Recieved my Grizzly Swivel Band Saw .......

[CGCINC]

I recieved my new Grizzly G9742 Swivel band saw.

From the website picture, it's hard to judge the size of this band saw but it is little. It has a short base and now I see why they don't put a door on it with shelves inside, IT's Little!! Seems to cut fine and I like the hydraulic feed....actually it isn't feeding so much as it just limits the speed of travel. If I could have seen this in person, I would have probably spent my money on something better.

QUESTION: The directions say "to adjust the vise for a square cut, you loosen the two cap screws, align and tighten".
I have loosened but there is no adjustment.... am I missing something? (See Pics below)




With Vise off....


Underside of Vise....

[CGCINC]

And of course the parts were wrapped in some sort of hieroglyphics

[SeanMurphy265]

I don't think I would be too disappointed that's a step up from a 4x8. I like the stand, and it looks as if you could cut angles without a lot of trouble. I have not cut angles with my 4x6 hf saw because I got it cutting square, and I'm afraid that if I go to changing the vice I will have to spend the time getting it to cut square again.

It looks like a nice saw and I will come take it off your hands!

My opinion of band saw's is this.... Go cheap and get an HF 4x6 or spend $1,000.00 bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went cheap!

[KSmith]

I don't think I would be too disappointed that's a step up from a 4x8. I like the stand, and it looks as if you could cut angles without a lot of trouble. I have not cut angles with my 4x6 hf saw because I got it cutting square, and I'm afraid that if I go to changing the vice I will have to spend the time getting it to cut square again.

It looks like a nice saw and I will come take it off your hands!

My opinion of band saw's is this.... Go cheap and get an HF 4x6 or spend $1,000.00 bucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went cheap!

hey Shawn. I wanted to share with you my solution for cutting angles. I also do not want to change my square setting of the vise to blade, when I am getting cuts square to within a few thousandths now. I use one of the funky clamps from HF, attached thru the vise adjustment slot. The stock is against the edge of the fixed vise jaw at one point. Also I use some angles I got from Enco to set the proper degree. Once the angle is made and the stock set with the clamp, I bring the movable vise up to the stock and tighten the thru-bolt, so it is repeatable for the next piece. Works well for hobbiest-speed work.



ken

[Rambozo]

QUESTION: The directions say "to adjust the vise for a square cut, you loosen the two cap screws, align and tighten".
I have loosened but there is no adjustment.... am I missing something? (See Pics below)

Well since there are no pins or keys to locate the vise, you have to align it to the scale to be exactly at the reading shown. So you would set the scale to 90, and check the vise with a square. There will be some play in the bolted connection, so you would lightly tighten the bolts, then tap the vise to be perfectly square, then tighten the bolts all the way.

[Slartybartfa]

Agreed, the holes should have been drilled slightly oversize which should allow you enough movement to square the vise to the blade prior to cinching them down. If there's insufficient slop in the holes, you can enlarge them slightly by drilling them slightly larger.

[CGCINC]

Well since there are no pins or keys to locate the vise, you have to align it to the scale to be exactly at the reading shown. So you would set the scale to 90, and check the vise with a square. There will be some play in the bolted connection, so you would lightly tighten the bolts, then tap the vise to be perfectly square, then tighten the bolts all the way.

I lightly tapped, then a little harder. No adjusting at all. I might need to adjust the pointer instead.

[KSmith]

I lightly tapped, then a little harder. No adjusting at all. I might need to adjust the pointer instead.

If you go without one of the spacers in the vise 'ears', do you not then get a bit of slop for adjustment. Or you could just find square, read the scale, and always compensate +/- by that amount in the future. Or if it has an adjustable scale pointer, recalibrate it to actual square.

one thing I don't like about the design, is that the vise table seems very narrow overall. I don't know the scale but looking at the photos, the vise table is elevated and narrow. The HF saw I have (4x6) at least has a pretty wide flat surface to keep work from rocking radially. Looks like you could remove the repeat stop gizmo, and bolt down a piece of leveled stock to add some breadth to the vise using some existing holes I see, or drill and tap new holes to hold the added support.

I was surprised by the size of my HF saw too when I first got it, but after building a new stand and getting it up off the ground a bit more so I wasn't bending over all the time to work, it turned out to be just fine. Enjoy!

ken

[CGCINC]

If you go without one of the spacers in the vise 'ears', do you not then get a bit of slop for adjustment.

I suppose you would but I doubt these small bolts will hold it tight forever. I might need to go buy some hex heads so I can put some umph to it.
The pointer is held on with a phillips screw so I might adjust that first

one thing I don't like about the design, is that the vise table seems very narrow overall. I don't know the scale but looking at the photos, the vise table is elevated and narrow. The HF saw I have (4x6) at least has a pretty wide flat surface to keep work from rocking radially. Looks like you could remove the repeat stop gizmo, and bolt down a piece of leveled stock to add some breadth to the vise using some existing holes I see, or drill and tap new holes to hold the added support.

I was surprised by the size of my HF saw too when I first got it, but after building a new stand and getting it up off the ground a bit more so I wasn't bending over all the time to work, it turned out to be just fine. Enjoy!

ken

Yes, the vise IS very narrow. My 1990 Buffalo has a bigger/wider vise than this thing.
I hate that it's so low, All they have to do is make the stand a few more inches taller...Hate to pay for it then make a complete new stand but I may have to in the future. The swivel also catches on one side as you swing it...
Honestly I am disappointed with the saw as a whole. It cuts good and will do just fine but I was thinking I was getting something a little better than this. Something bigger and more "shop" worthy. I suppose $550 doesn't get much now days.

[KSmith]

Looks like you could also do some small squareing adjustment by putting shim stock on one side or the other between the fixed back vise jaw and the vise table. Bolts look pretty substantial. Once you do some cutting you will get the bugs out, make a few mods, and be happy.

There is alot of information on this forum that you could glean for your saw http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4x6bandsaw/

Not sure if you saw my stand build, which changed the character and usability of my cheap saw considerably http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...Band-Saw-Stand

ken

[Rodsmachineshop]

yes 550 dont get much these days the band saw i want is like almost a 1000 so saving . want a 7 x12 or bigger band saw . can find some good deals on bigger band saws until you see what shipping cost

[fdcmiami]

i have an 1800, more saw than he needs but having the swing in both directions is great. best saw i have ever used.\

http://www.ellissaw.com/Band-Saws/14...mitre-band-saw

[undercut]

I recieved my new Grizzly G9742 Swivel band saw.

From the website picture, it's hard to judge the size of this band saw but it is little. It has a short base and now I see why they don't put a door on it with shelves inside, IT's Little!!

You gonna get a sore back using that? LOL It looked a lot taller in the previous pictures about this unit.

[CGCINC]

You gonna get a sore back using that? LOL It looked a lot taller in the previous pictures about this unit.

lol, it's Tiny!!

I'm talking to Grizzly through emails right now and trying to figure out what to do. I can return it or they can send me a new base to correct the swivel problem but I really don't think I'm going to be happy with this saw. I just wish the description in the website said something about needing to move the vise from left to right, yada, yada.. I was just thinking you swivel anywhere you want, zippity bam you cut the metal and blamo swivel back to where it was.

[zoama]

lol, it's Tiny!!

I'm talking to Grizzly through emails right now and trying to figure out what to do. I can return it or they can send me a new base to correct the swivel problem but I really don't think I'm going to be happy with this saw. I just wish the description in the website said something about needing to move the vise from left to right, yada, yada.. I was just thinking you swivel anywhere you want, zippity bam you cut the metal and blamo swivel back to where it was.

If you decide to return it, Harbor Freight 20% off coupons show up all the time... you could get the 7 x 12 for $639.19

[CGCINC]

If you decide to return it, Harbor Freight 20% off coupons show up all the time... you could get the 7 x 12 for $639.19

That is what I will do. I get the emails from them but never see 20% off band saws?

[zoama]

That is what I will do. I get the emails from them but never see 20% off band saws?

The coupon says 20% off any single item and has a few exclusions but band saws aren't one of them.

[fdcmiami]

if you have some cash and can be patient you can do much better buying used. there are all kinds of auctions, cl's ads etc where stuff can be picked up for short money. there are fabrication shops and small fabricators going belly up every day. if not that then they are trying to raise money selling the things they don't use that often. i went to a place the day before yesterday and i purchased a 2007 30A and an SSC foot pedal (took it off the shelf) for 200 dollars total. the spool gun works fine i tried it today and even has a rawhide sheath to protect the cables. also purchased 50 quick connects for 75 dollars.

if you can do that you will get much more bang for your buck. paying retail in this economy is crazy. sorry everlast. the last welder i purchased was a 2010 miller XMT 350 for 1180.00. you can do it too. you just have to watch and wait.

best part is you have already made your mistakes with this saw so you will be a better educated buyer going forward. good luck.

[cbmkr]

The Grizzly Tools range from very good to very poor, ( Some are as good of Quality as General International and Jet)There casting quality is something to be desired as they do not let there castings cure before machining.
A lot of there tools are made in the same plant as many other name brands and some of them are not as good as others. There motor program is something of a different story, some of them make good vibrators for equipment and some just don't run very long at all.There all white machines with the cast grizzly logo are there top of the line units and some do perform very well.

As to return if you press hard enough they will take them back as i was in the same situation with 6 machines from them approx 9 years ago. They had bad warped castings and tried to use loctite
retaining compound to take up machining tolerances in spindles ect.

Do Remember that back in the late 1990's when the US outsourcing went into full swing the Delta Line was purchased by Black & Decker of Hong Kong,which took the Tupilo Miss. Plant to nothing, Shortly after that the Powermatic Plant in Tenn was purchased by Jet and Closed.The list goes on and on.

I have a jet horizontal band saw and also a Kalamazoo 7A saw ( Old school will run forever). these to perform excellent in my metal shop.