would you buy one today, if you had other options? Its like my buddy from HS who to this day refuses to wear a seatbelt because he's convinced that if he HAD been wearing a seatbelt (and not been thrown from the car) when he got into an accident 25 years ago, he would have died. That may be true, though I'd guess not. Progress is not always bad, when it makes it less likely for you to massively injure yourself. Sure, the possibility is (somewhat) remote, but given that a bandsaw with a brake is ~$200 more than the similar saw without one, why would you rally about the safety feature being unnecessary?

Also, to be fair, your drill press, router table, shaper, table saw all spin down in a few seconds. A big bandsaw takes FOREVER to stop. So its sorta apples and potatoes.

at the time of purchase it was on sale and the one with the brake was 500.00 more.

[Edwin Santos]

It used to be a LOT better than decent. Those days have gone though. Now, they're just another importer of Asian made woodworking equip.

I think the reason no one mentioned them in this thread is twofold. One , they don't make a saw in the category that's being discussed and the 14" delta clone they do make is more expensive than the saws kicked around here and it's less capable to boot. Which leads to the second reason - they don't offer a good value when stacked up against the competition when you do compare like for like.

Maybe this opinion is valid for the smaller 14" class of machine.
I can tell you that Anderson Ranch Arts Center has a large current model Powermatic, maybe the 18 or 20" model and it is a very substantial machine. Enough so that people were waiting in line to use it over the Aggazani. I can't speak to the price or country of manufacture though.

[Michael Sebar]

Strange thing happened. I posted this morning around 6:20 thanking everyone for their help and mentioned if anyone had recommendations on blades. Someone responded with a link to another post about BS blades. This was done on my phone and went to the link from the response. I am now on my computer and it's all gone 2 posts. I refreshed my phone and it's also gone. Was it removed because of topic change?

[Sam Shankar]

I've followed the advice in this post successfully. I find that a sharp 1/2" 4TPI blade and diligent tensioning/setup on my 14BX will do 95% of what I need, ranging from resawing to reasonably tight curves.

You mean this post? I still see it.

[Michael Sebar]

Yes, I posted in the troubleshooting section. Maybe they fixed it because now I can see both.

[Dave Roock]

Hello Michael, What you need to have (buy or rent) is a narrow pallet jack to move and help the delivery driver with. Freight companies do not provide narrow pallet jacks on their trucks, just regular ones. I bought the same saw last spring. Watching the driver from Holland Freight try to move that narrow pallet with a regular pallet jack was something - I would have been swearing up a storm but he deserved much credit for his patience. Once he got it off the liftgate, I just grabbed it and swiveled it into a storage unit. You will see the worst built crate you have ever seen, the Chinese manufacturer should be ashamed to build such a travesty of a crate, Grizzly should be twice as ashamed for ever just sending their "fine woodworking equipment" out in a crate that is inferior to a childs tree fort. I will be posting about that experience. I just left it in storage I was so disgusted. Grizzly service was trying to be helpful and wanted to know what was damaged - I told the guy (in extreme frustration) that I could not even move the crate until I strengthened it with actual wood to reinforce the base and all sides, it is literally a huge joke of the cheapest wood imaginable. Picture those flimsy wood survey markers - most of the crate is built with such flimsy wood. I do plan to start using it after I rebuild the crate but will probably never buy any more tools from Grizzly.

[Michael Sebar]

I was hoping to use a hand truck. If I tossed the drive 20 bucks do you think he would help me with getting in the garage. The street and my garage door is only 25 feet if that much. The company is sending a smaller truck being I live in a private development. They may me able to back it into the driveway. Yes I know I dream a lot, if I have to I will double it.

[Dave Roock]

I was hoping to use a hand truck. If I tossed the drive 20 bucks do you think he would help me with getting in the garage. The street and my garage door is only 25 feet if that much. The company is sending a smaller truck being I live in a private development. They may me able to back it into the driveway. Yes I know I dream a lot, if I have to I will double it.

Instead of tossing the driver $20, rent a narrow pallet jack (cheap) = the driver will be overjoyed to be able to use that instead of the futile struggle with a regular pallet jack & will move it right into garage. Using a hand truck is difficult due to the pallet base being built with such poor quality, it will be falling apart or close to it. Pallet overall is narrow and top heavy - I moved mine the other day some with a appliance dolly/cart which has the tall height. When I rebuild crate, I will move it with that appliance dolly/cart. Also the motor for that saw is dual voltage - you can wire it for 110 volt with little effort, just switch a couple wires - instructions come with it. I bought mine for price and the good overall reviews.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Here's my Grizzly bandsaw being delivered last week. First attempt, the driver could not get the pallet jack under the Grizzly small pallet. Second attempt, 3 days later, it was delivered with the saw on top of a standard 4' square pallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXg3c_ZI4s

[Dave Roock]

Here's my Grizzly bandsaw being delivered last week. First attempt, the driver could not get the pallet jack under the Grizzly small pallet. Second attempt, 3 days later, it was delivered with the saw on top of a standard 4' square pallet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIXg3c_ZI4s

Thanks ! Everybody can see how the crate is almost falling apart = the worst built crates I have ever seen. Yours might have had some slightly better boards. Grizzly should be totally ashamed to send out such trash pallets. Bought a Shop Fox table saw through Home Depot - it came on the same puny pallet but someone @ Home Depot or freight company strapped it on a standard pallet. The cost of making a decent crate would add so little to the cost - extra $10 of wood would do far better. . Right off the boat and onward, not one bit of care from factory.

[John K Jordan]

Thanks ! Everybody can see how the crate is almost falling apart = the worst built crates I have ever seen. Yours might have had some slightly better boards. Grizzly should be totally ashamed to send out such trash pallets.

The 18” Rikon bandsaw came in a nice crate. I unloaded it from the back of a semi with forks on the tractor. Also, the metal-working machines from Little Machine shop came in strong crates, as did an 8” PM jointer and PM66. They can do it right if they want to.

[Dave Roock]

The 18” Rikon bandsaw came in a nice crate. I unloaded it from the back of a semi with forks on the tractor. Also, the metal-working machines from Little Machine shop came in strong crates, as did an 8” PM jointer and PM66. They can do it right if they want to.

I plan to chop some samples of the shoddy wood & send them to the Grizzly CEO. Have seen him on here defending his products. Nobody that cared about the customers or took pride in their company would allow such to continue. At least it will cost me minimal to ship the samples as they are so light..........The so-called "Quality Engineers" Grizzly has employed at the manufacturing site have failed mightily in allowing such shoddy work.

[Jim Becker]

I was hoping to use a hand truck.

That's not really practical for a heavy and top-heavy machine like a bandsaw. You can get seriously injured or worse when it tips and lands on top of you. Even if it's shipped on it's spine on a longer pallet, it's a bit much to handle if you don't have forks and a lifting mechanism that can handle the weight.

[Michael Sebar]

Plan A is to pay the drive to help me get it in to the garage. If that doesn’t work on to plan B.
Plan B is to rent a pallet jack, but after looking around I was not able to find a narrow one to rent. On to plan C.
Plan C is to try to lay it on its side on 2 dollies and push in. If plan C fails on to plan D.
Plan D pray that an angel from heaven comes down, moves into the garage for me. I have always been good in figuring out problems rather quickly. I will keep you up to date.