Old Minimax S45 Bandsaw Advice Requested

[David Atterbury]

I have a line on an old red Minimax S45 for $350 and wondered if anyone could give me any pointers to watch out for when I pick it up. It has the Seimec 1.1kw motor and appears in fairly good condition. I will be able to see it running.

I have done some reading on these and it seems that for hobbyist work without too much resawing, it should be a good fit for me.

Any thoughts before I commit to this? Thanks very much.

[Steve Peterson]

I have an older green S45 and like it a lot. Mine has a 2hp motor. It did OK cutting oak logs about 8" tall if I went slow. 1.1kw might be in the 1.5hp range. Should still be OK.

$350 seems like a fair price for any 18" bandsaw. Check it out to see if the bearings and other components are in good shape.

[Randall J Cox]

I also have an older green S45, paid $500 for it, turn key (in great shape), never had an issue with it in a couple of years now. Its rated at 1.8HP in the conversion charts. Really like it, would do it all over again. Sounds like a good price if its in good shape. I found some good new old Lenox Diemaster II blades for it on ebay, got them for a song. Alls good. Randy

[Van Huskey]

I have never seen a red S45, only yellow, green and cream. If you get it please post pictures including the motor plate, I would be very interested in seeing it. The only red ones I have seen is the little 12" that AFAIK never came to NA.

If it runs and is fully intact it seems like a very fair price. The electrical side of those old S45s is the biggest potential issue, the 50hz small metric frame motors tend to run hot and the switchgear wasn't the best. If it is missing a fence I would use that as leverage. If you want it I would start at $250 and try to get it for $300. Considering that is a decent price for a 14" 1hp Delta if the S45 runs it is hard to say it isn't a good deal.

Don't forget those pics, even if you don't get it at least come back and link to the listing.

[Chris Parks]

I have a white SN45 and the only issue I have with it is that the tension wheel is at the top and not being tall I find it hard to turn. The only other issue I have and it won't affect you is the horrible fence clamp. It will not tension a 1" blade, I don't care what MM say in the specs, the tension spring is the culprit and there is a thread in the archives somewhere addressing this.

[David Atterbury]

Here are some pictures from the ad...

[Peter Kelly]

The Seimens switches that came with the later two-tone green saws were duds more often than not. I believe the switch is (somewhat awkwardly) located on the motor itself with this particular model so it ought to be ok.

Seller is asking $400 for this aren't they? $350 is decent, great saw.