ideas for old bandsaw

[Dave Sharpe]

Well, I went out and bought a new Grizzly bandsaw (G0555x) te replace my old 12" Delta bandsaw that's been sitting in my shop for years. The old Delta still works OK, but just can't get the accurate cuts or the capacity that I wanted, so it's been replaced. I'm fortunate enough to have a fairly good-sized shop, so I could just have the old saw hanging around for those odd plastic or 'gasp' metal cutting jobs that occasionally crop up. But then I got to thinking about other uses for the saw - it's got a 1/2 hp motor that still runs fine, so I'm thinking about other ideas - perhaps building my own cyclone dust collector, or perhaps a drum sander..... Any of you have any great ideas...?

Dave Sharpe

[josh bjork]

I get the idea a lot of people leave a 1/8" blade in the old small saw.

[Dave Sharpe]

That idea would certainly save some time in changing blades - and I do still have some fairly new blades that only fit that saw - but I'm looking for ideas to recycle the saw into something else useful rather than having a duplicate tool. (my shop is pretty big, but not THAT big.)

[keith ouellette]

other than the motor, what parts would go to your cyclone dust collector or other new machine? I would like to hear your ides because I have an old Griz that needs a new tentioner and I wouldn't mind turning it into something else. The only idea that came to mind was a overly long and too narrow belt sander.

[Dave Sharpe]

Keith,
I'm not really sure what parts I'd use - at this point just musing about having an extra 1/2 HP motor laying around along with a stand and other spare parts. I saw that Amazon sells a set of plans for building your own cyclone dust collector and I'm toying with that. I'm also thinking on building the thickness sander from ShopNotes that is being discussed on another thread...
I do kinda like the idea of a long thin beltsander though.....

[keith ouellette]

Maybe you could use the motor to make an air filtraition system or maybe a down draft table. The table would make one heavy duty router plate if it is flat. Useing the motor and one of the wheels along with a small pully you could make one heck of a fan.

[Josiah Bartlett]

1/2 horsepower just isn't going to move enough air to be worth it.

Were it mine, I would just find someone worthy to donate it to.

[Dave MacArthur]

Dave,
My understanding from reading Bill Pentz website and the various cyclone reviews in magazines, is that you really need 2HP or more for a cyclone.
http://billpentz.com//woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

Only thing that came to mind for me was also a thin belt sander. Or a home-built drum/disc sander? When I was a boy, my father had a drum/disc sander driven by a pully/belt, which he built himself, and I'd bet it was about a 1/2 hp on that?

[Mike Seals]

1/2 HP motor is fairly common and inexpensive, if it were me, I would slap a metal cutting blade on it and stick it in the corner. Or keep you eyes out for a trade, maybe a trade for a larger motor. Plenty of folks out there would want that band saw, put an add on a local board and see if you can get some nibbles.

[Loren Hedahl]

I have had an old 12 Craftsman for about 40 years. It worked, but that was about all. About 8 years ago I decided to buy a nice new Delta 14 that was a leftover from Eagle Hardware and one of the last American made ones. It was great and the Craftsman went out in a shed in the back 40.

One winter day I felt sorry for the old Craftsman all covered with dust, rust, cob webs. I ended up spending a full day cleaning and setting it up correctly. I also found the guide post wasn't exactly vertical and filed the frame to correct. I dressed up all the rough castings and gave it a new coat of black paint.

It is actually my bandsaw of choice now for most work. The larger saw is only used when I need the larger size.

[Jim Kountz]

1/2 horsepower just isn't going to move enough air to be worth it.



For a dust collector yes, its too small but for a downdraft table or an air filter its the perfect size. Most of the out there commercially available dont even have 1/2hp on them.

[Eddie Darby]

Have you considered using the bandsaw for sanding operations?

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&cat=1,41036&p=20161