Anyone familiar with Wilton "Challenger" Band Saw?

[Warren Gandy]

It is a model 3920. Three wheel. 20" capacity. It was apparently made it Taiwan. I got a manual from Wilton but they couldn't tell me much more else about it.


A) I'm curious if these were sold under another brand name at some point and I could perhaps find more info about them by searching through that brand.
B) The manual says it uses a 90" blade but someone wrote 89.5" on the machine itself. It does have a big stack of washers on the tension knob and the blade on it is 90".

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[Warren Gandy]

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[Richard Coers]

That thing will be a blade breaker for sure. Bending blades over those small wheels will stress crack the blades in short order and then they will break through the gullets. Every 3 wheeler I've ever used has been a real blade alignment nightmare.

[Curt Harms]

Small wheels for the blade to bend around can cause cracks as Richard says. If you have a choice, going with a thinner blade may help.

[Jim Becker]

The only big advantage the three wheel machines have is throat depth, but as has been mentioned, thinner narrow blades are going to be best with the smaller diameter wheels. So scrolling on wider material could be great; resawing stock isn't really a strength for sure.

[Warren Gandy]

I read quite a bit about 3 wheelers online before buying this thing so I'm aware of the need for thin blades. I could see the gears turning in the previous owners head when I mentioned that three wheel band saws need the thinner 0.014" blades. He gave me two blades: A new Timberwolf 3/8" that is 0.025" thick and an unknown 3/8" that is 0.014". Both 6 tpi. I think he had been breaking 0.025" blades on it. But he raved about how he had used it for years and did some great work with it but had just upgraded to, I think, a Harvey.

There is definitely a lot of negative opinion of three wheel band saws in general. But something about the saw caught my fancy. This particular model seems like a substantial machine. Almost 300lbs I think. And I have a suspicion that most of the negativity over 3 wheel machines has to do with using the wrong blades and perhaps that most of the three wheel machines themselves are just cheaper and lower quality in general than 14" Delta clones or other popular saws. [I have a little plastic Craftsman band saw that needs new plastic guides and that's definitely in a different world from this Wilton] Am I wrong?

The plan is to use my Delta 14" with riser block for "tall wood" and this Challenger saw for a lot of general stuff like scrolling and even rips in panel material. I've found a couple sources of the thinner blades but a lot of the regular suspects (Timberwolf, Carter etc) don't have them. I've done some cutting with the Timberwolf blade that is on it and no breaks yet. The saw does have a little bit of a shudder every once in a while so I need to figure out where that's coming from but otherwise it has been cutting pretty well for me. I also need to do some work with the table (not completely flat) and figure out a dust collection scheme. But I'm loving the bandsaw life that I've just entered. After a lifetime of RAS, miter, handheld circle saw and jig saw type of work, the band saw is just so easy for a lot of cuts.

It seems that no one is familiar with this model?

[Rick Potter]

Not familiar with that model, but for years I had a 16", 3 wheel Delta. It was a perfect saw for curvy stuff, and it was very nice to have the larger swing area for scrolling things like rocking horse parts, etc. It handled 3/4" scrolling just fine.

I had a 14" Delta for thicker stock, and the two made a great pair. I also have a scroll saw, but rarely use it. I agree your plan is good.

[Warren Gandy]

Thanks Rick, I always enjoy when someone agrees with me ;)

I'm curious how big the wheels are on the 16" Delta. This unit has 7.75" diameter wheels.

And, what do you have for band saws now?

[Bill Dufour]

Doall makes a three wheel bandsaw. Of course they use 20" wheels to get a 36" throat depth instead of two six foot wheels. Weighing 1,500 pounds it is not a toy. I do not know if they make a high speed version for wood cutting. It can have an optional blade welder for inside cuts.
Bill D

[Bill Dufour]

Doall does make a high speed version of their 36" bandsaw. 5,500 FPM in high gear. The regular metal cutting speed versions sell for not nearly as much as a you think. They are just too big and to heavy for most. A real metal shop would buy an automatic bandsaw instead.
I see them not selling on ebay for $1,200- 2,000.
There is probably lots of room in the base to add a high speed pulley set up. Folks used to use car manual transmissions to drive metal working lathes.
Bill D
https://www.doallsaws.com/3612-vh-vertical-contour-band-saw

[Rick Potter]

Hi Warren. To answer your question, I googled Delta 28-560 which is the model number of the 16" one I had. There I found that it had 8" wheels. The drive wheel was driven by a smaller wheel on the motor, using a dual purpose band, serving as both drive and the blade cushion.

Following up on info I found there, I found that many people don't like that saw, while others did. I am in the 'did' column, as it did everything I used it for. I found it to be great for hobbyist work, but I understand why people using it for 'heavy' work, like resawing didn't like it.

I bought it new, and had zero problems with it in the 15 years or so I owned it, until I broke the rubber band on the drive wheel. Bought a new one, and they sent me one that had way too much stretch orange one), and it kept coming off the drive wheel. The proper band fixed that (blue one).

I sold it a few years ago since I had too many band saws. To answer your other question....right now I have two Delta 14", one with a riser block and a 1/2" resawing blade on it, the other being a hard to find "X" model that is the last US made model, having a larger table, bigger motor, and tension release. I looked a long time to find a like new one. I also have a 24" Agazzani that I wasn't looking for, but couldn't resist at the price. I don't do much resawing, but when I do....wow.

Like it says below I am a hobbyist, and DIY guy, working on whatever interests me, or family needs. Really getting tired of making cabinets etc. Gonna start in on little gift boxes for a while.