Bandsaw 16" or 18" which brand

[jason lambert]

I started out looking at a 14" Jet then I was told the Steel City one was better looked at it and liked more, I went to purchase it and when I looked at it relied that once the guard is down you can't see what you are cutting, this sucks! I could modify the guard or leave it up but why start off with a tool that needs work out of the box. Several people recommended I get the 18" but there where none on display so I don't know if it has the same issue they said it didn't but from the pic on steel city's web site it looks like it does. Also I looked on line at some reviews and some people didn't like it they said the top berring moves.

Anyhow I am confused and back to square one. I am a home hokiest this is going in my garage so mobility and footprint (size) matter. I need it for wood and metal, wood mostly. What is the best one out there for what I need? I have never had a bandsaw so I have no knowledge base on this.

[Jim Becker]

Jason, pretty much all the Euro style saws have some kind of guard in "that area", my MM16 included. I just bend over a little more to see better. LOL I do encourage you to go larger if you can. The band saw is a wonderful tool and when you have a small shop, it can even offer more utility. (Check out the new Feb 2008 issue of Fine Woodworking for a nice article on using a band saw for preparing rough lumber efficiently) Bigger isn't just about size, it's about power...the more power, the more work you can do with the machine. And even the big machines have a relatively small footprint compared to some other tools. Maybe something like the Grizzly G0513X or similar should be on your short list.

[Curt Harms]

There's a huge difference between wood and metal bandsaws. A woodworking bandsaw will cut nonferrous metal i.e. brass & aluminum on a limited infrequent basis. Iron or Steel? fergitaboutit. The blade on a woodworking bandsaw runs 1500-3000 feet per minute. A bandsaw for iron and steel runs 80 to 200 feet per minute and is built much heavier.

HTH

Curt

[Mark Rios]

I vote MM16.

[John Thompson]

Morning Jason...

The blade guide is not a problem as Jim B. mentioned. About all the Euro's have the same attribute as it has to be there for liability issues to get it exported from there and imported here. A MM 16 (which I had a deposit on) has what the guys at MM refer to affectiionately as an "Amardilla Tail" that cover much more of the cut area than the SC 18".

If you call there tech line, they have a simple answer as to the fix which is the same answer for the Steel City. Take off the guard which serves no purpose below the guides and cut it off with a hack-saw, Round the rough edge and put it back on. Bingo.. life is simple.

If.. if.. you get the Steel City 18"... IMO you have purchased the best BS that comes from the Pacific Rim. The double springs.. etc. as I could go on but won't are a result of Tool Guys that put some thought into designing a extremely well built BS at a very reasonable price.

When I went over the SC.. I dropped the deposit on the MM 16 as I realized I had all that I needed at basically half the price I would have paid. The MM is a great saw if you need 16" re-saw but not a great on curves without changing the guides to more suitable ones. The SC will do both with 12" re-saw and to me that was "my ticket to ride" with the well done design.

Have a look at the guide modification... life is simple if you don't complicate it....

Good luck...

Sarge..

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=642860&postcount=1

[Jim Becker]

I missed the metal cutting part...if you mean aluminum and other soft metals, you can use the same saw if it's just occasional. Metal chips can really gunk up the tires and you cannot use your woodworking dust collector while cutting that material. But ferrous metals really need a machine designed for them. Not only do you need very slow speed, but you also need to use a lubricant...and you don't want that anywhere near your woodworking projects.

[Raymond McInnis]

Jim's mention of the FW (feb 2008) article on michael fortune dimensioning wood on the bandsaw, jointer and so on, prompts my response

i have a laguna 18 incher that i have adapted, by creating a larger table -- 48" X 48" -- and adding an extruded aluminum fence.

you can look at the setup here:

http://www.woodworkinghistory.com/bandsaw_table_fence.htm

with this set-up, i get good results from resawing recycled wood for veneer -- also have 4' X 8' vacuum press -- and ripping

it is not useful for cutting circles and other curves, and tilting the table is too much trouble, but the set-up has made my laguna the central stationary machine in my shop

on my page notice that my on my table/fence fixture, the blade is sets to the left of the fence, like a table saw.

I note this feature about my fence placement, because, Jim, go back to the feb 2008 FW issue and notice how uncomfortable michael fortune seems to be as he is shown pushing that workpiece through the rotating blade with his left hand. Fortune's fence is between the blade and the post

however whether the photo shows us realistically how fortune operates his bandsaw is another question. it is entirely possible that he is simply posing for the photographer

i am a righty, and early on found that stationing the fence between the blade and the post was dangerous -- when i cut my finger, i started thinking about other configurations and ended up with this one.

sincerely
raymond mcinnis

[Doug Shepard]

Whatever you end up with, the first must-have accesory IMHO is getting a gooseneck magnetic base light to aim at the cut. Even with saws where the guard doesn't obsure the cut, it's darn dark underneath the guidepost/guides/etc.

[John Thompson]

Whatever you end up with, the first must-have accesory IMHO is getting a gooseneck magnetic base light to aim at the cut. Even with saws where the guard doesn't obsure the cut, it's darn dark underneath the guidepost/guides/etc.

Agree totally Doug... but Steel City thought of it for me as it comes with the saw...

Sarge..

[Brent Grooms]

I'm with John on this... The Steel City unless your pockets will allow an Italian saw. I already have made the "design improvement" to the blade guard and didnt think twice about it.

[Tim Marks]

What kind of cuts do you want to make in metal? If you want to cut tubing, then there are some really inexpensive 4x6 horizontal bandsaws that will do 10x better job then a vertical bandsaw. You can spend from $200-500 for one, and save the wear and tear on your expensive vertical BS. I have the grizzly G9742 s4x6 swivel head BS, and it does a good job.

WRT lubrication; many people (including myself) cut metal without blade lubrication with no problems. Most smaller saws are not designed to use lubrication, and it is definitely much more convenient not to deal with it. Flood coolant only really is mandatory for cuttin really thick metal on a production type basis or when the saw might be unattended during the cut.

You can buy some combo wood and metal BS; Grizzlty sells both a 14 and 17" model with an inverter powered motor to allow the slow blade speeds you need to cut metal. Both look like great saws. While I might like one to cut metal, I don't think I would also use it to cut wood. All the metal I work with comes coated in grease, oil, or rust to protect it (ok, the latter isn't really on purpose), and all of that will get embedded in the wheels and table, and will then get transferred to your nice woods (not to mention the metal chips). Keep the wood shop separate from the metal shop as much as you can.

Back to wood bandsaws. Get a 17" or 19". I love the BS, it is my favorite tool, and the larger BS have all sorts of cool toys on them (like foot brakes and quick tensioning levers) that the smaller ones don't. My current favorite is probably the Grizzly G0514X2 for $1300, because I love the hand-wheeled rack and pinion table tilt feature. TS have done this for 50 years or more; why has it taken so long for a bandsaw to feature this kind of convenience?

[Robert foster]

Jason: I have the 16" SC bandsaw and I am well satisfied with it. I first tried the Jet 16" and though it is a fine saw there were several advantages with the SC. The SC had a tension release lever, the Jet didn't, Roller bearing guides, Jet had euro guides, SC magnetic light, 2 speeds, window to check for blade centering on the upper wheel. Two advantages of the Jet was the one inch larger table and larger fence. I haven't had any problem withe the blade guard but after reading the above posts maybe some renovation is in order. Have a good Christmas.
Bob

[Dirk Lewis]

Hey John,

SC has made a new blade guard with a little window in it (emphasis on little). Although a step in the right direction, it is still too small to be useful.

They are shipping these out to those that bought the earlier saws with the non-windowed blade guard.

Call up your local SC reseller (or SC themselves) and ask for one.

Dirk


blade

Morning Jason...

The blade guide is not a problem as Jim B. mentioned. About all the Euro's have the same attribute as it has to be there for liability issues to get it exported from there and imported here. A MM 16 (which I had a deposit on) has what the guys at MM refer to affectiionately as an "Amardilla Tail" that cover much more of the cut area than the SC 18".

If you call there tech line, they have a simple answer as to the fix which is the same answer for the Steel City. Take off the guard which serves no purpose below the guides and cut it off with a hack-saw, Round the rough edge and put it back on. Bingo.. life is simple.

If.. if.. you get the Steel City 18"... IMO you have purchased the best BS that comes from the Pacific Rim. The double springs.. etc. as I could go on but won't are a result of Tool Guys that put some thought into designing a extremely well built BS at a very reasonable price.

When I went over the SC.. I dropped the deposit on the MM 16 as I realized I had all that I needed at basically half the price I would have paid. The MM is a great saw if you need 16" re-saw but not a great on curves without changing the guides to more suitable ones. The SC will do both with 12" re-saw and to me that was "my ticket to ride" with the well done design.

Have a look at the guide modification... life is simple if you don't complicate it....

Good luck...

Sarge..

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=642860&postcount=1

[jason lambert]

hummm, the mm16 looks nice but doesn't look like it is 1/2 the price of the steel city 18". My dealer does not marry the mm. I am in North NJ, where do I get them? I will look into it if not and the guard is not an issue I am laeaning towards the 18" steel city. I still have to see one in person though.

[John Thompson]

I highly suggest you look at any tool before you purchase it Jason, as the tool speaks for itself. Open the upper case and have a glance at the upper double upper springs on the SC. That's a good place to start. Check the size of the bearings and housings for the motor and pulleys. And be sure to compare how those very heavy double springs are attached to the upper main case as opposed the competitors sitting beside it.

Again.. machines have a voice of their own, you just have to take the time to observe and listen. ;)

Sarge..

[John Thompson]

Thanks for the update on the retro-fit guard Dirk... I have cut mine off just above the bearings and have no vision problem at all with that done. The guard below the bearing on most BS's is not necessary to begin with and just there as I mentioned for liability purposes.

But... the retro-fit will be an aid to those that don't want to cut a $1000 machine themselves. The first thing I would do on any BS would be to cut and extra port in the bottom rear for dust. I didn't have to put one there on the SC as it has probably the best dust collection from the 4" stock port as any BS on the market.

BTW.. the first SC BS's had very small thumb screws to lock and release for bearing adjustments. I called Scott Box and told him so. He listened and they now have large and SC will send you a set of the larger ones as a retro-fit if you have the older machine.

I just went to the hardware store and replaced mine before I made the call. $2 was a small price for me to pay for what is an extremely well designed BS off the crate. All machines have a few quirks, but the guys at SC do listen to them after the fact and don't hesitate to fix them if it is a legitimate quirk that can be corrected! Hence... the retro-fit on the safety guard.

Regards...

Sarge..

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jason...if you'll do a search here using the word bandsaw as the search word you can read all the arguments you want for the different size and makes of bandsaws. This is one of the most often asked questions. There really are only a couple of things that need consideration.

If you are going to do a lot of resawing......18" with lots of horsepower so you can run 1" or larger blades as the larger wheels stress the steel of the thicker blade less with the larger radius bend. The more h/p is just that...and makes for easier resawing.


You can resaw with smaller wheels and less h/p but you have to take into consideration it probably isn't going to "cut like butter".

If you don't plan on doing a lot of resawing, a smaller b/s will provide good service and probably handle smaller blades more easily as well.

Of course, budgetary constraints are the third and often the most important consideration.

Good luck with your decision.

[Robert foster]

Dirk: I just got off the phone with Dave at Steel City and he told me that they have no plans for retrofitting the Bandsaws with the newer blade guards. I told him that I considered it a possible safety issue and he still insisted that there were no plans to do it now or when they are available in Feb 08 but it is possible that it might change. Hope so.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

hummm, the mm16 looks nice but doesn't look like it is 1/2 the price of the steel city 18". My dealer does not marry the mm. I am in North NJ, where do I get them? I will look into it if not and the guard is not an issue I am laeaning towards the 18" steel city. I still have to see one in person though.

MiniMax (http://www.minimax-usa.com) only sells direct. And definitely not half the price of the SC... ;) ...year end special pricing for the MM16 is $2295 including mobility kit and miter gage.

[Jim Andrew]

When you get next to a MM 16 you won't believe how heavy they are built. Probably better than most of us need. But if you get one, you won't be worried about how to unload it so you can get a better bandsaw. Jim

[Ken Fitzgerald]

When you get next to a MM 16 you won't believe how heavy they are built. Probably better than most of us need. But if you get one, you won't be worried about how to unload it so you can get a better bandsaw. Jim


Jim...the problem I had with my MM-16....was how to unload it......from the double pallets to which it was bolted!:D

[Dave MacArthur]

Check my signature for bandsaw thread.