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Bandsaw

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RBattle,

I've read your post in the past and I do not think your needs for a bandsaw are anything out of the order of what most would consider hobby use. I have been using a Sears Craftsman 7x12" band saw for 12 years, and it cuts just fine. The fact of weather you want to cut metal or wood is mostly determined by what is the one material you will cut the most. If it happens to be metal, then you by yourself a metal cutting bandsaw, in the size that fits your shop,budget, and ego. A good saw is priceless, and while there are litterly hundreds to choose from, you know what your needs are as well as what your budget is, so filter out the 95% that will not work and decide from the 5% that will. I have nothing but prase for my bandsaw, it cuts clean, accurate and does so without drama. The 93" x 3/4" blades are easy to find and relatively cheap to purchase. I would only recommend the more pricey Bi-Metal ones, they last 4-5 times longer and truly cut better. On the rare occation when I need to cut wood (I used it several time form large dimension lumber like 4x4's, 6x6 post), I simple install a wood cutting blade. I do not use the wet cut feature much, I prefer to just buy the better blades and cut dry, you may or may not like the wet cut feature? It was just to messy for most of what I wanted to do. My saw cost about 1K dollars and for me it was well worth it. I have used the crap out of this thing over the years, I do alot of fabrication and work with large square tubing and I-Beams. Although recently I wised up and started letting the steel supplier do much of my cutting, lugging around 6x6 or 4x6" pieces of 1/4" thick 24' long pieces is no fun anymore. So I let them do all the cuts I can and save my saw for the little ones , or ones I forgot. I personally would not put much into a metal saw, they are nice to have but there is way more equipment out there that is more useful to have. Like I said earlier, my supplier cuts and or shears most of my metal, it is way more economical, easier and does not take the extra people or sore back. For the money, (most times I get the cuts free, but if I have many to due they are not that expensive, . 75 to 1. 00 per cut or shear. ), you can not beat getting it done, my charge out is 20 times the coast of having it done. Plus I get to turn my attention to what really counts, the project. I do not mean that I would not have a metal saw, just I would not invest that much into one piece of equipment. The best metal saw I own is the Slugger, It cuts so smooth and thru anything I feed it. It is shaped like a circular saw, but very robust in design made for only cutting metal. I can ripe 3/16"-1/4" plate like plywood, or cut square or round tube with ease. Trick tools sells them and they go for under 400. 00, great tool.
 
y-knot said:
RBattle,

I've read your post in the past and I do not think your needs for a bandsaw are anything out of the order of what most would consider hobby use.



For the most part, you're right. But it would be fun to restore an old broken-down metal cutting machine, and I think if I search long and hard enough I'll find what I'm looking for.



-Ryan :)



On edit:

This DoAll V-36 looks pretty awesome (if a bit outside my price range), and it's easily close enough for me to pick up. But how the heck do you move a 2600lb band saw? :eek: I don't even know if it would fit in my garage! :eek:
 
Last edited:
Size Matters?

I'm in the same boat. I had a Jet 20" vert wood saw and wanted to slow it down for metal. I went 4500 fpm and I needed about 60 fpm. That's almost impossible to do with belts and still keep the original wood speed. So I sold it. Now shopping for a wood/plastic/alum/steel vertical saw and the Wilton is the only reasonably priced one.



Why not buy two saws?



1. There is a 14" vertical Delta model with three speeds like 900/1400/3000. That would work for wood/plastic/alum. About $450-500. You could put a jack shaft in there and flip belts around to get a slow 40-200 speed. Check out the back issues of the metal shop mags for ideas.



2. Then buy a cut off saw in the size you need. I have the smallest Jet, 4x6 I think, it just goes and goes. The 1/2 inch blades are cheap. You need to fiddle around with the setup one time, then it is ok. Stand it up and cut sheet metal to 4" wide. Cost about $330. I didn't see what size of matterial you need to CUTOFF, but this covers a lot.
 
rbattelle said:
For the time being, I'm on the rrausch bandwagon. I'm actively seeking an old bandsaw to restore... ... . -Ryan



Now if I can just get you to put an ATS Transmission on that bandsaw... WAIT! Wrong forum! ;)



Back about 1986 I bought a used, good & heavy Rockwell/Delta Tilting Arbor Table Saw with a big Beisemeyer fence. The Tilting Arbor is the model just below the Unisaw in ruggedness. I paid $1,000 for it 20 years ago, and I probably could still sell it for almost that. The point is that good, solid American-Made tools keep their value over time.



Keep looking Ryan. Those saws are out there. I bought my Rockwell/Delta Metal/wood bandsaw from a used machinery dealer on ebay for $800. You will never regret getting the right saw that works smoothly and looks good.
 
Posted by Rbattelle: "This DoAll V-36 looks pretty awesome (if a bit outside my price range), and it's easily close enough for me to pick up. But how the heck do you move a 2600lb band saw? I don't even know if it would fit in my garage!"



Heck MAKE it fit! Build a shed addition onto one end! That is one heck of a bandsaw, and the price is not bad. 2000-2600 lbs is his "estimated" shipping weight. He doesn't know what that saw weighs and I doubt very much that that saw weighs a ton. My guess is 900 pounds. Which is still a lot, but which can be handled. The way you do it is to partially disassemble it first, then move the main frame with machine jacks, rollers, and a front end loader to put it into the bed of your truck. Once it is at your place, another front end loader can take it out of your truck and you can put it on rollers again and push it into your garage. A buddy of mine moved a Cincci. horizontal milling machine into his garage with only 2 other guys. It weighed more than that DoAll weighs.
 
I looked at this one today in-person. I didn't check the Reeves drive, but the seller said the guy they got it from said the saw worked. It wasn't wired (it's 220/3), so I didn't get a demo. It's missing the blade welder, and it looks dirty but not any worse than I'd expect from a machine shop. It's also missing the worklight and the mitre guide.



The place selling it is a huge used equipment dealer. They want 1200. What would you guys offer? I'm trying to gauge what would be "insulting" and what would be "reasonable".



The newest version of this saw costs $6500 new.



-Ryan
 
Just found this one , also local to me. I called about it, and the guy claimed that the frequency inverter allowed any speed from 0 to [a lot]. He claimed that a frequency inverter was better than pulleys because it permitted full motor power down to 0 RPM.



This sounded fishy. It seems to me that as a motor RPM drops, its power output drops as well (although an electric motor produces maximum torque at 0 RPM and full voltage/current supply).



Can someone explain the principle of a frequency inverter, and discuss it's appropriateness for a band saw?



-Ryan
 
What he is referring to is a variable frequency drive (VFD). You can use it to run a 3 phase motor on single phase power, vary the drive speed, dynamic braking. The problem is that they can be rather expensive. I'm not sure of the full torque @ 0 RPM, maybe some one else can answer that.
 
Paychk said:
I'm not sure of the full torque @ 0 RPM, maybe some one else can answer that.



I'm pretty certain that an electric motor produces maximum torque at stall. But stall is different from a very slow RPM caused by a speed-controlling device.



-Ryan
 
Paychk said:
I'm not sure of the full torque @ 0 RPM, maybe some one else can answer that.



I'm pretty certain that an electric motor produces maximum torque at stall. But stall is different from a very slow RPM caused by a speed-controlling device.



Of course, at 0 RPM it is producing, by definition, 0 horsepower.



-Ryan
 
There are a couple of neat old bandsaws on ebay right now.

Item # 7601081888 is a really nice old Parma saw.

Item # 7603711134 is a used Webb.

There are a couple of other ones if you do a search using "Band saw"
 
rrausch said:
There are a couple of neat old bandsaws on ebay right now.

Item # 7601081888 is a really nice old Parma saw.

Item # 7603711134 is a used Webb.

There are a couple of other ones if you do a search using "Band saw"



I run a search on "vertical band saw" at least 3 times a day. :-laf :rolleyes: I'd buy this one in a heartbeat if it wasn't way out in Conneticut.



-Ryan
 
Heck take a road trip! :)



When I got a new trans in my truck, back in 2002, I drove from L. A. to Denver to get it done! But then I like road trips.
 
I'm still looking for a deal! Man, this is taking forever. I'm starting to thinkthis one might be a good deal. The reason is that it looks like I'm going to have to spend $1000 - $1250 on an industrial DoAll or Grob saw that needs refurbishment, and then I'll still need to get a phase converter to be able to run it. By the time I do all that the price will be close to the sale price on that Enco ($1800). Bad thing is I would have to pay truck freight.



-Ryan
 
I just saw your thread; About 20 year ago our gov closed alot of military bases here in Calif; Mare Island Navy Base; Lockead and lots of other defence contractors. They auctions off all sorts of high dollar equip for next to nothing. There was several large surplus dealers that still may be around that may have what you are looking for. Try sacramento and So Calif. Google military surplus?? Good luck
 
bombero said:
There was several large surplus dealers that still may be around that may have what you are looking for. Try sacramento and So Calif.



There are TONS (literally) of CHEAP used machinery that exactly fits my needs out in California on Ebay. Problem is freight.



-Ryan
 
GWHaley said:
I've used and really liked the saws made by Ellis. The one I used was a horizontal saw that the blade/motor assy. mitered. It cost a little more than the Wilton-abt. 2500



The Ellis is nice for cutting angles. It only takes literaly 5 seconds to set it up to cut angles. Just my $. 02
 
rrausch said:
Here's another nice, cheap one on ebay!



Powermatic Band Saw

That shop in CA is awesome. They've got awesome equipment at unbeatable prices. But I don't want to pay the freight and I'd like to inspect prior to purchase if possible.



There's a guy auctioning one in Indy on the 17th... I might go check it out. He had it on Ebay but the reserve was never met.



-Ryan
 
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