Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been looking at the Grizzley 16" bandsaw #G10732. The cabinet botttom is 100bucks more-is it worth the extra$. I know different saws have advantages and disadvantages, but which of there affect a luthier. You were purchasing, would you purchase the above grizzley, a 16" jet or a 16" delta. Why? what are advantages and disadvantages of each. Remember, I am power-tool challenged and about all I know about band saws is they have some wicked looking blades.
Thank you very much,

Bob tale a good look at the Jet spec's versus the Grizzly. Re-saw capacity on the Jet is over 10" versus the Grizzly 7 3/4" Stand is part of the saw not extra , shipping is free from Amazon. Overall a much better saw IMHO.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006J6PJ/102 -7194796-6154561?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=merchant/ref=s7_tce_504_s 7

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

bob

before you think about buying a bandsaw go to your public library and read mark duginskis book. if they have back issues of finewoodworking read everything they have on bandsaws. get itturra design's(888-722-7078) very fair and objective comparison on jet and delta 14" saws. assess realistically what you are going to do with the saw, e.g. "normal" guitar making tasks such as cutting out the shapes of backs, tops, necks, bridges and jig making and a bit of occasional resawing, or whether you will do significant amounts of resawing.

one of the 14" saws w/riser block will handle all of these normal functions. it is only if you are going into significant resawing that you need the capacity/power of the bigger saws.

check out your local used market. great bargains are to be had. i know a an old fellow ... wait ... er... bother, he's about my age.... in my local area who bid $200 for a 20" delta in great condition from the school board and won but, alas, it did need a $15 drive belt. i told him he stole it.

if after all your research and assessment you find a bigger saw is what you need, you can start looking at the laguna and minimax and work down. one of the better bargains to be had these days is the rikon which received a best buy recommendation from fine woodworking. see it here:

     http://www.toolcenter.com/riko n/10-340-18BS.htm

you should note that this includes shipping to your area.

as for me, i use a rather ancient 16", 8 speed walker-turner of undetermined age bought at auction some years ago as a step up from a 10" 1944 delta, which i still keep in use.

I had a grizzly bandsaw and I never liked it. I adjusted the heck out of it
but it would just not do the larger stuff I needed. I sold it for a couple
hundred bucks. I would buy the delta, or jet, or even a Rigid bandsaw. I
have a friend here locally who as the home depot rigid bandsaw and it is
very nice indeed. I think I'm going to buy one like it to give me an
intermediate saw. Right now I have a small bench-top and a large
minimax...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

We have two bandsaws in the shop at the local college in Denver, a minimax and a laguna. People stand in line to use the laguna while the minimax sits idle.

Aren't both saws now made by Meber, though?

That I couldn't tell you Mattia. All I know is that there is no comparision between the two as far as quality is concerned. Plus the laguna comes with a carbide tipped blade. Very nice and cuts like butter!

Thanks guys

I tried out both the Laguna, and the Minimax before buying and the
Miminx cut much much better than the laguna. I'm not saying that one is
superior over the other, but it just goes to show that everyone has
different views. Which also goes to show why I have seen some great
reviews of the grizzly bandsaw. Go figure. I just know what I like and the
Grizzly is not one of them, and while the laguna was nice the minimax, in
my opinion, is a better machine..at least of the ones I tried out.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Hmm...on second thought, ISTR that Laguna's lower end stuff is central/eastern European made (Hungarian? Something like that) but that their higher end stuff (like the 16HD) is Italian, ie. rebranded Meber, or possibly another make. I still occasionally peruse the Italian bandsaw manufacturer websites. Really, really tempting when you see the equivalent of a 22" bandsaw, industrial rating, going for 1200-1500 Euros...and then you remember you don't have a shop, and the floor of your apartment probably couldn't bear that amount of weight.

*sigh*

Grizzly's saws have come a long way. Notice that they are quickly phasing out the cast frames in favor of the newer welded tubular steel frames. These handle the stress of high tensioned blades very well. They're also beefing up their motors and the hardware/guide systems on the newer saws. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of the larger Grizzly saws, 20" and up if I were working with a limited budget. But since hitting the Powerball for a few million, money isn't an issue.

Oh wait. Rats...that was just a dream. Nevermind.
Think Grizzly...think Grizzly.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Never buy from Laguna. I was set to buy the 18" and the salesman calls my wife and talks to her for some time about the fact that I only need the 16"

I ended up with the 16" -- hope that guy's working at walmart now.

Actually it's a nice saw. Cost me about $1100 in 1994 dollars delivered with a carbide tipped blade.

I have an 18" Grizzly and I HATE it. It's a vibrating monster. I sent it back and they put a link belt on it and said it was fine. Shortly thereafter they phased them out (Cast Iron frame design) in favor of the tubular frame. I have other Gizzly tools that I like so I am not bashing Grizzly. Just stay away from the cast iron frame saws. It does what it is designed to do once it's properly set up and I have cut lots of sets with it. I just wish it were much smoother operating.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

Well as everyone knows I bought the Laguna 16HD and couldn't be happier. Smooth clean accurate cuts are a breeze with this saw. Their Re-Saw King blade is awesome. I've tried a lot of blades and nothing comes even close to this one. A bit expensive but they can be re-sharpened 4-5 times.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Look at each saw in each category, not make blanket statements about the manufacturers. Laguna rebrands many saws. Mini-max and Grizzly appear to do the same. Their vendors and models change frequently. Recently, Mini-max had 3 different 16" saws available, and they were all quite different.

I bought the MiniMax MM16 a few years ago after seeing it side by side to a Laguna 16HD and a standard Laguna 16. I felt that everything about it was superior - power, mass, cut quality, electronics, fit & finish, adjustments & price. I do like most of the Laguna saws, but in that category, at that time - the MiniMax was the winner.

As a side note, I "upgraded" my saw recently to the Laguna ceramic guide system and the carbide blade. I love the blade - absolutely the best carbide I've used.

The guides are ok. A marginal (at best) improvement in terms of cut (I ran the blade with the euro guides for a few weeks). Access to the adjustment screws is a pain, and I find that it doesn't seem to hold the settings all that well. I'm not going to return them, but without the nice package deal I got - I would think twice.

bob

what is the sharpening costs and how are they based, by the inch, by the tooth? how long a blade does your 16hd laguna take? i've often thought of getting a carbide blade but just haven't been able to justify the cost so far.