Anybody have a Grizzly Sliding Table Saw?

[Glenn Frazer]

I am starting my search for a plywood saw. I know I should be looking at felder and minimax/technomax, (and will be at the toronto woodworking show this weekend). But the price of the grizzlies is tempting. I am looking at a 10 foot table with a single phase motor. Never really seen any reviews of one, does anybody on here have one?

This saw would probably only run plywood and squaring large solid panels 10 hours a month if that. I plan on keeping my general 350 to do my solid lumber processing (as anyone with a large slider knows the carriage support is quite intrusive to ripping small pieces against the fence)

[Stephen Cherry]

I absolutely don't have anything against the Griz, but why not buy used? this is just a theory, but I don't think the slider is what it used to be; I think that the large producers cut sheet goods in other ways. Maybe they even import the plywood from somewhere else pre cut. I don't know.

But there is a glut of good used sliding table saws out there. I bought a Felder K975 this past summer for a pretty low price. Three phase? Rotary phase converter. These saws are at around the limit for single phase power, and three phase lets you get into some great used industrial equipment.

Just my opinions.

[Richard Wolf]

I don't have one, but my best friend does, and I see it and have used it all the time. At first he purchased the $5000 model, which we could not get set up correctly and frankly, I was not very impressed with it. He had so many problems, called Grizzly a few times and it looked like it may have been a return, but I have no proof that was the situation. Anyway, Grizzly's great customer service replaced it with the $7000 saw at no extra charge, because they had no more of the lower model in stock.
The $7000 saw is head and shoulders above the lower model. It's not a European saw, but at half the price, it's your call.
I always tell people; you can buy better equipment than Grizzly, but you will have to spend a lot more money.

Richard

[Glenn Frazer]

I have been watching the used market, and in ontario, I haven't seen a used single phase slider (of less than 20 year old vintage) in over a year. Its not just buying a phase convertor, I would also need a step up transformer to run the 575 volt that most 3 phase equipment in Canada uses. $1500 by the time I have it wired in.

Also considering the Minimax SCW4S, and S315WS

[eugene thomas]

the magic bullet on here. why not buy used. well buying used is great when ya just need any saw or such but when need certain tool not alwice can find little old lady with tools shes begging to give away,.,.,...

[Mike Heidrick]

If you would like a Felder - join teh felder owners group mailing list. Saws routinely come up for sale. Great pricing too. You might still pay $7K but your will get a 700 series felder saw and sometimes saw shaper.

[Stephen Cherry]

the magic bullet on here. why not buy used. well buying used is great when ya just need any saw or such but when need certain tool not alwice can find little old lady with tools shes begging to give away,.,.,...

I agree, sometimes buying new is the only way. And every time you loose your shirt. Buying used gives you the flexibility to sell for about what you paid if the machine is not what you wanted. It takes time and patience, but it can be fun.

Also, in Canada if you have the 220(or 240, whatever it takes) volt single phase, that can be converted to 220 three phase to run a US spec slider. I don't know how you would get it across the border, but these saws can be cheap.

[david blakelock]

Glen, I just went through a similar process and ended up buying a Hammer sliding table saw. They are on sale for almost 50% off. I did not look at the Grizzly sliding table saw so I can't comment on the difference, but the price of the Hammer slider was so attractive it was worth what ever the price difference was. My saw is due to arrive sometime mid to late December so I can't give any first hand information on it, but from what every one told me you can't go wrong with a Hammer. Also the Hammer is single phase, so that might be helpful. I agree trying to find a used table saw. When you need one you can never find one. And frankly for something that is used as much as a table saw I would rather spend the money on a new one and get what you want. Keep us posted on what you decide.

Good luck!

David

[Mike Konobeck]

Just one example of a current saw that is prob quite a bit better than the Grizzly (no affiliation). There have been 2 or 3 saws recently that looked to be amazing buys. Some with the shaper. I bought a used older Felder combo and holy cow do they know how to engineer stuff. Many times when you buy used you get a ton of accessories too which add up fast.

I think some of the higher priced Grizzly saws are made in Germany or Austria but I don't know by who. Definitely not Felder. I looked really hard at their sliders and just couldn't justify spending the money on an unproven product. I also got really lucky and found something locally. I would have happily driven across the country for it though. Road trip with a friend or two over a long weekend to pick up some tools. Not a bad trip.

[David Weaver]

I have not used the grizzly saws. However, when I was at IWF 2 years ago, I got my fingers on every saw that you could fiddle with, from the imported grizzlies to the martins.

There was a very clear difference between the smoothness of the table on all of the euro saws. All of the euro saws, even the entry level felders and minimax saws with no options had tables that felt like they were on air. The imported grizzly saws felt gritty.

The entry level felder and minimax saws at the time were around $7000, which isn't enough of a difference for me to take a chance (maybe that has changed due to the exchange rate). There was a euro saw that they were touting there, but I don't see it listed on their site. That saw felt like the other euro saws, but there was a guy demoing the saw all day, and we had to wait until later in the day to push the table around.

Besides, i think there are a lot of good quality sliders that go into pro shops and don't get used much, and then sold. I would rather buy a used low-mileage european made saw than buy a new imported slider. There's a whole lot more to the saws than there is to a unisaw style saw (I'd have no qualms about buying a grizzly cabinet saw).

Things can change in two years, so I don't know if any of the above has. The martin saws were far and away the best, but the stripped down felders and minimax entry level saws were still very nice and had a very precise feel.

[Steve Jenkins]

I unpacked and set up a 10' Griz slider for a small shop and it was a sweet machine. I'm not new to sliders as I have a 10' Altendorf and been using sliders for 28 years.
The griz worked well and held it's settings like you would expect of a quality machine. I think that Grizzly sells machinery that is a good value.