I'm in the market for a nice bandsaw and have narrowed it down to two General machines, the 690 and 490. Both are 14 inch machines, virtually identical, the 690 can resaw about 12", while the 490 is limited to about 6".
Other than cost, is there any disadvantage to having the larger machine?
Both are good bandsaws. The larger gives you more options. j4
Brian:
Check out the availability of fine toothed blades of 1/4 inch or so for the
690, if you intend on cutting thin wood or very sharp corners. I think you will find your choices and selections to be as thin as the wood you want to cut on the 690.Of course a scroll saw as a second tool for cutting thin wood could be a good choice.
Phil S.
Unless you can say with certainty you will only be doing specific work I would go for the largest BS I could comfortably afford. The actual footprint of an 18" or 20" BS isn't appreciably larger than a 14" after it has been mounted on a stand. As for blades, in the age of the net you can get any width, pitch and tooth shape for not much price difference than stock sizes, or you can silver solder your own from from coil stock, which is the cheapest way of all.
Personally, 6" resaw would be very limiting, if the build quality of both machines is similar, I would go with the 12", you're going to be adjusting the top guide down to suit the material being worked anyway, so why limit yourself?
Bernard R
How wide is your jointer? Assuming we're talking about resawing across the face of a board as in for creating veneers, and if you've only got 6" or 8" width on the jointer for preparing stock to resaw, then do you really *need*
12" capacity on the bandsaw? I tend to think not.Just something to think about.
Brian.
my jointer is 8".
my thickness sander is 16".....
I only have a 6" jointer but occasionally saw a few slices off a quarter log that is 8 or 10 inches. Since the logs aren't finished the boards have to be trimmed before further work anyway. Go with the big one.
My jointer plane is about as wide as I can reach.
Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA
I have a scraper like that....
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