(My inaugural post, 5 years after joining)
I've been alternately fascinated at the resiliency and persistence of the OP, and sometimes annoyed at the uneven support provided by Grizzly to new owners of the SB1001. The machine has caught my attention, and I've given some consideration to purchasing one, but haven't made a decision.
I've been a Grizzly customer for 5 years, generally satisfied with the in-warranty support I've had. But I did want to pass on one thing I've learned:
Grizzly, "Purveyor of Fine Machinery" has no stated "sunset policy". When a product is withdrawn from the market, for how long will they provide support and parts to existing customers?
Five years ago I purchased a Grizzly RF45 clone (G0480). I had some warranty issues in the first few months, but Grizzly provided the parts and I was satisfied.
Between five and eight months after my purchase, Grizzly dropped the machine from their lineup. In an email to Grizzly support I inquired about the future availability of support and parts. I'll summarize the answer succinctly:
The existing parts inventory for the G0480 will be allowed to self-extinguish, and there will be no future support or parts.
In hindsite, I developed a suspicion that there never had been a substantial parts inventory for that model:
1. Grizzly told me (in veiled terms) that the relationship with the manufacturer had been unsatisfactory from the get-go, and that is why the G0480 was dropped.
2. I had a vague suspicion that the parts provided to me were stripped from a floor model, as an apparently "as-is" G0480 appeared on an "Outlet" page on the web site, after the G0480 was dropped from the product line.
3. From memory, I think the G0480 was sold by Grizzly for less than three years - given a bad relationship with the manufacturer, how large a parts inventory could/would have been established to begin with?
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The South Bend model SB1001 is in "closeout" status. What kind of support and parts inventory will Grizzly be providing, and for how long?