Well, the day came and my new Grizzly G0555X bandsaw arrived along with the moblie base and riser kit. Here, I’ll talk about how I single handedly assembled both the mobile base to fit the stand and the riser kit. My hope that whatever little inspirations I had may help someone else down the road.
Let’s start with the mobile base (32 bolts and all make it quite time consuming)
Here you have your choice of bolt up through the casters and nut on top or bolt on top. Personally, I prefer the cleaner look of the bolts on top. But it will require more dexterity, especially with the fixed casters. I tackled this by putting the nut and lock washer in a socket and feeding onto the bolt as my fingers just couldn’t fidle the darn things on the bolts.
With Casters done—I installed the rails with bolts finger tight.
Here is where I unpacked the Bandsaw stand upside down and placed the mobile base on top for fitment.
I placed quarter inch shims of scrap wood between the stand and base on the front and side to be sure I had clearance when putting the stand on the base then squared up the rails.
After squaring up the rails, I flipped the base over and tightened up all the lock nuts.
Now that the mobile base is sized up. I flipped the stand over onto the base with no help from the natives.
Next up is the riser block install. Here I took the box cutter and cut down the top side so I’d have room to slide the top wheel assembly up to install the riser. This method will save you the grumbling of some poor mate while you fumble to get the riser block in and bolted.
(Side note: Original bolt and nut are 7/8 and the new bolt for the riser is 7/8 and 1” so have the proper wrenches)
Now that the riser block is installed…
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Part two: Lifting the bandsaw assembly onto the stand… here is where the one man/woman operation ends.
Hope this helps in your assembly endeavors.
-- John D
10 comments so far
lanwater
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2420 posts in 1105 days
#1 posted 919 days ago
The last time I assembled my table saw, I pulled my back flipping it to the upright position.
Nice tools you got there.
NBeener
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4856 posts in 1345 days
#2 posted 919 days ago
I recently added the riser block to my existing G0555X … by myself.
Lemme’ tell ya’ .... you were VERY wise to do it this way !
Hope you’ll report in after you’ve pushed a few dozen board-feet through that saw … and … hopefully NOT with the OEM blade ;-)
-- -- Neil
Eagle1
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2044 posts in 1236 days
#3 posted 919 days ago
You will get alot of enjoyment out of it.And a many great projects from it as well. I know about the weight I bought the G0513×2, it’s all 1 piece except for the table. I put it on the mobile base myself. It is a very heavy piece of equipment..
-- Tim, Missouri ....Inside every older person is a younger person wondering what the heck happened
Eric_S
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1522 posts in 1366 days
#4 posted 919 days ago
I lifted it on my own but yeah, it was pretty dangerous trying to hold the top arm up while tightening the riser bolt. I also almost threw out my back in doing so and the top ALMOST fell over a couple times.
Add a toothbrush head on brackets on lower part of upper wheel and upper part of lower wheel and you’ll keep the wheels nice and clean too :) Or does the X model come with bristles already? The regular G0555 didn’t so I added some.
You’re going to love this bandsaw.
-- - Eric Indianapolis, IN
JohnDennis
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14 posts in 1115 days
#5 posted 918 days ago
“Or does the X model come with bristles already?” Yes, it has the brushes already.
Another tip for existing bandsaw owners adding a riser… I read about a fella rigging up a block and tackle off a beam in his garage to lift up the top section.
-- John D
NBeener
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4856 posts in 1345 days
#6 posted 918 days ago
I put up an eye hook (in the joist), and have a Harbor Freight block and tackle … now … on the off chance I ever have to do anything like that, again ;-)
-- -- Neil
bunkie
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419 posts in 1318 days
#7 posted 918 days ago
Well that certainly is a smart way to install the riser. Of course, it robs you of the the opportunity to beat your chest after doing it the hard way ;-).
By the way, I loved the “items required” table in the riser instructions. It had Columns for description and quantity. Right after the entry for item: 24mm wrench quantity: 1, was the entry for item: other person quantity: 1.
By the way, did you find the stock blade that came with the riser to be about as sharp as a butter knife? Mine stalled the saw while trying to resaw a piece of 5” cherry! My Woodslicer blade is on the way as we speak.
-- Altruism is, ultimately, self-serving
JohnDennis
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14 posts in 1115 days
#8 posted 918 days ago
“My Woodslicer blade is on the way as we speak.”
Yeah, same here…
I’ve had a $100 block of maple for half a year waiting to get resawn. Not going to risk it on a cheap blade.
-- John D
JohnDennis
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14 posts in 1115 days
#9 posted 918 days ago
The deed is done.
Spent well over an hour fine tuning the blade, table, fence, miter, and scales etc with my handy dandy engineers square. Ran a few test pieces and it looks golden.
-- John D
bunkie
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419 posts in 1318 days
#10 posted 914 days ago
Nice! Hopefully we can compare notes after you get some time with your new saw. I just got my WoodSlicer blade and will install it next weekend.
-- Altruism is, ultimately, self-serving
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