northfield 20" bandsaw

[Jeff Bartley]

Good Morning Folks! I have the opportunity to purchase one of these Northfield 20" bandsaws and was wondering if anyone here had any experience with this saw. The available saw has a 1 hp 3 phase motor which I would likely power with a VFD. I'm just wondering if a 1 hp 3 phase had enough power to handle a big cut. This would be my first foray into the world of 3 phase machines.
Apparently this saw needs a little work as well so I need to really evaluate carefully!
Thanks in advance! Jeff

[Matt Day]

That's exciting Jeff! Any pictures? What's the asking price?

My 20" PM has a 3hp motor and a VFD. The VFD cost a bit over $200 and was easy to wire up. 1 hp sounds light for a big saw, unless it's an old motor and "true" 1hp as they say.

[David Kumm]

My Y20 has a similar 1 hp 900 rpm motor direct drive. The motor is huge and has a lot of torque due to the rating at low rpm. It will resaw 6-8" at a normal feed rate but too small for 10-12" except for hobby use. The large table makes them an excellent scroll and decent resaw. Dave

[Jim German]

I bought a 1942 20" Northfield last year that had a 1hp 3phase motor. Rather than using a VFD, I swapped it for a 2HP single phase motor. I was a little concerned about the 1HP motor being underpowered, as well as finding a high quality VFD for a reasonable price.

What year is the saw you are looking at?

[Jeff Bartley]

Sounds like that 1 hp motor might leave a little to be desired. Matt, can you believe I'm still on the hunt for a bigger saw!? It's actually more of a passive hunt.....I've been so busy with work out of the shop I haven't really been thinking about it.
Dave, do you think that 1 hp will resaw 14" slow....or s l o www? I currently use a delta 14" and it's miserably slow on anything thicker than 2-3". Jim, not sure what year this saw was made, but it's direct-drive so replacing the motor might not be very straight forward, is yours direct-drive? I actually really like the idea of powering it with a VFD. Thanks for the input!

[Jim German]

No, mine is belt drive. It was originally sold by Northfield without a motor, and was setup for metal cutting. It had a gear reducer and a giant wooden pulley on it to get down to a slow speed. I took those off and replaced the pulleys to get it to a good speed for wood cutting.

Here are some pictures of mine.
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More pictures are in my gallery (http://gallery.voidsmith.com/House/Bandsaw/)

[David Kumm]

you could call jeff at northfield and see what he says. My y20 has a 10" resaw and I have a 217 and 116 for resawing so the yates doesn't get used for that. The 217 with a 3 hp DD motor will handle 14" but that is at it's limit so I doubt the 1 hp will be anything but slow. If you really want a resaw and old iron, the 30" takes up about the same room. A vfd is a great answer for a bandsaw. I'd get it with an additional built in brake resistor to help slow the blade. Additional $100 or so but worth it unless you want to use the foot brake all the time. Old saws run so quiet that you might not realize the blade is still moving when the motor is off.

The Northfield is a great second saw if you have the room. My Y20 sits across from the 217 with a 1/4" bimetal blade and gets lots of use. Dave

[Paul Incognito]

My experience with a 1hp motor is similar to Dave's. I have a Crescent with direct drive. Anything over about 10" and the feed rate slows way down. A good sharp blade helps.
Paul

[Rich Riddle]

The Northfield is a great second saw if you have the room. My Y20 sits across from the 217 with a 1/4" bimetal blade and gets lots of use. Dave
Dave, you advocate woodworkers to have more than one band saw? I thought you only had one band saw and it was a small one?

[David Kumm]

Dave, you advocate woodworkers to have more than one band saw? I thought you only had one band saw and it was a small one?

No, I'm the guy who likes multiples of everything. 3 bandsaws, 6 table saws, 4 shapers, 3 jointers, 4 planers. Makes no sense but fun and sometimes I even sell something. Dave

[Jeff Bartley]

I emailed Northfield yesterday and within a couple hours time had the complete history of this saw! Jeff (vp engineering) emailed me himself, makes me want to own a Northfield even more.
This saw left the factory in August of '68 and was spec'd as it sits today. Still not sure if it'll be a good fit for me. It would be an excellent replacement for my current saw (14" delta) but I'd really like a saw that can cut faster through thick lumber. The other issue is the lack of a tilt mechanism for the table....this saw was not equipped with a tilt table.
If only I had room for multiple saws!!! Dave---you must have a large shop! And Jim, that's a nice looking saw!