A New Idea
I sold a couple of old band saws and have been shopping for a replacement vertical saw. I want it to cut plastic and aluminum mostly and hope it will cut large thin (<1/4") mild steel tubes.
I could only find a 14" Wilton with a gearbox for about $1100, covers 150 to 3000 FPM.
http://www.wmhtoolgroup.com/shop/index.cfm?navPage=4&iid=137741
Searching in the Grizzly catilog came up with a nice looking 14" wood/metal saw with an inverter for about $1200, covers 150 to 3000 FPM.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0621
Grizzly has some good stuff and some not so good. Their band saws are generally good. I liked this saw but as of late Feb they still haven't seen it Stateside. The 14" wood saw this is based on looks nice.
So, A new Idea - why not just build this myself?
I drove up to Grizzly in Bellingham WA and picked up the smallest saw with a 3 ph motor. No shipping, no tax with OR id. (Small bit of TDR info: 22 mpg up with a tail wind, 17 mpg back with a head wind. )
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0514X3
This was only $1200 for a 19" saw, 3ph 3 HP motor, AND it has a belt flip that slows it down from 3000 FPM to 1700 FPM. Nice machined table, ball bearing guides, and 18 1/2 wide by 12" tall clearance for parts. I'm concerned about the roller guides when using metal, so I also got the optional ceramic guides for this ($75) which rub on the blade but also spin. I hope one of these work ok.
Next I bought a new inverter:
http://www.wolfautomation.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=19500
This is SMVector Series from AC Tech, it takes 1 ph or 3 ph input and outputs a variable frequency 3 phase out. Power cost is only 100w at full power. For my 3 HP motor it cost about $265. These were very expensive about a year ago, and are just now reasonable. This thing has very many options built into it. Just down load the pdf file and skim through it. I plan on using a remote on/off switch and a remote potentiometer to control it. But, you can just use the buttons on the front if you want.
Now to put it together. I'll be in the shop this weekend with the soldering iron. I hope this will work for my needs. At the worst I'll sell the saw to the wood workers around here and put the inverter on my mill.