On 1/22/2011 1:13 PM, dadiOH wrote:
Ralph Compton wrote:
Now that I finally realize how useful a band saw can be, I think I
want one. But, finances what they are, I am not going to be looking
at high end units. The Ridgid is well within my price range but I've
heard too many negatives about it. HF, pretty much the same, well
within my price range, but . . . I want an inexpensive saw for some
occasional resawing and doing curves in material that the scroll saw
can't easily handle. From specifications and from reading the
reviews of others I suspect that a 14" will do me just fine. What I
absolutely don't want is one that takes a lot of tweaking and
adjusting to make it run smoothly. I want something that has been
engineered and manufactured to run smoothly right out of the box. So
to speak.
Of the various brands, I see that Jet and Grizzley make things in my
price range (I have to stay under 1K including a couple or so extra
blades!). I suspect Grizzley is only mail-order. I also would much
rather pick one up (I'm in Los Angeles area) rather than having one
shipped. The local Rockler store has Jet, Sears carries Rikon mod
10-320, Woodcraft has the Rikon 10-325.

So, long story short, what would be the most respected, easiest to
set up and use, stationary bandsaws in the 14" range that I might be
able to pick up at a local store?

Most bang for the buck = Grizzly IMO. No LA store but they can (or at
least, used to) refer you to a user so you can see what you are buying.

My dad has an older version (6-8 years maybe) of the Grizzly G0555 and I've
messed with it quite a bit... I am not impressed. It seems very fiddly and
kinda flimsy to me, but then again it may just be that I'm used to my 16"
MiniMax, which is one of those Eye-Tal-iun made behemoths. :-)

Do you have a specific price cap you want to stay under?

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