Sliding Table Bandsaw

[John Erickson]

Bandsaw blade kerf rather then table saw kerf can substantially save material over the long term. I use primarily use 10ft lengths random width 4/4 stock to build cabinets and cabinet doors. My thoughts are having a sliding table bandsaw at my lumber racks to do the initial breakdown. I'd like to straight line the first edge on the slider side then set the fence to the desired width and power feed the lumber through.
Has anyone built or purchased something similar and what your thoughts are regarding a similar setup.

[Julie Moriarty]

Are you thinking about something like this?
http://www.maginn.ie/image/cache/data/Summa4-500x500-600x400.jpg

[andy bessette]

Much faster and easier is to use a track saw to straighten the first edge of raw lumber. It does not use up any more material as you're only taking off the excess. Then you can rip it any way you like.

[Julie Moriarty]

If you want to DIY a sliding table for your bandsaw you could take some ideas from this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WItDzkTk-2s

[John Erickson]

Yes Julie its similar to what I'm thinking but the slider needs to be capable of straight lining 10' material then rip with a feeder to the desired width. Andy I already have an Altendorf F45, 3.2 M slider and a 20" General bandsaw but would like to have it combined in one tool.

[Brian Holcombe]

John,
Only trouble is that a bandsaw edge, even a very clean one is always in need of more work, which consumes likely near the remainder of that material saved from the smaller kerf. My carbide tooth blades leave an OK edge but not one I would consider glue-able.

[andy bessette]

...Andy I already have an Altendorf F45, 3.2 M slider and a 20" General bandsaw but would like to have it combined in one tool.
You may have whatever you desire, but the track saw will still be faster and easier for straightening the raw edge into a glue-ready surface.

[Bradley Gray]

I agree with Brian. By the time you clean up the band saw cut, you might as well use a circular blade and be done with it. SLR saw would be hard to beat

[Julie Moriarty]

Yes Julie its similar to what I'm thinking but the slider needs to be capable of straight lining 10' material then rip with a feeder to the desired width.
John, this bandsaw has a sliding table that's 3200x367mm with a maximum processing length of 3000mm. But I know nothing about the brand.
http://file2.okorder.com/prod/2013/03/19/c5f0f3f0b4f8e41d2793ece51afafceb/7cbc3b049a1c70341ac02870b5ca557c.jpg

[Steve Demuth]

If you want to DIY a sliding table for your bandsaw you could take some ideas from this.

That's a setup for someone who gets the occasional piece of unmilled tree to take advantage of, but saying that it's milling a large log takes some chutzpah. That's pretty much the smallest stick I would even consider putting the adjective "large" on. Even so, he's pushing that saw to it's limit.

He's also giving me the willies with the casual way he pushes against the butt of the log into the blade, right up to the last couple inches. If I went to the trouble if building that outfit, I'd put a mechanism (a second small winch would do) to move the sled consistently through the cut from the "dumb" side of the blade.

[Jim Becker]

He's also giving me the willies with the casual way he pushes against the butt of the log into the blade, right up to the last couple inches. .
I felt the same way when I watched the video...hands get way too close to the cutter and with the force he's using, a slip could be catastrophic in an amputation kind of way...

I will say that the setup is clever relative to material handling respective of getting the heavy log section up onto the sled.

[Julie Moriarty]

Also, his table moves quite a bit as he pushes the log toward the blade. When I watched the operation I couldn't help think of building the whole thing out of Unistrut.

And I agree, Steve, that using some sort of winch as a feeder would have been a great improvement. But it's an interesting concept if one wanted to DIY a sliding table for the bandsaw.