The Great Bandsaw Adventure - Phase 1
#11
OK, time to tell you what I did after all your helpful input on what bandsaw to buy.  Well, to put it simply, I set all logic aside and ordered a new Grizzly G0636X, all 620 lbs of it.  This is the first new stationary machine I've bought in about 25 years.  I've always been able to find good used machines and never paid more than half the price of new, some I even got for free.  I imagine I eventually could have found a good used bandsaw, too, but I got tired of looking. 

I placed the order last Wednesday AM and it shipped from the MO warehouse that afternoon on UPS freight.  I paid an extra $35 for lift gate service.  The total shipping was still less than $200, which I thought was very reasonable for something this big that weighs 786 lbs.  Yesterday UPS called and asked if wanted it delivered Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday.  Bring it Tuesday, please.  Ken Vick volunteered to help me get it into my basement, bless him.  Today's objective was to just get it into the garage.  About 4 PM this showed up at the street.

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I asked the driver if he had a pallet jack.  Yes.  OK, would you be willing to pull the machine up to my garage?  Of course.  So he brought it to the lift gate and down, where Ken and I inspected it for damage but found none, so the three of use pushed and pulled it up to the door of my garage with no great effort.  I gave the driver a tip, which he said I didn't need to offer, but accepted after I said it was just a small thank you for saving us a lot of extra work.  With that he left and we were left with this.

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The Grizzly pallet was too narrow for the UPS pallet jack to fit into, so they had put it on top of another pallet.  That complicated our plan to slide or walk the machine off the pallet.  We talked about it a bit and decided to try to lift he upper pallet and machine enough to slide the lower pallet out from under it.  We managed to do just that by inserting some 2x4's through the upper pallet, blocking up one end of them and using two car jacks to pick up the other end. 

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Here it is just as we had it lifted and had the pallet almost out.  With the lower pallet removed we lowered it down onto a couple of pairs of 2x4's right at the edges of the machine pallet, in order to pull out the jacks and 2x4's, and then knocked the blocking 2x4's out one at a time. 

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OK, down the factory packaging now.  As you can see, the packaging is a small pallet and an open crate.  The machine inside was completely covered in a plastic bag, and another piece of plastic was under the machine and taped to the bag, essentially completely enclosing the machine.  We took the crate off, and then proceeded to remove the table, wheels, and motor.  The table came off easily.  Ken thought it only weighed about 50 lbs, but I think it's at least 75.  I weighed the upper wheel and it is 30 lbs.  the lower wheel weighs more because the double pulley is on the back of it.  I took the wheel covers off, too; they probably weigh 10 - 15 lbs each.  All went well until I tried to remove the drive pulley off the motor so I could remove the motor, which I've read weighs 93 lbs.  The set screws that hold the pulley on the motor shaft won't budge.  The set screws are dinky little 3 mm hex so you can't get a lot of torque on them.  I shot some PB Blaster into the holes but it had no effect over the 5 minutes or so I waited.  If the set screws were installed with some type of permanent Loctite, I have not clue how I am going to remove them.  So we're proceeding with the motor still on the machine, but how do you remove those set screws?  You would need to if you had to change the motor.  Anyone know how?  Suppose I could call Grizzly. 

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The only damage we found was a little scuffed paint on the top of the base of the machine on the back side.  I'll call Grizzly just to see if they have a touch up spray paint can but it's really no big deal as it is.

OK, now to get the machine into the garage.  It's too tall to fit under the overhead door on the pallet so it had to come off.  As I thought about how to move the machine all the way into my basement I set out to use mechanical help instead of muscle power whenever possible.  To slide the machine into the garage I thought the winch I have for the back of my car would work but I needed an anchor near the kitchen door to attach a snatch block to for it to work.  The only place I felt confident anchoring to was the sill plate of the house, so I crawled under the landing and lag bolted a structural U-bolt to it, then attached a length of chain with the snatch block on the end of that.  Worked like a charm.  With Ken and my neighbor steadying the machine and flipping pieces of plywood we pulled it off the pallet and into the garage w/o incident. 

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We pulled it up close to the landing and called it good for the day. 

Stayed tuned for the next installment of the Great Bandsaw Saw Adventure - following shortly. 

John
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#12
Happy new saw to you!
LTL and local drivers have always been helpful in my experience. Kudo's to you for the gratuity. Way to go!
Ag
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#13
Gonna fire it up before carting it into the basement?
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#14
i know where you're coming from! It's like you have to outsmart gravity.....
VH07V  
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#15
Hey, that looks familiar. It is because, I have the same one in my garage shop now. Fortunately all I had to do was get it in the garage. I think your adventure is just beginning John..I hope those stubborn set screws let loose overnight. Because that is one heavy motor.

My Wood master CT carbide blade showed up last night. So I hope to be able to test it out on some wide ash boards this morning. Good luck with your adventure..
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#16
Quote:All went well until I tried to remove the drive pulley off the motor so I could remove the motor, which I've read weighs 93 lbs.  The set screws that hold the pulley on the motor shaft won't budge.  The set screws are dinky little 3 mm hex so you can't get a lot of torque on them.  I shot some PB Blaster into the holes but it had no effect over the 5 minutes or so I waited.  If the set screws were installed with some type of permanent Loctite, I have not clue how I am going to remove them.  So we're proceeding with the motor still on the machine, but how do you remove those set screws?  You would need to if you had to change the motor.  Anyone know how?  Suppose I could call Grizzly. 

I was thinking heat but that may not do the paint any favors. Maybe the PB Blaster sitting overnight will help.
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#17
I was going to suggest heat too. If you can shield the paint around it, a little butane pen torch works great on that sort of thing.
Benny

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#18
I'm lazy to look up the motor in that thing but I know it's bigger than the 3hp on my 19" Grizzly. Good luck to you because even my motor is pretty dang heavy!
-Marc

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#19
What a coincidence, I have one just like that, except it is a different brand, a bit smaller, different style and just a 1hp motor.
Smile
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#20
Looking forward to Part II.  Be sure to pause halfway down the stairs to take some pictures!
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