Grizzly G0513 BS is a hit here!

[Glenn Clabo]

I just put my new Grizzly G0513 17” Bandsaw together this morning... and I must say it's a very nice machine. I’ll try not to repeat what Terry has said because he did a great job with his review.

It took about 2 hours to make the first cut and I had to rewire for 110 because the garage doesn't have 220. I didn’t have too much trouble unpacking and mounting the 325 lb machine on wheels…but I need some of my knuckle draggin friends to get it into the basement. It’s on its own 20 amp line so it works fine. I might switch it back when/if it gets downstairs.

The first cut I made was a 1/8th inch slice of 8 inch walnut board. It slid right through without hesitation even with the supplied ½ inch blade... which frankly blew me away. It may only be an emergency use blade until/after I decide which ones to buy but it’s really not all that bad.

Is it the best bandsaw I’ve ever used?...No. I once had access to an old monster with a 7HP motor…So not many machines will impress me like that. Am I at all sorry that I paid 800 bucks for it?…Absolutely not! Time will tell about reliability, but it came from the factory clearly well thought out. I had no trouble at all installing and aligning the few parts that come unattached. Aligning the blades and guides was far from difficult and I don’t see it being a problem during blade changes in the future. The real test will be when I try to dovetail and slice some expensive cherry.

Bottom line…I’m VERY impressed with my first Grizzly purchase. Hide the catalog my lady.

[Terry Hatfield]

Glenn,

Glad you like the BS. I continue to be impressed by it every time I use mine. Congrats!!!

Terry

[Mike Mastin]

Glenn,

From everything that I have re4ad the new series of bandsaws from Grizzly are all top notch performers. I had an opportunity to look them over during a recent trip to Springfield, MO Grizzly showroon and I was really impressed by these saws.

[EliotMason]

I recently added one of these myself. as a first bandsaw it's been a learning experience! Killed one blade by doing some stupid things - like cutting a notch in the lower door!

Glenn, Terry: Did you have any problems with the under-table blade guards? One of mine was trying to behave like a bearing so I just took them both off. This might be a design issue, the blade (1" timberwolf) or, more likely, operator error.

EM

[Glenn Clabo]

EM,
I only have the 1/2 inch blade on right now. The only trouble I had was stupid on my part. I decided to take the capscrews off before I realized the guards were slotted. But I'll watch them as I get more use and bigger blades.

[Glenn Clabo]

So you really like em Mike...trade ya for yours? If I throw in a lobster? Huh...wanna? :-)

[Mike Mastin]

Glenn,

I would have never purchased the big MiniMax for my personal use :-) Why would I need a saw this big for general woodworking!
Yes I was truly impressed with the new series of Grizzly bandsaws that I saw in their showroom. One of my biggest reasons for purchasing the Minimax for the business was their excellent customer service and close proximity to me. I looked very hard at the larger Grizzly bandasw before taking the plunge. I talked to quite a few local commercial shop owners that were using the 24" Grizzly in the shops and everyone of them were more than pleased with the saw and the quality.
In fact if and when I finally get around to adding a large planer to our shop, I can not imagine that I can buy a better performing planer than Grizzly's largest 24" industrial grade planer. I have looked at about every available option and other than the Extrema Machinery equipment, the big Grizzly tools are really making a dent into the mid level commercial grade equipment in my opinion.
Grizzly has forced the other importers to really get to work to bring higher quality lower priced equipment to the marketplace.
I would not have any problem buying a great many of the currently available Grizzly products.

[Glenn Clabo]

Mike,
The truth is I was VERY concern with how "cheap" Grizzly was. Mr. Hatfields experience brought me around. And I must say...I'll recommend and look at them first in the future.
Hope you sell a bunch of wood so we can see a new planer in the shop. Have great year!