I'm looking to add a band saw to my shop. I'm looking at occasional light use, like cutting out patterns for furniture projects. I had a bandsaw with my Shopsmith (now gone, thankfully). Probably would like a
10" or greater throat. Any suggestions?
A good, used Delta or Powermatic 14", and a $10 set of Cool Blocks.
Barry
Read everything about bandsaws for six months.
Find some bandsaws to play with.
Agonize over the choice for six months.
Attempt to pry open your wallet for another six months. Let the effort inform your decision.
Clean your garshop.
Buy some wood for those first bandsaw projects.
Buy the bandsaw you chose at the last minute, when your wallet sprang open with no warning.
Make sawdust.
Get a bigger vacuum cleaner^W^Wdust collector.
Make some more sawdust.
Pester technical support until you get a clue.
Measure the flatness of the table and ponder whether it's worth it to get it replaced.
Make more sawdust.
er
I just purchased the Jet 14" bandsaw with the open base in February. I like it fine, it came standard with the phonelic blade guides that seem to be rated as a very desirable feature. I got it on sale at Rockler for $350 in store price, plus a $50 mail in rebate, and a free bench vise. My use is the same as yours, I picked the Jet because it was on sale, it gets generally good marks in reviews, it was on sale, I like the way it looks, and it was on sale. If it had not been on sale I would have bought the Rigid 14" bandsaw which is regularly priced at $350. It has metal (aluminum ?) blade guides. Not sure if this is important or not, I know I would not replace them anytime soon if I had bought this saw instead of the Jet. I compared the Jet, Rigid, and Delta products. They are all pretty close with the Rigid being the lowest regularly priced product. Since each saw was pretty similar and each one had a unique feature that I liked I had pretty much decided on the Rigid due to the significant price difference, then the Jet went on sale plus the rebate and vise so I bought it instead. I have used my bandsaw several times for cutting small parts and I am very pleased with it, I also think I would be equally pleased if I had purchased the Rigid. That's just my 2 cents worth and remember you got it for free :-) Charlie
"Cap'n 321" wrote in message news:_7DZf.45544$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com...
Budget?
IMO, the 14" is the most versatile and adequate capacity for most home shop uses. Larger is better if you have the space and $$ for them, of course. Forget the little 9" benchtop models, 10" is questionable. Get a couple of blades from 1/4" to 1/2".
I like my Jet, but thee are other brands equal to it, maybe even better.
DO NOT BUY THE SEARS TILTING band saw.
My wife bought me one years back and the disappointments came when I tried to get blades and such.
My suggestion is to investigate the third-party suppliers of good quality blades (they even make carbide tipped versions in some lengths - not 80"!) and other accessories BEFORE buying an expensive tool. The surprises I had too late are no fun.
Oh, yes, try and know why you want a band saw first.
You have basically three tiers of saws.
1) The 9-10" saws in the $100-150 range2) The chiwanese 14" saws in the $350-650 range
3) The fancy 14" and bigger saws in the you can't afford it rangeThe import thing to realize is that within those tiers the saws are pretty darn similar in terms of capability. So figure out which tier you belong in and then find/wait for the best deal. Some people will tell you not to bother with tier 1 at all, some people will tell you not to even bother with tier 2. If all you want to do is cut curves in 3/4" thick stock, you don't need anything more than tier 1 and the $2-300 you save buys a lot of wood. Okay, not that much wood, but all the more reason to save the money. That said, you wouldn't regret stepping up to the 2nd tier, the increase in capability is large.
-Leuf
I am using the HF 14" model with the 6" riser kit and their roller blade guides. Works well. Presently have a Timberwolf 3/4 x 3tooth blade on it for re-sawing and could scarcely be happier with the cutting action.
I've been agonizing for some time, and researching - finally went to town to take a look for myself. Now, we don't get the same brands you guys have, I managed to find one shop that brings in minimax, but they didn't have one in the country (so what good is that to me) and lots of shops with cheap Taiwanese and Chinese saws. One shop that also had Jet and Socomec on the floor.
Jet was several cuts above the other Taiwanese brands like Trupro, Magna, whatever that I looked at even though the basic configuration is similar, the execution is of a much higher standard. It was the only saw that didn't try to shake itself to bits when turned on (mounted on a pallet on a warehouse floor).
The Italian saws and the MiniMax would've cost me half as much again as the Jet (equivalent of about 1200 US I paid for an 18" saw with a 2 hp motor). I didn't want to spend that much more, not really.
So far I'm happy with my purchase. The roller guides are as noisy as hell, but that's the only complaint I have.
-P.
shake itself to bits
Add a Link Belt - you'll love it!
I have a total of 9 band saws now. That Wood and Metal cutting.
My best buy is a Grizzly 24 inch.
I own Two Delta Crecent 2 rollein a Drop Saw .
The Grizzly is about 8 years old. It is on for about 10 hours a day.
I have to replaced the up bearings twice and I have had two set of Link belts on it.
The swithch has gone bad but if I do the math 17 600 hours of use.
I found Grizzly great at getting parts for my stuff and friends.
The price is right.
Larry
FYI - Woodcraft has 10% off the Jet JWBS-14CS today only (Sat). Just ordered mine with the 6" riser. Just under $600 with shipping. The saw itself was 494.99 + 32.99 shipping.
Harvey
Harvey
I started with the Ryobi 9" at the bottom end of Tier 1. Excellect saw for the money. I used it to cut out bodies for solid-body guitars and basses for three years. It served me well. But totally useless on anything over about 2 inches thick, so.....
I got me a Ridgid 14" with a 6" riser block from BORG. Much better at everything, and I've resawn hardwoods up to about 8-1/2" wide. The Ridgid's motor is only 3/4 HP, so I have to take the resawing slow and easy, but it works. Very happy with the purchase.
--Steve
I just bpought the Delta 475x, based on googled reviews. It's a much better saw then I will ever be a sawyer (is that a word?) smile. I'm expecting to retire soon and this was the tool I needed to add. Whether it's a computer, camera or other tool I try to buy something that wont leave me feeling like I wasted my money, as opposed to saved my money...
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