Was over drooling at the campbells shop tonight and saw how beautiful and easy it is to cut brackets with a band saw..:smokin:


Now im sold.. I come home and hop on c-list and see some for fairly cheap. What are you running? Does it stall out easy? Cost vs features?


I see a like new delta 1/2 hp unit for 125.00

http://images.craigslist.org/3oa3p83l75Ta5P35Rca3a0fcd18b554dd11a4.jpg

Any idea or people who use something similar before I waste the money on it? I will not be using it daily but also want something that will not crap out immediately on me.


-Shawn

You need a metal cutting band saw. Wood cutting saws are too fast for steel.

You could spend as much time as you have searching old threads for great info on bandsaws. I suggest you do so, if your not willing to do some searching then buy that delta you have in the picture

What Static says.

But you can change the pulleys out to slow a wood cutting saw down to metal cutting speeds.

You could spend as much time as you have searching old threads for great info on bandsaws. I suggest you do so, if your not willing to do some searching then buy that delta you have in the picture


You could have spent the time you made typing your reply to click out of it and go to the next.


I looked over all three pages in the tool section in the titles as a quick reference before posting. Thanks though...

What Static says.

But you can change the pulleys out to slow a wood cutting saw down to metal cutting speeds.

Thank you with that info ill do some searching on pulley swaps and start there, would not have thought about the speed variation right off the bat.


Im just happy to stop trying to use 30 cut of wheels and a grinder for every project..

I looked over all three pages in the tool section in the titles as a quick reference before posting. Thanks though...

Three pages in the tool section? I'm showing 328 pages dating back to 3/19/2004...

A good METAL cutting vertical bandsaw ain't cheap. El-cheapo wood cutting ones (that are all over CL) are pretty lightly constructed vs one designed for metal.

If your willing to go NEW, Enco, HF, Grizzly all have ones designed for wood OR metal for under 1K. IIRC looking through my Enco catalog in the reading room they have a pretty nice looking Wilton for just under 1K that I was eyeballing pretty hard.

For now, I spend $40 with SWAG offroad and bought one of his plates for a porta-band. Not as good as a nice upright, but should be good for now till I can have more fab space. And ya, sure beats cut-off wheels and their mess.

After learning about the speed differences, a proper metal one is what I think i will concentrate on. Ill be damned though they cost way more than I intended on but Im sold on getting one.


I did find some sub 300.00 range band saws but they are all horizontal, and a couple that are both horizontal and vertical but I would need to see it to see if it will be fab friendly for plate work?

1k is a bit steep for tools right now when its needed I have parts I need to buy but 3-500 I could see dropping.


Off to look, thanks you for the brands too.

Three pages in the tool section? I'm showing 328 pages dating back to 3/19/2004...

:homer:


I have never played with the forum settings much, just realized it is set for the last 10 days.. I am also new to the tool section so when I did not see it I foolishly assumed there was just not much posted here. Now I'll be reading forever:flipoff2:

I recently took a horizontal bandsaw and welded it to one of my welding tables.

I now have a vertical metal-cutting bandsaw!

Search, I think I even posted pics of it on this very forum! :flipoff2:

The 4x6 HF can be used either way, and is passable, at least from my experience, in the vertical. It can be had on sale and with a coupon for around $180. Just know that you get what you pay for.

I've got a one of the ~$1K Wilton 8201K vertical saws. We have a scratch and dent place here in Nashville that sells them for around $800. I bought this one to upgrade from using my HF 4x6 in the vertical mode.

It's a pretty nice saw, but definitely not as rigid as a big Do-All, Powermatic or Grob. I would love to have bought a Do-All, but used vertical saws seem to be rare in the southeast. This one has done everything I've needed. Sometimes when making a heavy cut, the frame bows a little and the blade can slip on the wheels. I use it mostly for roughing out brackets in up to 3/8" alum and steel and cutting thinwall tubing for headers. It has a 2 speed gearbox so It can cut at metal speeds (40-300sfm) and wood speeds (3000 sfm).

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n177/edwardsmt/CIMG0269.jpg

The 4x6 HF can be used either way, and is passable, at least from my experience, in the vertical. It can be had on sale and with a coupon for around $180. Just know that you get what you pay for.

i have had great luck with mine in the horizontal position. vertically it isn't horrible and gets the job done.

here is my review in the horizontal. i just sold it as i found a jet 7x12 for $200 :)

YouTube - Harbor Freight 4x6 Bandsaw (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NoyX8Hr6pw)

This is my bandsaw. Its a Crescent/Delta made in the late 1940's. It weighs somewhere between 600 and 700lbs and is rock solid. Cuts metal beautifully and looks like its brand new after I finished restoring it. Everyone who sees it looks at me crosseyed when I say its almost 70 years old. :cool2:

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c247/penguin1494/bandsaw/IMG_0770.jpg

here is a thread about it. Look for old machinery; they are cheap (on craigs list) and IMO built 10x better than anything new today costing 3x as much...

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=836730

ben