How powerful a bandsaw motor is powerful enough?

[Toller]

I am contemplating replacing my 14" bandsaw and tablesaw with a bigger bandsaw. I think I have a handle on the good and bad points of that scheme. (but if you have any profound insights...)

My 14" is 1hp and certainly wouldn't rip fast enough to replace a TS. The bigger ones are 2hp up to 5hp. How big do I have to go before it will rip

4/4 oak satisfactorily? (sure, I cut 8/4 ocassionally, but not often enough to worry about it.) I would prefer to keep it on a 20a circuit, but can certainly put in a 30a circuit if 3hp won't cut it.

[Lew Hodgett]

Toller wrote: > I am contemplating replacing my 14" bandsaw and tablesaw with a bigger > bandsaw. >

Unless you have 3 phase power, 2HP is about the upper limit.

Lew

[DonkeyHody]

I don't think a bandsaw is a good substitute for a tablesaw no matter what the capacity. Personally, I'd upgrade the tablesaw first.

DonkeyHody "If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail." - Abraham Maslow

[Toller]

Geez no; you can get 3hp on a 20a circuit and 5hp on a 30a circuit.

One horse is roughly 1200w.

[Toller]

I have a severe space problem. No room to upgrade the TS. My hope is to upgrade the BS and get rid of the TS. Some people claim it works wonderfully; others agree with you.

[sweet sawdust]

[sweet sawdust]

[Lew Hodgett]

Don't give up your day job to go into the electrical business.

At least, not just yet.

Lew

[Dave Balderstone]

You mean I don't *really* have a 3HP shop vacuum?

[CW]

494 horsepower. 493 would be to small.

[Lew Hodgett]

Does it have a 182 frame?

Lew

[Peter Huebner]

Too damn right it works. I don't own a table saw, I don't want one and I have never needed one. I rather have a couple of narrow assembly tables take up the space. And I worry a lot less about counting my fingers. Between the BS and the Radial Arm I can achieve anything I want to; 8'x4' sheets I cut with the skilly in any event.

Just goes to show how Your Mileage May Vary

-Peter

[Peter Huebner]

My 18" saw has a 2 horse motor and I haven't been able to slow it down, nor make it labour. I have some fairly fine blades at the moment (6 tpi down to 14) and the speed limit is inherent in how much sawdust the blade can carry out of the kerf. Lots of power to spare, in my opinion, on a 6" ripping depth. Might be different if I went to a 3 tpi blade, I can't say since I haven't tried yet.

-P.

[Chris Friesen]

Those numbers aren't all that bad. The amerages are reasonable numbers for a 240V motor, as long as the breakers protecting the wires are sized for the startup load.

The wattage number is a bit wonky, though still in the ballpark.

1HP is 746 watts, plus power factor correction, plus efficiency correction.

Chris

[lwasserm]

What I'd like to know is, if the OP goes for an 18" bandsaw like this, what does he do when he needs to rip two 20" X 96" pieces from a single sheet of plywood?

[Peter Huebner]

He can do what I do: clamp an aluminium rail to the ply as a fence and cut it with a skilsaw. (that's where the two assembly tables come in handy: you cut between the tables). I get my ply and mdf panels accurate to around 0.5mm that way (~1/50"), which is way more accurate than I could ever manage on a common or garden tablesaw.

-P.

[DonkeyHody]

I'll bet you have plenty of room you just haven't considered yet. A tablesaw wouldn't take up any more room than that big table and all those chairs in your dining room. Or you could just move the sofa out and put it there. You just have to get your priorities straight. Once you do that, you'll find the room.

DonkeyHody "The cheapest things in life are free."

[George]

If you can't rip 4/4 or even 8/4 as fast as you can control it with a one horse, you're going to want a real monster.

Better to consider your saw by the width of blade it will tension than the ponies in the bottom. That's where the accuracy comes in. Get something in the 18-24 range that will take a fairly thick 1" or better blade, and if there's an option, you can go for the higher rated motor. 20A (actually ~10 continuous) @ 230 will haul a couple horse easy, which is about the upper limit for single belt, so I'd look for double or ribbed.

Keep your tablesaw. You can maneuver everything you're using the bandsaw for over that top, and everyone needs a good flat assembly area.

[Toller]

1200w is 10a at 120v. A 1hp motor is typically 10a, 1.5hp 15a, ans 2hp 20a. Then, going into 240v, a 3hp is 15a. The wattage number isn't the least bit wonky. Now some motors are more or less efficient; my 2hp TS motor only draws 17a, but it was 50% more expensive than the same manufacturer's 20a 2hp motor.

[Toller]

What do you use your RAS for?