SHOP FOX W1707 2 HP 17-Inch Bandsaw

Comment: 17 inches is not a standard size of wheel. Before you buy one of these, (either the Shop Fox or Grizzly) keep in mind that a common upgrade to bandsaws is new tires. You can only buy 17 inchers from this manufacturer. Nobody else makes them. We have the green machine, and are waiting for the warehouse to get stock back in. We are without our bandsaw right now due to this.

Comment: I've wanted and needed a band saw for some long time, so when the right project came up I began researching. In all the different brands offered with the parameters I needed for the job and future projects, for the price and the features the Shop Fox won hands down, Jet came in real close.

Delivery, I've never seen such shoddy crating in my life, orange crates provide better protection. Half the "LATH" strips were shattered, the only 2X4 was bolted to the saw base, there were many scratches on the saw body , including a good sized hole in the cardboard box holding the fence, (which also has a good sized dig in it. The saw was on its side in the trailer and there were other boxes, (like a Delta mortiser) and I don't know what the other things were on top of it, several had to be moved off and away to get the dolly under it.

Once I got it in the shop, (the delivery service leaves it at the edge of the property which is the road) the saw was preassembled, but as I soon discovered all alignments were off so bad it would have been better to assemble from scratch. It took me half the weekend to get everything aligned and squared the 1st time (double checking everything). It comes with a 1/2" blade installed, I put a 1" resaw blade in and tested it, it works well and will cut bevels safely between 90° to about 33° beyond about 36° the blade is in contact with the table.

The bottom of the table pushes into the side of the blade deforming it and the teeth would grind into the cast. You can't adjust the table enough to compensate. If you try adjusting the guide post, trunnion and housing along with the table to compensate, (which I did) the upper and lower roller bearings can't be adjusted properly to contain the blade while working.

At the time, if I didn't need the saw immediately I would have taken everyone's suggestion and had Amazon take the saw back for a replacement or my money back.

However, early Monday, once I got everything back together for the 3rd time I have to say, (outside of the 1" blade and bevel issue and the numerous scratches) the saw works fine, it cuts smooth and true.

I can live with the scratches, I figure within a year in my shop there'd be that much, although not on the fence. As for the bevel issue, I believe a 3/4" resaw will make it to 45°.

Whoever had the idea to pack such a heavy/large tool the way it was should be fired. Whoever assembled the saw the way it was should be fired.

Comment: I recently got a Shop Fox W1707 bandsaw. I ordered it with some trepidation because of the sparse reviews. My experience has been very good with other Shop Fox machines though, so I hoped this saw would be similar. So far, I have to say that I'm more than impressed with the quality of this machine for the money.

Why the Shop Fox instead of Grizzly? After all, isn't this essentially the same saw as the Grizzly 0513x2, only with different paint? You would think so, but it is not the case. I called Woodstock Int'l (owners of both Grizzly and Shop Fox) to get some details about the differences between the machines. It turns out that Grizzly and Shop Fox bandsaws are made at different factories and don't even have interchangeable parts. I looked carefully at the specs and decided that I liked the Shop Fox better for similar money. In my opinion, the Shop Fox has fewer bells and whistles and more solid, functional features. Here's a list of what I liked better about it:

-Really heavy cast iron wheels. These wheels alone weigh more than my old bandsaw. This is the single most important feature for a bigger bandsaw, and the heavier the better. The tires are crowned also, so you could easily run a very narrow blade.

-Excellent fence. T square style fence (like a Biesenmeyer except made of aluminum). The fence is 4" tall, which means that you don't really need to attach a sub fence for most resawing unless the board is pretty wide.

-Huge locking gear on table. There's almost no way the table will shift out of square while locked.

-Real sealed bearings on bearing guides. These are single bearings, with seals on both sides. Simple and reliable.

Some other likes:

-Everything is adjustable. When I checked my wheels for parallel, I found the top one out 3/8". On a more basic bandsaw you'd just have to live with that. On this saw, there is a camming adjustment to bring the wheels into parallel. Cool. There are also adjustments to tilt either wheel side to side. You can even adjust the upper guide post in case it isn't perfect.

-Huge table. Nice.

-Really decent dust collection. Gets the fines like you wouldn't believe.

-Of course, it saws through heavy cuts with ease.

-Great customer service from Woodstock. When I initially received my saw, the shipper (UPS Cargo) had dropped it and crushed the frame. Woodstock promptly had UPS remove the damaged saw while simultaneously shipping my a new one. That meant that I didn't have a long wait for a new one (3 days). Woodstock was very courteous and helpful during the whole process. They even knew who I was when I called.

This is my third large Shop Fox machine. Based on my experience with the quality of the machines and the excellent customer service, I would not hesitate to buy another.

Comment: I own a Delta 14" bandsaw. It works fine, but I wanted something
to resaw boards, and cut thick hardwood that tends to bind in the
smaller Delta. So I started shopping around. Looked at the Rikon, Jet,
Grizzly, et all.. They are all pretty much the same in that size/price range (in fact I suspect they are all made in the same factory, and aside from finish and add on features are pretty much the same saw)
I finally setteled on the Shop Fox..Have had it for a year now.
This is not a $2,000 saw. However it does what I want it to do very well
I cut hardwoods. Oak, Maple, Cherry, Walnut, Purple Heart, Chessnut, and several other varieties of wood have gone through this saw without
a problem. I cut a 12" x 12" x 48" hunk of white oak into 12" x 3" by 48"
boards..smooth as butter.
Suggestions. Use good blades. The Grizzly 17" saw is almost exactly the
same as the Shop Fox, and the Grizzly blades work great. In fact I tried
a couple of expensive 'bonded metal' blades, and went back to the Grizzly.
Also if possible have this unit set up at the shop where you buy it.
I am not really good at making fine adjustments to machinery, and spent
a couple of hours aligning the blade drive wheels, and a few other things
so the machine would run straight. It does now...Also keep the inside
of the cabinet clean. I hooked the saw up to a 3 Hp 4" dust
collection system, and ended up unhooking it and using a shop vac.
The commonly used blade tension/positioning adjustments are all done
with one size hex wrench - get a 6" long wrench, or extension, that
bottom back blade guide roller is a reaaal streach.
I use this saw mostly to cut big hunks of hardwood into smaller more
usefull hunks of hardwood, and have even sawn boards out of logs with
very satisfactory results. I suspect one could put a 1/8" blade on this machine, and do fine work and scroll cuts etc..but... well....nah.. That is what the 14" Delta is good at.
The 17" Shop Fox has a few nicer features then the Grizzly( table and fence to mention two of them) and is about the same price, and seeing that Grizzly distributes both of these saws..I was told that Shop Fox is
a slightly upscale more refeeened version of the Grizzly product.
Also I have quite enough green painted woodworking tools in my shop thank
you very much, and the Shop Fox and Jet white make a nice contrast :)
So if you are looking at the Grizzly et all 17" bandsaw,,take a closer look at the Shop Fox..For about the same money you get a significantly better saw. Neither are as good as $2,000 machines, but then they do not cost $2,000 either...