My GrizzlyG0555P Polar Bear 14" Bandsaw arrived yesterday (Thursday) from the Muncy, PA warehouse. It was ordered Monday AM. Pretty quick for truck delivery over 1000+ miles.

I was called on Tuesday by UPS and given a time between 1PM and 5 PM as delivery by a UPS freight truck (not their normal delivery vans). I was asked if anyone would be here to accept it. I said "SURE!" Well, they were here promptly at 1 PM. Light rain, 45°F, 200 lbs, no lift. I backed my Ranger up to the trailer and we slid it into the bed, almost 2 feet lower. No Problem. Next, I drove to my shop in the back yard and slid it out onto a dolly and rolled it into the shop.

I need to note that the Riser Kit arrived Wednesday; I ordered a mobile base (HTC 1000) on Tuesday from Amazon. I have Amazon Prime so I got a free 2 day delivery. It arrived about 30 minutes after the Bandsaw arrived, but by UPS normal delivery.


PACKAGING:
Assembly was not too difficult but there were a few minor glitches. It was packed well, but that is relative to the fact that the box did not look like it was beat up or dropped. I guess most heavy packages can be said to be packed well if they are treated well.

I opened the box while it was flat and took out the top layer of packing and a few parts. Beyond that, I had to stand the package up on end to get the bandsaw out. The frame, motor, major parts and doors were assembled and make up the bulk of the 200 lbs. No Way for me to lift that out from a flat box.

FIT AND FINISH:
As relative and highly subjective as this subject is, that is all I can do. The Grizzly Polar Bear series may not be a Jet or Powermatic or other, but it certainly is high quality. I was very impressed with the painting and finish of the Grizzly Polar Bear series. In adding the riser kit, with the limited space, I kept bumping the edges with the wrench. Usually paint chips considerably with the ratchet bumping like that but the paint barely chipped. I was a little scared at first when adding the riser block as it did not want to fit down smoothly. As I tightened the bolt, it pulled into square neatly and precisely. The Upper Blade guide bar seemed to be a half a degree off and I was worried about this. But when I finished aligning everything, it was perfect.

I looked at the Miter gauge and dismissed it immediately. I have a good miter gauge that I will use in place of this one - so I thought. I did try to use the OEM and it was not bad. Very little slop in the miter slot. Except for some very accurately needed cuts, I will probably use this one more than I would have thought.

Throat plate - the one cheap part is this. I will replace this as soon as I get some new ones. Cheap aluminum, thin and poorly stamped.


ASSEMBLY:
The main parts to the stand were behind the BS in the packaging, so I had to take the BS out to get the stand parts. I assembled the stand and then assembled the mobile base before assembling the BS. I certainly didn't want to try and lift the completed BS onto the mobile base later - too heavy!

I was able to lift the BS onto the completed stand and mobile base. Mounting the BS to the stand was straight forward with 4 bolts. There was a little difficulty in getting the flat washer, lock washer and nut on the 4 bolts because I had to do it from underneath.

RISER install: It takes TWO to do this. The top of the BS is not extremely heavy but to hold with one hand and align and bolt is much easier with TWO people (Thank goodness my son in law is here). I don't know how long it would have taken if it were me by myself. I installed the riser on backwards at first but quickly noticed it before I started tightening it.

One thing I noticed about the riser kit - the cutting capacity goes from 13 1/2 inches to 12 1/2 inches. Not a problem for me, but it was noticeable almost immediately.

Next, I decided to add the blade and align the blade guides as much as possible before adding the table. Installing the blade was a little bit of a problem. With the quick release released, I still had to turn the knob down to zero. Even then the blade was difficult to get on. I had to grab the top wheel and pull down to get it low enough to roll the blade on. After a couple of times of putting the blade on and taking it off, it became a little easier. Alignment was not difficult and adjustments were OK. The roller guides are not "carter" but they are much better than what I had before.

Adding the table was straightforward also. After squaring up the table with the blade, I had to re-set the "zero" scale. Last I added the fence. Again, no problems. I did add the front in the high position and realized that it should be in the lower holes.


CLEANING The Table:
I sprayed Greased Lightening cleaner on it and let it set for about 30 minutes. Then I used an old steel flat scraper and scraped the waxy stuff off. Not too difficult. I need to spray it one more time and use some steel wool to get it totally clean. As it is, while it "feels" clean and smooth, the imprint of the waxy stuff is still there. After steel wooling it clean, I will steel wool with some wax "polish."


OPERATING and CUTTING:
Runs well and smooth. The blade doesn't flex or wobble. IF the rollers are just a smidgen too tight, it will make noise. It is not a bad bearing noise, just blade noise transferring to the frame. I backed the guides off just a smidgen, barely touching and it ran fine. Then I tried cutting a 1 inch thick board. Cuts OK, but not great with the stock blade. I can't wait until I get the Lennox blades. However, the stock blade does a good job. I ripped about 2 feet of 2x4 and then cross cut some 2x4. Cross cutting seemed to leave something to be desired, as though it was a slightly dull blade. It must have been my cold hands, because . . . I decided to try the "cheap" miter gauge to hold it while cross cutting. It cut smooth and without the "drag". I tried it again, and again, it cut smooth. I don't mean "smooth" as in "no teeth marks" but smooth feeding. I tried feeding by hand again and found that I was not feeding it "straight". I was standing a few inches to the side. NOW to correct my stand and feed correctly, it did better.

I haven't had any more time to try it out with the grandkids visiting, but hopefully I can do a little more work in the next couple of weeks.


NEEDS (besides a better blade than the OEM.): Wheel Brush, Tension Crank lever, Zero Clearance plates.
I am going to order a wheel brush, a tension crank lever and some zero clearance plates. The Grizzly Quick Release - releases the tension only, it doesn't let it go all the way down to the point of allowing blade changing. For this reason, it really could use a Tension crank lever instead of the stock knob - for blade changing. Twisting the knob to loosen the tension the rest of the way is still a little bothersome. I found one on Amazon for about $20.00 (called Big Horn Tension Crank) and it had some very good reviews.

It definitely needs a dust collector attachment. With just a little cutting, the sawdust built up quickly and it can also be seen on the wheels, hence the need for a wheel brush.

LEFT OUT of Original posting: "DOCUMENTATION!"
The documentation was more than adequate for me. IN fact I found that reading it was boring and made for the "listers" who follow a list! The fence had 4 bolts and I had to look at the diagram to figure out which bolt was for the front and which was for the back. Overall, the simplicity of assembly and a few picts were all that I needed. I am not saying that I went at it with a "no instructions needed" attitude, but that it was like a 10 piece kids puzzle to me. I had to give more attention to the instructions in assembling HTC mobile base than the Bandsaw. I will say that probably for a neophyte in mechanical and construction, the Documentation could have been a little scarce. The pict for the table mount left a little to be desired as it did not readily resemble the part in hand. For me, it wasn't a problem but I thought while looking at it that it didn't quite match up to a well drawn diagram.

I had to look at the riser kit instructions to figure out which was the front and which was the back; I looked at the instruction pict to mount the table mount; and I looked at the picture for the fence mounting. The diagram for the fence made it look far more complicated than it was.

MORE ON DOCUMENTATION:
I have looked at the documentation closer and it has a good section about alignment for the wheels as well as the blade, guides, table etc. More detailed than I noticed during assembly. Simple explanations and good drawings also.