Swivel Head Band Saw

[Randy]

Well, it's been over a year now so guess I can comment about my new bandsaw. I had an old horizontal bandsaw that had a 93" blade. Looked something like this, but like I said it was old.



Throughout the years I've had a lot of jobs that required mitred cutting. To change the angle on this type of saw you have to move the angle of the metal in the saw. To do this you have to reach underneath the vise, where you can't see, find the bolt and then loosen the nut on top. Then bang the clamp that holds the metal and measure the angle to what you want. To measure the angle you have to use your own tooling as they couldn't even mark anything to give you a clue where you are. Then you tighten the bolt back up, must be a better way than this, and do a test cut. Of course it's off so you reach underneath, grab the bolt, same routine and another test cut. Do this until you're close and then start your cut. Whew! I'm tired just describing it. Sound familiar? Plus due to the shape of the material you may have to move everything to the other side to make the matching angle.

I had a job coming in that I knew was going to require a number of miter cuts at exactly 45 degrees, The side and top pieces required them on a cabinet base for a store fixture. So I started asking around for a better solultion. Rich Waugh clued me in to the Grizzly 5" x 6" Metal-Cutting Bandsaw w/ Swivel Head.



http://www.grizzly.c...ivel-Head/G9742 A year ago with freight and sales tax as it's a local company, it was $600. Now it's gone up around $50. Still half of the nearest "professional" saws that are similar in design. This is a smart saw. The head moves instead of the metal. Plus there is an angle scale built into the top right where you can see it. Once you set the zero angle every cut is right at where you set the blade. Also it cuts up to 60 degrees. Plus I'm surprised that for a 64" blade it cuts so much faster than my old saw. Due to its' design the footprint is about half of my old saw so it easily fits at the end of my steel rack against the wall. Now I have more floor space, and we all know how valuable that is. Only complaint I have is the so called automatic shutoff switch. As the blade comes down it hits the switch, well that doesn't work. They need something better there. It is a dry saw, but I've cut up to 2-1/2" round with it with no problem. With this new set up the saw paid for itself on the first job. I highly recommend it!.

Here's the first job I used it on:

[HWHII]

I looked at the Grizzly when I bought my band saw. I almost bought it then I found the Ellis model 1600. It swivels 45 degrees in both directions, has a 1" blade and the capacities a 10" round at 90 degrees, 7" round at 45 degrees and 11" flat. It was $2100.00 shipped to the local Fed Ex depot. I bought it direct from the factory.

[dan_m]

My neighbor has the same Grizzly saw, just a size up, and recently we moved it from his shop on the second floor to mine. He was tired of dragging stock upstairs to cut and then back down and into another building to weld it, so now it lives in my shop in trade for him getting to use my platen table. It's saved me so much time already it's ridiculous. I second all of Randy's praises, only problem is the miter gauge on this one is off so we set the angle manually, it's still way easier than adjusting the clamp though. We also put a salvaged 10' roller conveyor behind it, makes things even better if you've got the space.

I love the table Randy! Did you forge the legs on your press or the hammer?

[Randy]

Dan, try this with the saw: http://cdn0.grizzly....als/g9742_m.pdf It shows you how to set the angle. Once it's set properly you're good to go with no more fussing.

Thanks, Dan. Those legs on the base were 2" round solid. It took the Nazel 1B, my 60 ton press and my poor back to shape and bend them. That's the second one I did. The first one had a sea shell in the center. Below is a shot of the base to the store fixture assembled. Would make a nice table, too.

[cvmikeray]

I have that band saw as well and can tell you it is for sure a good add to your shop for the price. It is probably the most used tool in my shop.

[MagGeorge]

That table looks great! Glad that your new band saw machine worked well for you. This machine is a great tool for creating things that captures our fancy. I purchased mine from www.utilitybandsaw.com.