Worth the money? Power? Resaw ability?

[lundy williams]

I just added the 28-303 to my shop the 14 is in great shape and has set for 10 years in garage. After tearing it down yesterday, I could see it had a 3/4 Delta Motor any thoughts about using this saw to resaw? Is it powerful enough? The saw has all org. parts and paid $350.00. The guy said his dad bought it new paid $1800.00 15 yrs ago. Humm, that don't sound right to me... Most parts i believe are USA made except the bearings upper and lower have Japan stamped on them. Saw is a Pittsburgh product. Motor is USA. Platen and trunnions are USA. Might be a USA saw,lol...Is there any reason to beef up the motor are live with?
Will post a pic if anyone wants a eyeball on it...

[glenn bradley]

His dad got took or he is mis-remembering. Be that as it may . . . The 3/4HP motor will probably re-saw (slowly) at your current 6" capacity. The proof is on the pudding. Give her a whirl. Your blade will make a lot of difference. 2-3 skip tooth in about 1/2" should still be able to be tensioned by that saw. A Cobra Coil or other aftermarket tension spring can be well worth the cost for generic 14" machines. I've found a good rule of thumb with bandsaws is to drive them for awhile, then decide what needs to be upgraded ;-)

[Steve Schlumpf]

Moved this from another forum and wanted to bump it to the top so folks would be able to assist in answering any questions.

[John Bailey]

When I had it, my 1939 Delta with a 3/4 hp motor cut through everything I threw at it. I cut a lot of 4-6" Teak, Mohagony, Ash and Maple with it.

I had better luck resawing with a 3/8" blade than a 1/2". However, many have had good results with the 1/2".

By the way, I sold it and it was one of my dumber moves -- wish I had still had it.

[Jim Matthews]

Read Michael Fortune's articles on tuning up the Delta 14" variants.

The proper blade appears to be half the solution.
If you can trade off feed rate for resaw height, it's capable of large clearance cuts.

http://www.furnituresociety.org/furn/docs/mfortuneBandsaw_Complete.pdf

[Phil Thien]

I resaw 7" material w/ a 1/2-HP motor. It doesn't go super fast, but it isn't bad, either.

One thing that helped quite a bit was getting a bimetal blade, squishing the set of the teeth (in a vise), then sharpening the same teeth with a diamond burr.

I'd suggest getting some Blade Runner blades form Iturra. Yes, the do dull pretty quickly compared to bimetal. But you can sharpen them yourself pretty quickly, and they will show you what your saw is capable of with that 3/4 HP motor. After that, you can decide if you want to upgrade the motor, or not.

[Myk Rian]

Delta made saws in the USA up until about 2001 or so. I had one with a 3/4hp motor and riser kit. I loved it, but replaced it with a 1966 Metal/Wood model.
That 3/4hp is plenty of power for it, if you take it easy.
This was the saw I sold to my Niece.

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