recommendations for used Band Saws

[ebrannon]

I have a 14" Home Depot band saw and it is not up to the job of shaping wood before I mount it to turn. I am into self collecting wood, and often it is big chunks of firewood that has to be shaped before I can begin turning.

This winter I am going to shop for a high quality used band saw that can handle the type of cutting we do in turning (ie both straight and curved cuts in uneven think wood hunks).

Anyone have any good suggestions on what is the optimum size and anything specific I should look for?

Also, what do people use to cut circular pieces for bowl making?

Ed

 

[waltben]

First off, what sort of size are you looking for? The list of manufacturers gets smaller and smaller the larger you go. At 20" & larger, there's only two quality brand names available for wood in the US that I'd consider - Laguna and Mini Max - unless you're looking at an antique Rockwell or other industrial type. Then you get into what you want for resaw and throat capabilities. My five year old Mini Max MM20 has 20" capability both ways and isn't all that physically large compared to an old Rockwell a friend has that has about a 30" throat, but only 20" resaw and is a serious monster in size - not to mention how long the band must be!

While I'm very happy with my MM20, what I'm most pleased with is the size of it's table. My first bandsaw was a Jet 16", and this one's table must be four times the size of the Jet's. The larger table makes handling larger chunks of wood much easier. I circle cut with either a Delta jig (the heavy duty one) or just a round template of MDF nailed to the center (this works best for log halves).

 

[MichaelMouse]

What size lathe, and what is the availability of wood? It's only when you're working over the bed that precision cutting becomes a necessity, so plan accordingly.

I've a 16" swing, and find that my 14" Delta does just fine at 6" thick, and the combination of chainsaw undercut and circle jig handles thicker up to maybe 9". You just rough cut at at an angle, then put the center on your pivot and cut off the wedge-shaped area clean as a circle. By the time you avoid the juvenile wood in the center and slab to a 2-3" flat bottom, you've pretty much reached what you get from an average 16" log at 7" depth anyway.

So the 14" iron types are a good choice when coupled with a 3/4 or 1 horse motor, and if you decide you have to have greater depth, you can get the riser kits and feed slowly. Size of table really doesn't play, because you can easily add a surface and a stiff leg to get any size you want. Nice part about that setup is it isn't taking up floor space unless you're using it.

Wet wood recommendations include a blade with good set in the teeth, maybe 3-4 of them per inch, and ceramic guides which don't goo or wear away.

 

[David Wilkins]

Home depot? Do you mean Rigid? If so then you have a good bandsaw, if you find the 6" limiting you can get a riser block at a reasonable price. If your frustrated I'd have to ask if you have tuned the bandsaw any. First places I'd look are at the blade itself and the tension spring. Michael is right, turners have no need for precision bandsaws. Can you offer some greater detail into the problems you are having and specifics about the bandsaw and blade you are using?

 

[MichaelMouse]

My 14 Delta resaws like a champ with the proper blade, well enough with the wet wood blade to call it a precision saw. But it didn't get there on its own, nor does it stay there until it is tuned properly. That starts with coplanarity, belt alignment, etc.. Duginskie and Bird both have books devoted to this extremely useful tool which will give you the order and the method to tune your own. If it's the Ridgid iron 14, a clone of the ones since the forties, it should tune nearly the same way they do. Plansnow has a $4 pdf for download with all the stuff if you don't want the book. Your owner's manual doesn't have the in-depth stuff, but it's not bad.

 

[john lucas]

I have a 14" Delta with riser block. The only downside for me has been the size of the table which is too small. I have been able to cut green wood up to 11" deep and 19" around. I've also cut hollow vessel shapes of 11" deep and 5" to 8" around. I use a cheap 1/2" x3 tooth blade.
Every once in a while I feel like I need more tension on the blade but most of the time this saw does a good job. To see a serious improvement I think I would have to step up to a 20" heavy duty saw that would be 2 or more times as expensive.
The Jet 14" with Riser is basically the same saw for a little less money.

 

[waltben]

I started with a Jet 16" because of the larger table. A friend has a 14" w/riser block and it does cut wood well, but he also has arguments with that small table. When I got my Stubby, I went shopping for a larger band saw, settling on an MM20 as shipping was about $450 less and resaw 2" more than a comparable Laguna (saw prices were very close to the same). I never really thought about the table size until I started using it, but I'll never go back to a saw with a smaller sized table again.

 

[Wayne Spence]

Erbrannon

Before giving up on your saw have you tried a 1/2inch 3tooth/inch hook blade?

I have a Korean clone of the Delta 14" with riser block. No complaints as it does about everything I ask of it. I raised the HP to one from 1/2. That helped immensely. As Waltben and Odie have mentioned a larger table helps prevent a lot of grief.

As a sidenote a little off the subject my saw does not do a good job on resawing 10 to 11 inch guitar tops and bottoms. I usually cut about 3/16 thick, the final thickness is about 3/32 depending on the wood. One saw a friend has that I use is a Hitachi resaw with a 2 inch blade. It is great, if I have a chance to buy a used one I will not pass it up.

Good luck and don't give up.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I have a 14" Home Depot band saw and it is not up to the job of shaping wood before I mount it to turn.

It probably needs a good tune-up along with a properly sized sharp blade to get back to normal. I have the same saw and completely rebuilt it to improve the belt tensioning (it does not really have one to begin with), flatten the table, balance the wheels, true the tires, improve the guides, improve blade tensioning, made the wheels coplanar and a number of other things. It can adequately handle anything that will fit within its 6 inch limit.

At about the same time, I bought a MM16 and now the little old bandsaw is very lonely and has become the second dust collector in my shop. Bigger is nice, but not essential.

Home depot? Do you mean Rigid?

No, Ridgid is a relatively new Home Depot brand. Before that, it was Ohio Forge, which I affectionately called "Ohio Forgery". It was exactly identical down to the last nut and bolt to a number of Taiwanese made bandsaws including Jet, Grizzly, and Reliant. The only distinguishing factor between them was the paint color and the stick-on label of each brand. Whenever I needed parts, I would get them from Jet since HD wasn't very good at customer support back then.

 

[Wayne Spence]

Band saw

It probably needs a good tune-up along with a properly sized sharp blade to get back to normal. I have the same saw and completely rebuilt it to improve the belt tensioning (it does not really have one to begin with)


Does your tensioning device have a gauge or do you do it by "feel"? If so what method do you use to determine you are at the correct tension?

 

[MichaelMouse]

Ultimately, we all tension not by some mark somewhere on the saw, but by the method that gets best results. Width of the blade, thickness and set can all affect the optimum operation. If there's one thing for sure, it's that too little will give us a blade that wanders and bends, making cutting difficult and even dangerous. I tension an Olson blade differently than a Timberwolf, and a thin Timberwolf a bit more than a thick one, because it doesn't have the beam strength.

Higher is a better place to start, but don't break the weld!

 

[Bill Boehme]

It probably needs a good tune-up along with a properly sized sharp blade to get back to normal. I have the same saw and completely rebuilt it to improve the belt tensioning (it does not really have one to begin with)

Does your tensioning device have a gauge or do you do it by "feel"? If so what method do you use to determine you are at the correct tension?

Ultimately, we all tension not by some mark somewhere on the saw, but by the method that gets best results. Width of the blade, thickness and set can all affect the optimum operation. If there's one thing for sure, it's that too little will give us a blade that wanders and bends, making cutting difficult and even dangerous. I tension an Olson blade differently than a Timberwolf, and a thin Timberwolf a bit more than a thick one, because it doesn't have the beam strength.

Higher is a better place to start, but don't break the weld!

I was talking about BELT tensioning. The original saw design required one to loosen four motor mounting bolts and while standing on your head, move the heavy motor with one hand and then hold it perpendicular to the belt and in line with the pulley on the lower wheel and keep the right amount of tension and then reach around to the back side of the cabinet with the free hand and working in the blind, put a ratchet socket on the bolt nuts and then figure out where you are going to find a third hand to hold the head of the bolts from turning. Next, you utter some indecipherable words that don't require any translation to be understood by all within earshot. That is why I decided that there had to be a better way and came up with a slide mechanism with a tensioning screw. The belt tension is the standard half-inch belt deflection at mid-span with finger pressure.

As far as blade tensioning is concerned, I have not encountered anything that works better than either of the two following which seems to be about the same as what MM does.

1. For Timberwolf blades, I follow their instructions for low tension blades using the flutter method.
2. For most other blades, I "tune" it much the way that one would tune a guitar string, listening for the "right" sound when plucked. Back the guides away from the blade, pluck the blade at mid point and see if it produces a clear mellow note. If it is too loose, the sound will not be clean and if too tight, it will be flat. It is something that has to be learned by trying and can't be easily described in a paragaph. Each time that you tweak the tension, give the wheels a turn to even out the tension all the way around.

 

[Bill Boehme]

I also remember where the right blade tension is set and then de-tension exactly three turns of the tensioning knob when the saw is not being used. I stick a magnetic sign on the throat plate reminding me to tension the blade by three turns before turning on the saw. Don't ask me how I know what can happen if you do not tension the blade before turning on the motor -- especially in a big bandsaw with a 3.8 HP motor. A slack one-inch blade suddenly grabbing ahold and snapping in tension like a piece of kite string can enlighten you immensely.

 

[waltben]

Bill, and that's why I quit relaxing tension entirely (unless I know I won't be using the saw for a month or so). I was putting a sign on mine and forgot once. 171" of 1" blade flying about will really get your attention!

I use the saw at least a couple times each week and haven't seen any change in performance after leaving the blade tensioned for months on end. Maybe it's the wheel size being so much larger than a 14" saw, maybe the whole relaxing the saw thing is an urban legend, I don't know.