Rockwell 20" bandsaw question

[Steve Smith]

I backed away from a 20" Rockwell today. The problem I had with it was blade changes. It looks like it would take 15 minutes to change blades and adjust the guides for a new width. First you have to completely remove the telescoping blade guard, change blades, then do a fair bit of work to adjust upper and lower blade guides.

How much would Carter guides improve the blade changing?

Any other suggestions for a fix?

My alternative is the 18" saw from Jet. Not a bad alternative, but not hardly the same saw (except for way easier to change blades).

Thanks, Steve Smith

[Unisaw A100]

Steve Smith

The Rockwell 20" band saw has 13 3/8" (12" on the metal cutter) resaw capacity under the guide.

The Jet 18" bandsaw has 10 1/4" resaw capacity under the guide.

Truthfully I'm not sure you'd need the additional 3 3/8" every damn day of the damn week but it would be damn handy those damn times when you damn well needed it. 'Sides, you can plunk down damn near full bore discounted retail on a damn Jet and it'll be devalued before your damn card clears the damn bank. With the Rockwell, you pay for the damn thing and you can get your damn investment back, in full/some times more, any damn time between now and when your damn well done with the damn thing.

I'd reconsider the damn Rockwell.

'Sides, the Rockwell (even the newer George Jetson space age design) is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cooler than a Jet knock off of a EuroBand. Maybe it's just me and my dislike for a big old hunk of Cream-O-Wheat standing around in my shop. Anyway, it's your money.

UA100, who isn't even going to mention the weight difference (200-300 lbs) between the two...

[Steve Smith]

I agree. The problem I'm having is if the Rockwell makes me hate blade changing, I'm going to end up disliking the saw. I need a way to improve this (Carter guides?), then the decision is obvious.

Thanks, Steve

Unisaw A100 wrote:

[Rick Stein]

I think after a few blade changes you would quit thinking about it as an issue. You'd learn to do it quickly, or simply not care any longer. The

20" saws like the Rockwell (I have a 20" Powermatic #81) are true joys to use and I think worth any hassle with the blade change issue.

Rick

[mttt]

Ah! So that's the color! Here I was searching Pantone books online for a color match and all I had to do was head to the pantry, mix up a Bowl 'o Mush and take it down to Home Despot's color matchin' mashine!

Gracias!

[My Old Tools]

You do not need to remove the blade guard on my Rockwell 20". It takes at most 10 minutes to setup for very precise work, far less for general cutting.

[Anonymous]

Steve,

If it was me I'd get the Rockwell. Like UA100 said, it'll hold it's value much better than the Jet. If you hate blade changes so much you might consider putting on a 1/4" blade for general work. It'll work for most straight and curve cuts in 3/4" to 2" stock. When you need to occasionally resaw just swap out for a 1/2" or 3/4" blade. I don't know what kind of work you do, or how you work, but that should minimize your blade changes.

Layne

[Steve Smith]

Thanks for the replies. They helped, sleeping on it helped. I'm going back to see if it is still there.

Steve

Layne wrote: