# Woo-Hoo!!! Getting my new Band Saw Delivered Tomorrow!



## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Finally managed to cobble my pennies together after a dismal weekend at a semi-local craft fair last weekend and will take deliver of my new Grizzly G0513X2 2HP 17" Bandsaw! That should let me do some work as I wait for my tablesaw to be replaced after the first of the year. Should be nice for getting into segmenting and prepping burl caps to be molded with Alumalite casting resin. Got tired of fighting with my little 14" Porter Cable all the time and managed to sell it to someone who needed a little less precision and didn't mind tinkering. Can't wait to get some logs.:thumbsup:


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## mikeswoods (May 18, 2009)

Oh,boy! That's one sounds nice!

I'll bet you are going to like it--I have been pleased with anything I have gotten from Grizzly---good company--


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

mikeswoods said:


> Oh,boy! That's one sounds nice!
> 
> I'll bet you are going to like it--I have been pleased with anything I have gotten from Grizzly---good company--


Likewise. I have been pleased as punch with my Grizzly lathe.


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## mark_f (Sep 13, 2015)

Have fun! Here's hoping your shop is heated!


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

I am in SOCAL and the shop is insulated. If it does get too chilly, I just open the door into the house.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Got it today. The FedEx guy had to lift my garage door an extra inch to get the whole thing inside, but it's in! Un-crated and checked everything out and it all looks good. Got a Shop Fox mobile base for it from Grizzly as well and both arrived at the same time despite the base coming UPS. I need to make a dump run to get rid of the crate pieces before I attempt assembly and transitioning to the base, but, preliminary tipping tests seem to indicate that it will be a much easier task than my Grizzly lathe was. Will post pics tomorrow. I am thrilled with my initial poking around.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

*Couldn't wait.*

Here are some pics!:yes:


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## Allman27 (Feb 10, 2013)

Nice looking machine! How tall was it roughly that you needed to carefully place it in the garage?


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

It was about 86 inches. It was the garage door (4 panel roll up kind) that made it a tight squeeze inside. The door and the opener were installed kind of odd, but that is how the house came when I bought. They are both on the list to replace, but are a bit further down on the to-do list.


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## saculnhoj (May 18, 2015)

Glad you got it in there. My bandsaw was on it's own wheels which was a good thing because it cleared my door by about an inch. Would have been pretty challenging to tilt it to get it in. You will enjoy having a bandsaw with power. Makes a huge difference when roughing out the taller hollow turning blanks.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Yep. Had to buy a 1 ton shop crane since the rental place was not open on the weekend. After doing the math, for the times I know in the future for sure I will need it again, in the long run, what the rentals would cost me for each of those times would be the same as what I paid. My only complaint about the crane I got was the width between the main legs is a bit narrow, but workable.

Got the saw lowered onto the mobile base and found I need to lift it by about 1.5 or 2" so I can open the lower door for blade changes. Other than that, just need to grab a plug from Lowes to match my outlets.


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

Nice saw. Does it come with a table? 

I had to tilt my Minimax bandsaw almost 45° to get it into the garage because of the overhead door clearance, but then I had to put it completely horizontal to get it through the shop door. It was pretty tough waltzing it around since it is nearly 500 pounds.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Yup. Comes with a table. Thankfully it fit through without having to tilt. Once I got it off the pallet and onto the mobile base, it shrank down by about 4". Will hopefully get a plug that matches my outlets today then I can start tuning it.


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## Woodychips (Oct 3, 2015)

You can tune a guitar but you can't tune a bandsaw.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Woodychips said:


> You can tune a guitar but you can't tune a bandsaw.


Is someone being sarcastic? :laughing:


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Well, I got it all assembled and on the mobile base. I had to put a pair of 3/4" plywood beneath the base of the saw to lift it high enough to open the lower door over the caster mounts, but, beyond that, it was rather mundane to put together. Adjusting the bearing blade guides was a breeze and blade tracking was practically spot on from the factory.

ANyone know of a place besides Grizzly for 131 1/2" band saw blades. I am seeing 132" and 133" but not 131 1/2" Grizzly's prices aren't bad for them but I prefer to have a few more choices as to where to get them.


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## Alchymist (Jan 2, 2011)

Woodychips said:


> You can tune a guitar but you can't tune a bandsaw.


Actually, you can tune a band saw, you just can't tune a fish.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Alchymist said:


> Actually, you can tune a band saw, you just can't tune a fish.


Ok, now we are fishing for a response here...:laughing:


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

Woodychips said:


> You can tune a guitar but you can't tune a bandsaw.


That's sort of humorous in one sense because the way that I set blade tension is to plunk the blade while slowly increasing tension until there is a nice clean "ring" to the sound sort of like a one string guitar.

However, the remainder of the tuning procedure is more like tuning a piano than tuning a guitar.


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## Bill Boehme (Feb 9, 2014)

thenodemaster said:


> ?... Anyone know of a place besides Grizzly for 131 1/2" band saw blades. I am seeing 132" and 133" but not 131 1/2" Grizzly's prices aren't bad for them but I prefer to have a few more choices as to where to get them.


Blade length isn't that critical ... they stretch more than that during the life of the blade. If it is like my bandsaw, it should be able to handle about a three or four inch range in blade length. BTW, there are lots of places that will custom cut blades to whatever length you wish. *Suffolk Machinery* is one example.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Nice to know!


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## rtindell (Apr 8, 2013)

I have the same machine just anniversary edition. I love it. Great for milling down logs. And wife uses it for everything because she is terrified of my table saw.. Lol


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

:thumbsup:


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## Maylar (Sep 3, 2013)

Alchymist said:


> Actually, you can tune a band saw, you just can't tune a fish.


 I believe the quote is, "You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish". It's an album by REO Speedwagon from 1978.

Bandsaw looks awesome. What are you gonna cut with it first?


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Maylar said:


> Bandsaw looks awesome. What are you gonna cut with it first?


A rug.

Gonna be replacing my pen that walked away a few months ago. That will probably be the first thing cut. After that, probably be making a segmenting sled for it.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

*Dead On Accurate!*

I have to hand it to the people at Grizzly. I did not have to adjust a darn thin in the blade tracking, rip fence, etc. I did a cut on a 24" board and it was dead on straight from end to end. Even tried stopping half way through the piece and flipped it over. The cuts met up perfectly.:thumbsup:

One question I do have, since I cannot seem to find anything in the manual about it, how do I know what tension setting to use? On my Porter Cable band saw, there was a gauge on the tension screw with markings for different width blades. The Grizzly, however, just has a 1 - 7 scale but does not say anything about what width needs what amount of tension. Currently, the blade on the saw is a 1/2" x 3TPI and I have tension set to 4 to prevent bade drift.:huh:

Any advice on this would be appreciated.


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## 9thousandfeet (Dec 28, 2014)

Here's one way to adjust blade tension that's worked for me for 30 years;

Remove all the blade guides completely (you will not be cutting any wood), then set what you know to be plenty of tension and adjust tracking so the blade is running where you want on the wheels.

Then, with the saw running, _very gradually_ decrease the blade tension until the blade begins to flutter just the tiniest amount.
At that point, crank the tension up _very_ slowly until the flutter stops, then add another point or two of tension on the saw's tension scale.

Then re-install the guides and try cutting some wood. If you have stability or other problems arising from insufficient tension, increase the tension by small increments until those problems go away.

Some blades, depending on the manufacturer, seem to need more tension than others to run well, even if they're all the same size.

I run the least amount of tension that will give me satisfactory performance. Soon enough you'll have each size blade you normally used figured out, and then you can just use the saw's tension scale to adjust for each size/brand of blade when you install it.

I also de-tension the blade when the saw will not be used for more than a day or so, and especially when it will be parked for several days or more.


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## thenodemaster (Jun 14, 2015)

Fair enough. I only have the one blade for this saw right now, but I was fortunate that the saw was set very well initially and did not need much fiddling with from the outset.


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