band saw purchase

In rec.woodworking
[email protected] (Doug) wrote:

>Getting ready to buy a bandsaw (waiting for the tax return!) I'd
>appreciate any experiences with my top choices:
>-Grizzly GO555 (the front runner based on all the good I've read)
>-Bridgewood's new BW14WBS (very nice "looing" Euro style, but it's
>more expensive, and a it's a new model)
>-I do like the Jet and Delta's in this price range, but I've heard
>such good things about the Grizzly (which comes with the nice extras
>at a great price) that I've kind of eliminated those 2.

Not sure what to tell you. I bought a G0555 about 3 weeks ago and I'm VERY
pleased with it. The entire experience went well. I ordered via the web,
received email confirmation the next day with tracking numbers, picked it
up 2 days later at the trucking company. They would have delivered it for
no extra but it would be 3 more days and I didn't want to wait.

The box was perfect, very well packed and the only assembly required was to
assemble the base and put the table and fence on the saw. I resawed 6" of
walnut with the factory 3/8" 6tpi blade and it cut straight as an arrow
after squaring the fence. Some have mentioned difficulty getting the saw
on the base by hand. It is heavy, probably about 150lbs, but I had no
trouble.

I purchased the riser kit also and it installed easily. After
installation, I resawed some 9" thick hard maple with a 1/2" 3tpi MVP blade
and again, it cut like a dream. The power was completely adequate, never
bogging a bit. It is smooth and quiet and a pleasure to use.

The 4" dust collection works very well. I do not have a brush or anything
else inside and the wheel wells stay clean as a whistle.

The fact that you can detension in a snap is nice too.

The fence works well and is square. There is no adjustability to square to
the miter slot that I can determine, you would have to shim the rails.
Luckily, mine is square.

Complaints? The table has a propensity to tilt unless the knobs are VERY
tight. The lower guides are hard to adjust because the knob for the table
tilt is in the way. Using a 3/4" .032 blade, I barely achieved tension. I
plan on getting a heavier spring to solve this.

That said, I can change a blade in about 5 mins including resetting all the
guides.

I have added a clip on light, $7.99 at the BORG. I also purchased a Carter
Guide at the WW show to use with the smaller blades.

I'm also impressed with the new Bridgewood BW-14WBS bandsaw and was
going to purchase today, but alas they are on backorder until the end
of March. Might go with the Grizzly G0555 instead. It's tough to argue
with the Grizzly prices! While that Bridgewood 14" saw seems decently
priced, their other stuff (Oscillating sanders, shapers, etc) is up
there with Jet, etc. Grizzly stuff is substantially cheaper for
roughly the same specs.