buy new or work with the one I have--Band saw??????

[Tim Vice]

I have a 14"(i think) craftsman band saw but would like to have something different. It seems that the saw does not track a line very well and that the upper hieght adjustment leaves alot the be desired. When I tighthen it it seems to move the blade some.

would it be worth some better guides?


Am I being to picky????? I would like to be able to re-saw on it but I am to nervous to try with all the blade walking.

I am not opposed to getting a new/diffrent one but If I(with advice) tune this on I would rather keep the money for something else.

Thanks,

[glenn bradley]

I have experience throwing good money after bad on a bandsaw that is not "bad", just not designed well for accurate work. "When I tighten it it seems to move the blade some." If by this you mean the guide post is not moving accurately in line as you raise and lower the guides, that can be hard to "tune" but not impossible, depending.

What model saw is this? We can probably help better if we get a look at it. Could you post some pics of the areas that are a problem? I'll try to find the article where a bandsaw guru setup a low end and a high end bandsaw; in the end both cut with equal quality. The initial and ongoing setup of the low end saw was of course, greater but, you gotta spend time or money.

Sorry, I'm coming up dry on the article. I will post if I can find it. In the mean time:

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2474

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=2795

P.s. I ended up with a Grizzly G0513X.

[Mike Cutler]

Tim

Resawing on a bandsaw can be tough. A lot has to do with exactly what is the user trying to achieve.

I have a 14" Jet bandsaw with a rised, Carter Guides, Cobra spring, etc. It does passibly well at cutting veneer slices off, but is absolutely horrible when trying to cut bookmatched material.

Had I just wanted to cut venner thickness material my Jet would have sufficed. But it was bookmatched solid material from thicker stock that I was really after, so I ended up with an 18" bandsaw, with a 1", 2-3 TPI blade, for that specific task, and I use my Jet for the smaller, finer work.

If by "walking" you mean that the blade is drifting off of the cut line, this is not to be unexpected. A single point resaw jig, or setting the fence to compensate for the drift is a normal practice.

The fact that you are experiencing the blade moving when the upper guide is set is a much bigger issue. If this is happening there is an alignment issue,a nd the upper and lower guide bearings are not in the same plane. You will have a lot of trouble resawing effectively if those guides are incapable of being adjusted properly.

If resawing is primarily what you are really after. Look for a bigger bandsaw, meaning more horsepower, larger frame, heavy cast wheels and better guides.

A well tuned bandsaw is a joy to use.

[Tim Vice]

Thanks for the input, Does anyone have any prefrences, I kinda like the Grizzley GA513 http://www.grizzley.com/products/17-Bandsaw-2-HP/G0513, but man thats alot of money.

Does any one know who makes the grizzley line??

Thanks

[jim gossage]

Tim,

I have not personally seen that Grizzly machine, but many of their mid to extreme scale machines are pretty good. I have their heavy duty spindle sander and am very happy with it. The model you are looking at is well equipped for a good starter machine, and could potentially last you a lifetime. You could get a slightly better machine but at the cost of $1500-2500 (eg. Laguna or Minimax). Most of their machines are made in Taiwan or China.

[Mike Cutler]

Tim

Grizzly has their machines made to spec overseas, China, or Taiwan I think.

It's a lot of money no doubt, but machinery is a big expense. Some machine due to either their complexity, or machining accuracy, are more expensive than others.( Like a new jointer)
Bandsaws have a lot of moving parts, and they all have to work together, or the user is in for a frustrating experience.
That particular bandsaw is close in spec's to my Rikon, another bandsaw made overseas in Asia somewhere. I would expect that Grizzly to be a very capable machine. On each initial use it will need to be checked to verify that the blade is tracking properly after re-tensioning, which is very easy. I would limit the blade width to 1" or less. The aluminum wheels will have less rotational mass than cast, but they should still do the job just fine.

There is also the used market for machines. Big bandsaws can be found, and sometimes quite cheaply. It's another avenue to consider, especially if you have good mechanical skills and aren't afraid to tear a machine down to the frame, clean, re-assemble and align it.

Don;t be afraid to sink the $$$$ into the best quality machine you can afford. It will pay dividends for years.

[Robert Strebler]

The G0513 is made in Taiwan in an ISO 9001 factory. It has a very good reputation based on reviews and should serve you well. Grizzly has a reputation for standing behind their products and have a lot of happy customers.

The G0513 has been upgraded to the G0513x and the G0513x2. Both have better fences, resaw attachments, ball bearing guides, and cast iron wheels. The x2 also has cast iron trunnions. For a little bit more money, you can get some serious upgrades in the x models. That being said, the plain G0513 has a great reputation.

I just went through this a while ago and did a lot of research looking for the most bandsaw that I could get that would run on 110v. I ended up going with the g0513x2 which should arrive on Monday. :)

[glenn bradley]

Thanks for the input, Does anyone have any prefrences, I kinda like the Grizzley GA513 http://www.grizzley.com/products/17-Bandsaw-2-HP/G0513, but man thats alot of money.

Does any one know who makes the grizzley line??

Thanks

I have a G0513X and really like it. Just to keep things in perspective; a General that size is around $1500 and a Jet or Rikon is around $1000. An Agazzani is over twice as much and a Laguna is over three times the price. That being said, it is a lot of money but, not if you only spend it once and use the saw for the next decade or so ;-)

[John Thompson]

Just another thought but if you are going to upgrade to a larger wheel for the re-saw... it would really be a good idea to spend a few dollars extra and get a foot brake. If you don't mind spending a little time waiting for the wheels to quit spinning after you hit the Off switch it won't matter. But larger wheels (with more weight) will spin for awhile on their own.

Good luck...

Sarge..

[mreza Salav]

If you are really set to get a new machine this is good excuse. But in many situations, the current BS can be tuned to work very well. I have tuned a couple and what a difference they make.
Find somebody who can help you on this if you are not sure on spending big money on a new machine.

[Peter Quadarella]

Robert, I think you will love it. I have the G0513X2 and it is a straightforward machine that is made well. It's my first bandsaw and after reading and learning everything about drift, I never had to bother using any of the knowledge. It cuts straight and accurately. I recently put a Lennox tri-master on it and I am doing my ripping on the bandsaw as well now.

[Peter Quadarella]

By the way, at the IWF I saw Grizzly has a new upgrade to the G0513X2, G0514X2 line. They are called G0513X2B, etc. The B is for brake. According to the guy at the show, the brake applies automatically when you shut the saw off, and it only takes a revolution or so to stop.

I also noticed that they have a new fence on these saws, which seems a little beefier, and a lock for the power. The price was around $1200 or so.

[Pete Bradley]

A higher-end saw would likely be better, but you can probably improve the way your machine performs for very little money. If you don't have a lot of band saw experience, I suggest tuning and working with the saw you have until you build more expertise. Then you'll be able to make a more informed decision about what next machine will be best for you.

There isn't enough information in your post to diagnose for sure, but here are some guidelines:

Are the tires in good shape and not grooved? Do you have a high quality band no wider than 1/2"? For resaw on that machine, a 3/8"X4PC band from Suffolk machinery would be a good choice.

Back the guides all the way off, tension the band, and adjust the tracking until the band rides near the center of the wheels

Make sure your guide blocks are flat and properly adjust them to the band (no more than the thickness of a sheet of paper on each side of the blade, just back of the teeth, back guide a hair off the back of the band.

It doesn't matter if the band moves when you tighten it, you're not going to tighten it while running anyway.

Pete

[Phil Thien]

I don't know which Craftman 14" you have, but...

I recently purchased a used 10" (the one based on the Rikon design) and found that the blade tensioner allowed the upper wheel to shift left/right by approx. 1/16".

My solution was to take it apart and apply some 1/32" UHMW tape to both sides of of the arbor bracket. It removed all the play from the assembly and now the wheel can't shift.