Grizzly G1538 Band Saw

[Doug Walls]

Anyone familiar with the 16” Grizzly band saw model # G1538
I looked at one for sale the other day & I'm trying to figure if it's worth buying.
The seller wants $300 dollars for it which seems a little high! But I'm not really sure what it's worth.

According to the seller, It was his fathers & it hasn't been used since 2005 when his dad past away. It does need a good cleaning & it could use a coat of paint (paint faded) no rust. There is a noticeable amount of vibration, But it's nothing that a good tune-up wouldn't fix. The motor sounds great no whining or bearing noise.

Doug

[Doug Walls]

Well it looks like no one is familiar with this saw?
I did several searches & really didn't come up with much!

[Curt Harms]

Well it looks like no one is familiar with this saw?
I did several searches & really didn't come up with much!

Must be a rare bear indeed. The only 16" Grizzly i've ever heard of was the G1073. There is a manual available though at http://grizzly.com/manuals.aspx. It looks like if it's in decent shape and you're somewhat mechanically inclined you could get a machine with 10 1/2" resaw, just under 16" throat, 1.5 h.p. This machine is from a time when Grizzly fit & finish was not all that good hence my remark about a certain amount of mechanical aptitude.

[Jim Rimmer]

Must be a rare bear indeed. The only 16" Grizzly i've ever heard of was the G1073. There is a manual available though at http://grizzly.com/manuals.aspx. It looks like if it's in decent shape and you're somewhat mechanically inclined you could get a machine with 10 1/2" resaw, just under 16" throat, 1.5 h.p. This machine is from a time when Grizzly fit & finish was not all that good hence my remark about a certain amount of mechanical aptitude.

Or just go to the Grizzly site, look up the G1538 and the manual is there in PDF format along with a parts list.

[Paul Johnstone]

. There is a noticeable amount of vibration, But it's nothing that a good tune-up wouldn't fix. The motor sounds great no whining or bearing noise.

Doug

Was the bandsaw on a nice level floor when you turned it on? If not, that can cause vibration (From personal experience, fixed by putting on a mobile base, but I could've shimmed as well).

If it's on a solid, level floor and still vibrates, make some test cuts and see if you can live with it. You might be able to remove
it or it might be something like an unbalanced wheel which would be difficult to fix. Obviously, check blade tracking and the other stuff too.

[Curt Harms]

Paul has good points. If you have vibration after cleaning, tuning and making sure the bearings are good, you could try a few things. Remove the band and turn the saw on. Only the lower wheel will be turning. If the vibration is is reduced or eliminated, the blade or upper wheel are the source. Put a mark on the upper wheel and spin it by hand. Does the mark stop in pretty much the same place every time? If so, the lower portion of the wheel is probably heavy. You could try adding some weight like washers to the top of the wheel and see if where the wheel stops becomes more random. If that helps, you can either remove metal from the heavy area or add weight to the light area. My Rikon wheels have divots on the back, a bunch of 1/2" holes drilled very shallow. If the top wheel is balanced, the vibration has to be coming from the lower wheel, belt or motor. Take the belt off and turn the motor on. No vibration? Gotta be the lower wheel, belt or pulley. If the wheel is pretty well balanced, that leaves the belt or pulley. Actually, the belt is a pretty good candidate for a vibration source, especially if it's old and hasn't run for weeks or months. That's how I'd go about it.