Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi All,

I havent posted here in quite sometime. I am looking to purchas ea bandsaw (had a ridgid but sold it a while back). I want to purchase through the site link to help out the sight a little. What band saw would YOU recommend?

Thanks in advance

I guess it depends a lot on what you're wanting to do with it, but for my case where I want to be able to do some resawing without having a big honking band saw that could resaw the doors on the Alamo, I went with the Rikon 14" deluxe. I'm not sure if it's offered by any of the sponsor links, but that's my vote.

Of course if you don't plan on doing any resawing or if you plan on doing a ton of resawing I would go with something a little less expensive or a little more expensive depending on your needs.

Good luck. Let us know what you end up with.

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Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

Frank how much are you looking to spend?

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce,

When I left last night I said to myself that I would get this question since its a very important piece of information!! :)

Anyway, I was thinking that I didnt want to spend over 1,000. I dont want to go too cheap to where I get junk or too expensive where I cant afford to get more wood and other tools. Especially since i will just be using it for some small shop projects and guitars. Ugh, need a drill press also come to think of it

Lots of bandsaws under 1000. Are you trying to resaw billets of 9 inch Brazilian Rosewood?

If you re resawing sapele that's another story. Just kidding, they both need the same quality of saw. But the Brazilian is worth fifty times what the sapele wood is, so this does figure into the equation.

If you need a general woodworking bandsaw the Delta 14 inch is a quality saw. Lots of folks use Jet and Grizzlies too. The Delta is sometimes upgraded with larger motor, Carter Guides, Iturra springs, riser block, and well it's no longer a Delta it's a hot rod.

I think you could hot rod a Delta 14 and stay under 1000.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I've got a Grizzly 0555 that I like for general use. The blade tension release broke a small casting; Grizzly got me a replacement in a week or so. Otherwise it works fine (with a quality blade in it- not the Grizz that came in the box).
Rather than trying to 'soup up' a small saw for resawing, it makes more sense to me to buy a bigger saw- assuming you have the space.

Cheers

John

Buy the biggest, best band saw you can find for the dollars. If I was on a budget of a grand or so I'd look for large used band saws rather than new small band saws. I bought an 18" Jet new, and I want to be buried with it - eventually.

Buy a bigger saw than you think you'll need, and you'll never be disappointed with it. A bigger band saw can do everything a small band saw can do, and more.

[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey]I think you could hot rod a Delta 14 and stay under 1000.[/QUOTE]

That is a definite. For Christmas my parents got me the Delta 14. When I was talking to my dad later about it, he said that they found it on sale for 400 at the local Lowes. That gives you a quality saw with plenty of money left over for upgrades/wood/other tools.

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Todd's suggestion of the Grizzly makes me think of the Grizzly G0513, 17" Bandsaw, 2 HP. ($750 US)

My thoughts are that the 17" saw will have big enough wheels to run a 1" carbide resaw blade (like the Woodmaster CT.) Seems like the 14" saws cannot handle 1" carbide blades. This isn't from personal experience with the saw, but more of a "wish book" thing for me.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Dennis, you are correct. I think the Delta is limited to about a 1/2 inch blade.

That's why I have two bandsaws, one for general light duty up to four inch necks and such. Then an 18" Laguna for resawing.

I really like both saws because the allow me to keep one set up with a $10 general purpose blade, the other of course with a 1 inch carbide.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I'm running a Delta 14" X5 with the riser kit - have had no problems with that saw. I replaced the standard blocks with Cool Blocks and it cuts and resaws great...I think I paid around 900 for it new...

 

Dennis - The 14" Delta can't tension a 1" blade. The tension spring on mine (Iturra) compresses fully at around 22K when I'm using my 1/2" Lenox trimaster - far short of the 30K they recommend. It is clear that I wouldn't be ab;e to reach even the minimum resaw tension of 15 or 17K if I went to a 3/4 inch blade.

As Todd says, the 1/2" Trimaster does a fine job on resawing, although I still can't collect the dust worth a dang.

I have pretty much the same setup as Todd (no accident, I was watching all his earlier threads). Although I did too much to the saw in one shot to be able to isolate the relative benefit of each change, I think the 2 HP motor was a BIG DEAL!

Todd, did you go with the bigger drive pulley to run at 4000 fpm instead of normal speed? I found (by experience) that the urethane tires were a mandatory switch for that change - the stock tires on the Delta exploded at that speed; literally just came apart. And they weren't that old. The sound of a blade sawing the inside of the blade cover doors is ugly!

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim, Todd-
rpm or fpm....??


John

FWIW, I love my 14" Rikon Deluxe. I'm not saying its better than anything else out there or anything like that, but it was really ready to go with a lot of bells and whistles right outta the box (once I spent the few hours putting it together and setting it up, that is).
I find myself using my 10" craftsman for a lot of cutting because it is VERY convenient and nice to leave an 1/8" curve cutting blade in it, but the Rikon really does a nice job on straight cuts and resawing.
-j.

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“If God dwells inside us like some people say, I sure hope He likes enchiladas, because that's what He's getting”
-jack handy

fpm. The pulley I'm using is sold by Iturra, I'm not sure who makes it.

rpm is 1725. I'm using a Baldor 2HP farm duty motor.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

J., I have a 10" Craftsman too. It's a Rikon, if I'm not mistaken. I really liked mine too, until this Friday night. I was installing a new blade, and couldn't get it to track at all. Kept coming off the bottom wheel. I decided the bottom wheel needed some adjustment. Using a tiny 10 mm wrench, I loosened the top adjustment bolt, and tightened the bottom one. Checked the tracking. Went back and forth a few times, got it close, made a final adjustment on the bottom, and it stripped right out - bolt and housing. The Chinese use some soft steel in their manufacturing. I couldn't believe how easy it stripped. I have a Sears Tech., coming out Thursday to look at it. They wouldn't authorize a return without sending someone out, and I understand that if they decide I was negligent, It may not be covered under warranty. If that's the case, guess I'll have to fix it myself. I can always drill it out and re-tap the hole larger.

The point is, be careful if you have to adjust the bottom wheel for tracking.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy, you might want to look at putting in a heli-coil instead of taping it out to a larger size.
The threads will be stronger that way.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

I don't think you can say that on this forum, can you? What's one of those? Some kind of insert for the bolts that hold the bushing shaft?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Man, I miss the 'Link' button...

Helicoil:http://www.helicoil.in/

Let's try the 'new and improved' picture upload:
Helicoil

I may be dense, but do you put the inserts in the wall of the box that the four bolts that hold the bottom bushing shaft? Do they give added strength, and protect it from stripping out?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy-
I've never used Helicoils myself, but my neighbour fixes up old cars and he uses them from time to time. Instead of drilling larger and tapping for a different size bolt, you drill and then use the helicoil tool to 'tap' the hole, then put in the helicoil insert, which matches the original bolt size/threads. Then you just use the original bolt (or same size replacement).
It might be cheaper to try to get somebody to put in the helicoil for you (assuming the part is portable) rather than buying the tool for one hole. However, they are handy things if you work on machines a lot.

Cheers

John

Interesting. Thanks for the explanation. Not sure it is cost effective for a cheap, Chinese, Craftsman band saw. I'm gonna see what the service people say on Friday, then I'll decide what to do. I'm hoping they say take it back and get a new one. After all, it's only 6 months old. Should have bought the replacement warranty, then there wouldn't have been any question. I just hate those things though, replacement warranties, that is, they seem like such a waste, until something like this. Too bad Sears doesn't treat their machinery the same way they do the hand tools. No questions asked on screwdriver replacement, or sockets, etc.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yup. for me, it would depend on how many $$ I had tied up in spare blades for the saw.
Good luck with it!

Back to the regularly scheduled programming in this thread.....


Cheers
John

I just bought a G05132x2 (17" Extreme) last week and so far, it's great. I have yet to do any heavy re-sawing but I see no reason that it won't do just fine.

I originally was looking for a 14" saw. I looked at everything from the cheapest Griz to a Powermatic. I live 5 minutes from Grizzly so I went in to kick the tires on all theirs and this new 17" saw is really nice. The frame is as solid as any I've seen, better than my 10 year old Laguna 16. The cast iron trunion makes the table much more solid than the other models. The guides are nice and easy to adjust. The table is pretty flat and well ground. The wheels were coplaner right out of the crate (although it didn't have to suffer getting shipped half way accross the country). The guide arm is solid too and was only about .007" out of plumb in 12" of travel and best of all, it was adjustable! Spot on now. Quiet, balanced, low vibration. And similar price to the Powermatic 14". But I'm only talking about this model. The other 17" didn't look as good.

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