Replies

1. 
   Andrew | Mar 07, 2003 06:45am | #1

   Dave, I've been very happy with the made in Canada General machines I own and have used. However from what I've seen at trade shows I haven't been nearly as impressed with the general international tools. There bandsaws seem to have smaller bearings, and flimsier doors and guides than the other bandsaws. The motors aren't nearly the same quality as the Baldor motors they put on their Canadian machines, however if you aren't too hard on the motor you probably won't have any problems. The wheels are also a lot lighter than some of the other 18" saws, which will work against you if you do a lot of resawing. Also I think 1.5 hp is a little small for resawing a big chunk of hardwood unless your blades are always super sharp. That being said they're still better than most of the other import saws.

   If you can, I would look for a used saw. You could get a really nice saw for the same price, but you'd have a much heavier duty machine.

2. 
   kennedy136 | Mar 07, 2003 07:43am | #2

   Dave,

          I bought one last fall and am not very pleased with it.  It does work well now but I had to do a lot of tweaking to get it there, a lot more than I should have.  The manual is a joke, if I didn't know as much about machines as I do I would have been in a world of hurt.  Also it has an intermittent noise which I have isolated down to the ball bearing guides but haven't been able to correct.  The bearings are free and are adjusted correctly but I still have the noise.  My advice would be to buy the Jet for the same price, I sure wish that I had done so.  I have other Jet equipment and have been well pleased with it.   One thing to remember, no matter what saw you get, is that some blades will not perform no matter what you do.  You can put another blade on the same saw and it will perform perfectly so try that before you automatically blame the saw.  All it takes is a badly aligned weld and you can have all kinds of problems.  Good luck.

                                                   Mark