Grizzly G0555X 14" Extreme Series Bandsaw

A powerful 14" band saw - well suited for the turner and smaller scale woodworker!

I bought this bandsaw in February 2008 after evaluating many other saws, including the Powermatic 14", Delta and JET 14", the MiniMax 16". If the price had been right, I would have bought the Powermatic 14" with a riser block, but since I could have the G0555X for $400 less - with a riser block, delivery included - the choice was clear... I wanted a saw that could handle up to 12" stock with a powerful motor (+1 HP), running off 110V and that could be wired for 220V in the future.

Main Specifications

1½ HP, 110V (can be wired for 220V)
3000 FPM blade speed (motor pulley can be flipped to give a lower blade speed, but this feature is not documented in the manual)
Serpentine style drive belt, very smooth
12" height capacity with riser block
13½" throat capacity
Blade width 1/8"-3/4", blade length with riser block 105"
Comes with all ball bearing blade guides, additional blade guide holders for e.g. Cool Blocks® can be bought separately
Computer balanced cast iron wheels
Precision ground cast iron table
Cast iron rip fence with extruded aluminum rails and 6" aluminum resaw fence attachment. Rip fence can be adjusted for blade lead
Quick release blade tension
External work light

The quick release is handy!

Review

The saw came well packaged in a "french-fitted"styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. Instructions for setting up the saw were clear. Within a few hours I had my saw up and running.

A dust collector is a must (this probably applies to any bandsaw of this size and larger) - I have found a small ¾ HP dust collector (from Harbor Freight) to be sufficient.

I see two reasons you should hook it up to a dust collector - the first one is obvious - the second reason is not...

To protect yourself: The sawing process produces a lot of dust that will be spread all over your shop. You don't want to breathe this.
To protect your saw: If dust collects inside the saw, it will pile up and eventually build up on the motor pulley and the blade wheel pulley, causing excessive vibration. This can damage the bearings of the motor and wheel as well as the belt. (This is a design choice - if drive pulleys were placed outside the wheel cabinet like on the Delta/Jet/Powermatic saws, this would pose no problem. But then the saw would not be so compact and have a full storage cabinet underneath). As long as you are aware of this design and regularly check your saw for dust buildup if you don't use a dust collector, it should not be a problem.

The bandsaw drive pulley exposed.

When sawing green wood, this does become a problem even with a dust collector - the saw dust is wet/moist and heavy and will settle. A pile will form at the bottom wheel, and some of this wet dust will deposit on the motor pulley and blade wheel pulley as well as between the blade and the wheel and cause excessive vibration, and a tedious cleaning process to remove all the gunk (couple of hours in the worst case... and I am speaking from experience...). So make sure you remove the dust pile inside the lower wheel cover frequently!

I f you are going to saw green wood or resinous wood - buy guide block holders and use these with Cool Blocks® or similar. Sap or resin will gradually build up on the ball bearings and the blade, thus reducing the clearance between bearings and blade. After a little while there is no clearance and sap or resin is being compressed between blade and bearings, causing the bearings to wear out fast unless you stop the saw and clean them frequently. I wore out one bearing prematurely because I was not careful enough.

The saw does not have a magnetic safety switch, which I think should be a standard issue safety feature on all stationary power tools.

A big plus with this saw is the cast iron rip fence with extruded aluminum rails and 6" aluminum resaw fence attachment. Rip fence can be adjusted for blade lead.

The saw stand (sheet metal cabinet) is not as rigid as I would like. The saw feels a little wobbly on it, but does not cause any problems. My preference would be a rigid stand feeling like the saw was bolted to a concrete block (I will probably do this in the future when I buy my own house with garage). I don't know how rigid the stands are for other 14" bandsaws if they are any better.

So far, the saw has served me well, with enough power for my kind of work - mostly cutting thick stock for turning (bowl blanks) and some resawing. I have not regretted getting this saw - it offer a lot of bang for your buck.