Bandsaw Gloat(?) and Question

[James Clark]

I'd go with the blade. Doesn't matter how many horses you hookup it won't make a dull or bent blade cut any better.

James

Tim Rohrer wrote:

[C & S]

I agree.

"good" blades are relatively cheap. Try a woodslicer from Highland Hardware for resawing.

HP is nice. It can be a limitting factor. But also the blade itself can be a limiting factor. That is, a 3tpi blade at 3000 fpm can only remove so much material, because there is a sweet spot in the air to dust removal ratio that will leave a clean cut. I have a 2HP motor on my new saw and the 4-6" stock has not made the motor flinch. That does not mean that I can push stock faster. The blade configuration (hook angle, tpi, gullet size has a lot to do with feed rate as well.

Try a good blade, then see if the motor is a limiting factor.

-Steve

[Tim Rohrer]

I am not sure I should call this a gloat as I got it from my father : ) Anyway, he had bought a house and it came with a cabinet saw and a bandsaw. Although he quickly saw a need for the first, he did not have a need for the bandsaw so he gave it to me. Truth be told, it appears to be a cheap Taiwanese tool and I cannot find any info on it (It says American TOOLCOA WBS-14). I put new tires on and cleaned it up. I purchased a relatively inexpensive 1/2" 3 TPI blade to try resawing. It works okay on smaller pieces although the scores from the blade are pretty serious and I get a fair amount of drift that I have to account for using an angled fence. Oh, and the motor: 3/4 HP, single phase, 1420 RPM. I was recently given a couple boxes of scrap hard wood and want to cut most of it to 3/4" or so for small work.

I want to continue to improve upon this machine (although some may offer opinions on how much I should put into this?) and my search through the archives tells me I should look at two things.

1) Get a better blade. 2) Install a high HP motor.

My questions for the group are:

1) Which would you do first, put $$$ into a good blade or get a better motor? 2) How much should I be willing to put into this saw (the obvious answer seems to be "less than it would cost to buy a new one" but thought someone might have more insight into what I should spend to refurbish a machine like this)? 3) Anyone heard of this brand name?

Wr, Tim

[nospambob]

[Rodger]

[Tim Rohrer]