My Bandsaw died over the weekend.
Well this is my first time with a thread. My old craftsman bandsaw died over the weekend. So now I HAVE to buy another new tool :D. I have looked at some of the ads but wanted to get the groups advise as to size and what makes works best for ya'll. My much better half doesn't begrudge me my tool addict vice since she repeats the rewards and since I bought the 46-460 she has been playing on it to :D. So now the Question is how big to go? 14, 18, or 20? and what brand works for ya'll. I do use it to do some resawing but mostly it will be for making bowl blanks. Thanks for any advise and thought I might not reply I have been looking at most of the beautiful work that get posted and am impressed with the craftsmanship.
Stephan Larson
ditto on "buy all you can buy"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Joe Scarfo
The Army says... "be all you can be".. I believe in... Buy all that you can buy....
Years ago I picked up a 14" delta used and recently picked up a used Jet 18"... I love'em both....
"buy all that you can buy"...
Good Luck
Joe
I'm with Joe on this. I started out with a 10" 3 wheel bandsaw, then went to a 14", and now have an 18' Jet. I still have all 3 and use them, but if I had the space and the money, I would go for nothing less than a 20" and maybe more. It allows you to process wood for turning, make veneers and cut logs into slabs or boards.
Back when, I never even considered the thought of needing to do something that a 14" model could not handle. If a person is pretty certain that all they are going to do is just a little "hobby turning, [pens, small bowls, etc] then the 14" model will probably be all you need with a riser block, but when you really get serious about woodworking, and want to do a lot of things considered "advanced level" then you will wish you had all the bandsaw you have space and budget to absorb.
Is replacing the motor an option?
My 14" bandsaw died 2 years ago, and I replaced the tiwanese motor with a Baldor. For the same Hp. rating, the baldor motor has probably twice the torque, and where I could bog the other one down, I have never bogged the baldor down, and now I am cutting bowl blanks from logs and doing some resawing with it, where I used to not be able to do resawing.
Even on my Tiwanese saw, the baldor frame fit perfectly.., just thought this might be an option for you.