I haven’t tried the Gryphon ring saw, but I own a Taurus, and I have
to say I love it. I haven’t tried the dichroic blade yet, and while
the regular blade does chip the dichro a bit, the pieces I’ve done
were still usable.
The blades may be more expensive, but I haven’t had to replace mine
yet. I have replaced the grommets, which was easy to do and cost me
less than $20. I added the blade stabilizer to mine and am glad I
did.
The instructional DVD is actually one worth watching. Informative
and funny at the same time! My only complaint is the opening where
you can do the cut. I wish it were large enough to cut through a
bottle. Other than that… one happy customer!
I used the first Taurus a lot and never broke a blade. The new saw
looks even better, but I thought I’d ask around first. I like the
idea of getting a dichro blade. Thanks for the heads up on replacing
the grommets. I’ll order an extra pair with the unit. Ditto with the
stabilizer.
You need a lot larger machine to cut bottles. I have the Revolution
tile saw, also made by Gemini, (nine inch diamond blade) but it likes
to cut through thick, not thin, glass and stone. I haven’t tried
bottles with it yet. If I do, I’ll let you know how it works.
(probably not well.)
So…no one els has tried the Gryphon? I’ll wait one more day for a
review, then order the Taurus, I guess.
I just joined orchid a few days ago so probably missed your original
post. I have the Zephyr wire saw and have used it a number of years
for stained glass. Although I have little knowledge in metalsmithing,
I am darn good in stained glass. Is this the one you are inquiring
about? I like it although I have no other saw experience to compare
it to. I chose it because of the relative replacement cost of the
wire blade vs a band. It lets me cut a lot of glass cuts that
otherwise would have been impossible to cut by hand. That said, I
really don’t use it much, figuring that these pieces that are
difficult to cut are potential failures that will break easily later
on, given some stresses.
I have to say that the Gryphon company is a dream to work with. My
saw arrived damaged in shipping, and I didn’t open the package until
later (at the time I was going through a lot of personal stuff and
didn’t get to play with it until considerably later -months- and
they happily replaced the broken part, and then worked with me when I
had some trouble with the grommet wearing out quickly (my fault in
misusing it–pushing the glass too hard). Wish all companies were as
good in service.