# Anyone Else Bought A G9742 Bandsaw



## Dman1114 (Sep 30, 2015)

Hello...

Ive decided to buy a bandsaw.   to go along with my mill and lathe...  I ordered a Grizzly G9742  anyone have any pointers as to anything that may need attention on this unit?

just wondering what others think of it.   i didn't see a whole lot on on it .  is it possibly to hook coolant up to it? worth it??


Thanks


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## foleda (Sep 30, 2015)

Dman1114 said:


> Hello...
> 
> Ive decided to buy a bandsaw.   to go along with my mill and lathe...  I ordered a Grizzly G9742  anyone have any pointers as to anything that may need attention on this unit?
> 
> ...



I bought a G9742 at Grizzly's tent sale this June.  The first test cuts were disappointing--significantly out of square.
The blade on it had unequal set from one side to the other.  When I replaced it with a good bimetal blade it cut beautifully (see photo).  Don't know if the original blade was bad out of the box or if the saw was returned by someone
who ruined the blade.
Changing the blade is not as easy as you might hope, the guards over the blade guides need to be removed in
addition to the main cover.
On the whole I am very pleased with it.


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## Dman1114 (Nov 4, 2015)

Well its been about a month or longer since I've had mine.....   Ive cut some aluminum steel and brass with it and it performs great.

The Gorillas at UPS tore it up i almost didn't sign for it but temptation got the best of me and i took it home anyhow.....


grizz was good to me and got me the extra parts that were either broken or missing....   


so far the saw performs great with the Chinese blade  ....  I went over to harbor freight and got some nice casters and now it floats around the garage  LOL    works great for my needs


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## tmarks11 (Nov 8, 2015)

I have had one of those for the last 10 years. Run it without coolant.  Mostly I cut square/rectangular tube and small bar stock (<1").  Can manage that easily without coolant.  Keep the saw on the lowest speed and it cuts nice big chips and never overheats the blade.

If you wanted to fit coolant, than you would need to build a tray that can fit below the saw/above the base.  Not really worth it for what I do.


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## Smithdoor (Nov 8, 2015)

Looks great for fab work and take 64.5" blades


Dave


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## planeflyer21 (Nov 9, 2015)

Pretty slick unit!  I like the way the saw pivots for the angle of cut, rather than the vise jaws.


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## Chevyjohn123 (Jan 21, 2017)

I purchased one of these saws for personal use and I have to say that I have been very disappointed with it. I can only put the very minimun amout of downforce on the blade or it will throw the blade. I have tried new blades, I have adjusted and readjusted to no avail. I never dare to set the cut and walk away, I always have to babysit it while it is cutting and it takes a very long time to cut through anything that is considered heavy material. For example, if I wanted to cut a peice of 3/16" x 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" angle iron, it would take 5 minutes to cut through it. i've had cheesy chinese basic cut off saws cut through that same angle iron like a hot knife through butter. I wanted this particular saw for the swivel head capability, but use it sparingly just to save my self the aggravation of a thrown blade every time I want to cut something. Grizzly doesn't give any help, so I guess I am stuck with it. If you are considering this machine, good luck, I hope you get a good one.....or at least a better one than mine!


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## Ironken (Jan 22, 2017)

Chevyjohn123 said:


> I purchased one of these saws for personal use and I have to say that I have been very disappointed with it. I can only put the very minimun amout of downforce on the blade or it will throw the blade. I have tried new blades, I have adjusted and readjusted to no avail. I never dare to set the cut and walk away, I always have to babysit it while it is cutting and it takes a very long time to cut through anything that is considered heavy material. For example, if I wanted to cut a peice of 3/16" x 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" angle iron, it would take 5 minutes to cut through it. i've had cheesy chinese basic cut off saws cut through that same angle iron like a hot knife through butter. I wanted this particular saw for the swivel head capability, but use it sparingly just to save my self the aggravation of a thrown blade every time I want to cut something. Grizzly doesn't give any help, so I guess I am stuck with it. If you are considering this machine, good luck, I hope you get a good one.....or at least a better one than mine!



I have one. Not the best piece of equipment that I own. The crappy sheet metal motor mount and belt tension affair is dismal at best. The motor used to overheat and shut down when worked moderately hard. This condition has stopped. I don't know if a better blade helped or the Fenner belt helped. The machine used to shake like a dog trying to pass razor blades. Not of any help for your situation.....but I installed a Fenner Power Twist belt (or whatever they are called) and the shake stopped entirely. I installed a quality `Merican bi metal blade and the thing cuts pretty good now. I also replaced the pivot bolts on the motor mount with better bolts and shimmed between the motor mount and bow with washers so that when tightened, the bolts do most all of holding the tension adjustment instead of using the POS thumb screw. I also needed to adust tracking and the motor pulley alignment. I also had to run blade tension at stupid tight plus a quarter turn.

How many TPI is your blade? Tried different blade manufacturers?


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## tmarks11 (Jan 22, 2017)

I have had one of those for 9.5 years.  Never had a problem with it.

It is quite possible, however, that the machine I have was built to a slightly different pattern at a different factory than the current offering.

A bandsaw isn't designed to slice through metal like a cut off saw.  Let the force of gravity lower the head and it will chew through the steel in its own sweet time, which is what it is supposed to do.  I have never had it throw a blade.  Don't force the head down.

Make sure you are using the right TPI for the material you are cutting.

Do you have the blade tension adjusted to mid-band?


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## Dman1114 (Jan 22, 2017)

mine has been pretty good to me.... cut mostly aluminum round stock, cut some steal here and there ....... i use a 6 tooth on the Aluminum .


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## cjtoombs (Jan 23, 2017)

I just got one for Christmas this year.  After doing some adjustments, I was able to get it to cut true, which is the reason I bought it to begin with.  I had read that some people had problems with the auto shut off.  After a bit of adjustment while doing test cuts, mine works fine.  I haven't cut much with it, but it seems to do a fine job.  There are two things I have found that I don't like about it.  One is the pointer for the angle adjustment.  It has a fat point that hangs in the air 1/8" or more above the lines that it is supposed to be pointing to, making repeat settings difficult.  I will likely make a better replacement for it.  The other is the belt cover.  It's a cheap plastic part with the "hinges" molded in, and they will likely break at some point.  The other problem is the latch, which doesn't like up well and is difficult to close.  Overall, not a bad machine considering its cost and origins.


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## tmarks11 (Jan 24, 2017)

cjtoombs said:


> The other is the belt cover.  It's a cheap plastic part with the "hinges" molded in, and they will likely break at some point.  The other problem is the latch, which doesn't like up well and is difficult to close.


My belt cover has survived 9.5 years intact... but then I always just leave it on the lowest speed, and let it take its time.  A couple weeks ago I let it gnaw its way through 4" stainless solid rod.  Thought it would be problematic without coolant, but it just happily cut its way through it without stopping or needing any babysitting.  Took a while...


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