14" bandsaw advice

[James Biddle]

I have a Jet JWBS-14SF. My first bandsaw. Every time I use it I wish I had stepped up to a MM. The JWBS-14SF guide system is darn near impossible to align properly. Cheap.

This was one of the saws on my list...It has the tool-free guide adjustments, what didn't you like about it?

[James Biddle]

If cost (and time) was no option, I'd probably look for an older cast iron Rockwell or Pentair 14" and throw some love into it if needed. Other than that any of the decent current 14" would probably work just fine.

I've never been one to love a good tool refurbish project. My goal is to get to the wood as quickly as possible and am OK in paying for the right tool to do it.

[James Biddle]

I have the Laguna 14bx, 220v and rather love it. Have done resawing with the resaw king, more fine cutting work, and think it's probably the best you can do in the 14 class. The ceramic guides, quick tensioner, and foot brake are examples of things I'd have a hard time doing without!

This machine keeps me coming back for a look...It has many of the features of the MM16 in a smaller footprint. It may win simply because nothing else is looking very good.

[Matthew Hills]

A good, condition vintage 14" delta or jet would be nice.

For new, seems like you have the 15" JET, 14" powermatic, rikon, the grizzly mentioned above, or the laguna saws. Are you also looking at the 14SUV?

Matt

[Geoff Crimmins]

[QUOTE=James Biddle; What's the best 14" bandsaw if you didn't care about the cost?[/QUOTE]

I think the best 14" bandsaws available new are the Laguna 14 SUV and the Hammer N3800.

--Geoff

[Matthew Hills]

I'm surprised we haven't seen the obvious suggestion: move the MM16 into the garage and then get a 20+" for the workshop.

Back to Sabo's question about intended use -- I believe the 14SUV has a pretty low (resaw-height) table. If you are doing general-purpose cutting, you may like to have the table up a bit higher. You can put the 14SUV up on blocks, but this just illustrates that there isn't a universally perfect design.

Matt

[johnny means]

James,

My due dilligence for a 14" BS a few years ago lead me to the Laguna 14/12. They have newer models of 14" saws but the 14/12 is as good as they get in 14" (IMO).

Doug

Guess I've been spendingtomuch timeon other less amicable forums. I thought "14 inch BS" was a derogatory description of that class of saw.

[Robert Cherry]

I was looking closely at the 15” PM a while back. Had the opportunity to use one at Marc Adams school last fall. It’s a nice saw. I wound up buying the S400P but the Powermatic had some nice features. Only slightly larger than the 14” PM and much heavier duty.

[James Biddle]

So, the models I most like are the, Laguna 14bx-220, Jet JWBS-15-3, and the Hammer N3800. I need to have it in hand in 4 weeks at the latest, so the Hammer may be out. Opinions?

[James Biddle]

To close the loop, I ordered the Jet JWBS-15-3 today. It'll probably take a couple of weeks to arrive so I'll have time to buy a couple of blades and maybe a mobile stand.

[Bill Sutherland]

I have the Rikon 10 326 and really like it

[James Biddle]

So, the bandsaw is in and it looks really good for a 15" bandsaw. It's not cleaned up or assembled yet. I need to add a mobile base for when it comes home and resides in the garage. The only issue is that it has a curved front to the base. I'm not sure if using a square mobile base under will be a tripping point, but mayby not. I have the Zambus casters on my Minimax bandsaw and frankly, they're a pain to use with loosening and tightening all 4 of them for every move. I bought a Rocker All-Terrain mobile base for my Williams & Hussey molder and its a beast, I really like it, but the wheels are under the table when using it so there is no trip point. I'm not sure if that will be an issue on the bandsaw. What do you all think?
IMG_2464.jpg

[Pete Staehling]

So, the bandsaw is in and it looks really good for a 15" bandsaw.

I look forward to hearing your impressions of this saw after you have it set up and use it a bit.

I am using an old Delta 14" and a cheap 9" Ryobi in my two car garage shop. I have gotten so used to both that they are like old friends, but there are obvious advantages to up grades in both cases. I have a good bit of time invested in tweaking various aspects of the saws and building specialized jigs and attachments for my luthier work, so I am hesitant to replace either. They both actually sever me pretty well, with the biggest shortcoming being the tensioning setup on the Delta. It really doesn't have the ability to set optimum tension on anything other than pretty narrow blades.

[Bill Dindner]

I had a 10” Rikon that cut okay, just slow. Pretty happy with my Laguna 14/10. Enough power for me, just a little slow, but plenty of power to get decent Resaw In 10 inches of Hardwood with the right resaw blade. I guess it would be nicer to have a larger and more powerful saw. But, price and size considered it was a decent compromise.

[James Biddle]

Got the bandsaw powered up today. It is running smooth and silent.

I took off the blade that came with it (POS according to others) and installed a 3TPI custom blade (I had two 6TPI and two 3TPI welded up for $60). The blade change was faster than my MM16 if you can believe that.

Setting up the tracking was easier than I thought it would be. The roller bearings are on cams and the process is; loosen a knurled nut that holds the position, rotate the bearing into the desired blade support position with another knurled nut, lock the first. Easy. Simple. My thought when buying the machine was to use it for a bit and replace the bearings with ceramic guides, but we'll see.

The fence seems stabile and solid. It has a micro adjust feature that I have not played with yet. I set it square to the table top during install. It's a pretty tall fence that turns sideways to a smaller edge when needed.

A couple of initial features/quirks I didn't care for...I will miss not having a brake pedal as it takes a while to wind down to a stop. I haven't gotten used to having both a tensioning wheel and a crank arm yet. My MM16 has a wheel only and in this case, it's only used for fine-tuning the tensioned blade. Not bad, but different.

I haven't cut anything yet. The saw will be used next weekend for a bandsaw tuneup class given by a well-regarded woodworker. I'll report back after that.