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Dream band saw

I have a MiniMax 16 also, traded down from an old Crescent 36 for space reasons. The (Centauro) MM16 is a nice compact saw with a 16" resaw height, a 4.5 hp motor and a few niggling drawbacks. The stock door hinges require that the doors open well beyond 90* to change the blade so you can't back it up tight to a wall (I rejiggered the hinges) and the blades have to be threaded through a narrow slit between the doors. The table is rather small and the starter switch is notorious for failure (I replaced it with a generic magnetic starter). The stock Euro guides are adequate but nothing to write home about. Overall a good saw and it meets my needs, but if I could afford the room I would rather have my old cast iron behemoth with its Wright guides and huge table.

European saws generally have a small footprint and good resaw capacity. Vintage Delta and Powermatic 20"welded steel saws are similar but often have relatively light motors. I think 20" is the sweet spot for turners, and 12" a reasonable resaw capacity.
 
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For a smaller saw, I don't think I could be happier than with my Walker Turner 16" saw. Dream would be an older 30-36" saw, such as a crescent or yates american. Those are so appealing with their mass and class.
 
I'm pretty happy with the Jet 14 SFX. 120V, large table, two miter slots, good resaw capacity. Newer versions have improved lower guides. If I had a magic wand I'd add a brake.
 
I currently have an old (from the early 80’s) Craftsman 12” that was my Dad’s. As much as it is nostalgic, it doesn’t work very well. I will be replacing it with a Harvey Ambassador C14. With a 3HP, 230v motor, 14” resaw capacity and footbrake, that is all I need. I keep an eye on their website because they go on sale often.
 
Joel Daniels said:
I currently have an old (from the early 80’s) Craftsman 12” that was my Dad’s. As much as it is nostalgic, it doesn’t work very well. I will be replacing it with a Harvey Ambassador C14. With a 3HP, 230v motor, 14” resaw capacity and footbrake, that is all I need. I keep an eye on their website because they go on sale often.
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It’s on sale now…….
 
I don't think I have one single tool that I wouldn't change a bit.... I do have 2 bandsaws, a 14 inch Powermatic, and a Laguna 16HD. The PM only cuts 6 inches high, and I would change that to maybe 8 inches since I seldom cut bowl blanks any bigger/taller than that. It has a cast iron frame and 3/4 hp motor on 120 volt so it does everything I need for the 6 inch capacity. My big saw is a Laguna 16HD with a 4.5 hp. Baldor motor. It is a beast and will walk though just about anything. It does have a foot brake, which I think should be standard on all bandsaws. I don't think they make it any more. It did require a 30 amp 220 circuit though. 1 1/4 inch blade on it for cutting slabs.

robo hippy
 
I have a Laguna 18”. Foot brake alone was a significant upgrade from previous commodity Delta BS, foot brakes should be standard. 18” height is probably more than I need, 16” would suffice, but the wider throat is wonderful. A 1 1/4” blade sits on this most of the time. I wish I had enough space in my shop to also have another BS with a ~3/8” blade set up all of the time.
 
I have my original Delta 14" with a riser block. Bought it about 35 years ago. Love it. Put ceramic guides on it and made it better than "cool blocks".
Then I bought a Laguna 18" with a 4.5 Baldor motor many years ago. Love it too. Use this saw the most.
Would not upgrade either of them. Maybe put a 1 1/2hp motor on the Delta. Need to do that I think.
 
I have the Grizzly 14" G0555LANV aniverysary addition with the 1HP motor, later I added the riser kit to be able to cut up to 10" height.
It was affordable at the time and checked all the boxes.
Now later in life with more demanding needs , ex.. like cutting bowl blanks and milling my own cut wood, I do desire a larger saw with more cutting capacity and a larger motor.
But I am not chomping at the bit to get one. My Grizzly seems to cut just fine at the moment.
 

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I have three that I like using. One is a Crescent 20” circa 19teens. It has only 7” of resaw height, but I keep a 1/4” blade on it for scroll work. My 20” Delta is my workhorse and a delight to use for cutting bowl and spindle blanks. The 36” Jones Superior is the big boy.
 
Not my dream bandsaw, but my Rikon 10-326 14" is pretty good. I do wish I had 2-3" more throat on it, though. If money were no object I think I'd look hard at Harvey.
 
I've got a 30-ish year old Delta 14" with riser block. Served well for a long time, even better after I added an extension to make the table big enough to safely support a chunk of log. About 10 years ago, I also acquired a 20" Delta/Rockwell (1960's era IIRC).
Nice to have 2 saws - the 14" has a fine tooth blade, and the 20" a coarse blade for wet wood. Rarely have to change blades...
 
Grizzly G0513X2BF ... 2HP, 220V, 12" cut height, 16 1/4" left of blade, cast table, resaw fence, quick tension release, table tilt, 1/8" - 1" blades ..... scroll work to resawing ... love the brake ... sometimes wish it had 2 miter slots.
 
I have long wondered about the quick tension release things. I have never had one, and I never notice any "bumps" in my wheel as I cut. I never release the tension. Had the saw for 15 or so years.

robo hippy
 
I have a Rikon 347 and could not be more pleased. 19” of resaw and 4 hp will power through anything. Use mostly for turning logs into bowls and the 19” is more frequently needed than I would have thought. I modified the Festool router table slider to fit the saw so I can safely and easily cut logs and make rounds using a slider. ( Do not know why someone does not make a good less expensive BS table slider. ) Cannot turn saw on unless blade is tensioned and the brake turns saw off too. Bearing adjustment could be improved and dust pickup also. And the cost of the saw is reasonable.
 
I'd like to upgrade my Grizz 14" to a Harvey Alpha, but I don't need massive resaw capacity any longer (I gave my grandson my 17" resaw BS a couple years ago when I was downsizing, which was a mistake :-)
 
I just upgraded from a 10 year old Ryobi benchtop band saw to a used 14 inch delta bandsaw. I feel like I just went from a geo metro to a pickup truck. I'm amazed by what a difference a proper tensioner and adequate horsepower has made. There are newer saws, and there are better features, but I'm fine with this one for the foreseeable future.
 
I only do one show a year now days, and for ease of working, the Laguna 16HD was worth every penny. I stopped using my chainsaw chopsaw because I could stand log sections on end and cut parallel sided slabs that way. Only problem with standing them on end is that you get long strings of shavings, and they do plug up the dust ports. The dust collection set ups for bandsaws are made for cabinet shops, not green wood cutting....

robo hippy
 
robo hippy said:
Only problem with standing them on end is that you get long strings of shavings, and they do plug up the dust ports. The dust collection set ups for bandsaws are made for cabinet shops, not green wood cutting....
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Does the saw have a dust pickup just under the table?

The 18" Rikon I have has a 4" dia pickup below the guides, angled down. I did two things to eliminate string clogs: one, cut away the x-shaped steel guard in the port which tended to catch strings, and construct a small box designed to direct air across the blade from the left to help pull the strings into the pickup. This works well. I made the small box with an air input on the left end. Built it from plexiglas so I can keep an eye on the inside. Held on with magnets so I can remove it easily to adjust bearings and such.

The box:
1761075094068.jpeg

The installation:
1761075148519.jpeg

The original prototype made from cardboard to prove the principle. It worked so well I used it for several years before I made the plastic one.
1761075239972.jpeg 1761075262322.jpeg

No more clogs and I cut a LOT of green wood along the grain, with the round crosscut sitting flat on the table.

If I had a saw without a pickup there, after experience with this I'd fabricate and add one. I do use a strong cyclone DC with a 6" dia drop to the bandsaw with splitters to pull dust from three different places - below the bearings, in the bottom cabinet, and a flex 4" dia hose I position on the table held by a magnet - that picks up a lot of dust "spray" when making skimming cuts.

JKJ
 
I have a cheap 14" Ridgid brand bandsaw, which works well for my needs. I upgraded the motor from 3/4HP to 2HP, and added a riser block which extended the resaw capacity to 12". The table trunion assembly broke, so I replaced it with a 24" MDF table. It isn't tiltable anymore, but the added stability of a large table makes cutting large blanks a breeze. Additionally, the motor has the added bonus of having an internal braking resistor, so it stops within a couple seconds of turning the switch off.
 
robo hippy said:
I don't think I have one single tool that I wouldn't change a bit.... I do have 2 bandsaws, a 14 inch Powermatic, and a Laguna 16HD. The PM only cuts 6 inches high, and I would change that to maybe 8 inches since I seldom cut bowl blanks any bigger/taller than that. It has a cast iron frame and 3/4 hp motor on 120 volt so it does everything I need for the 6 inch capacity. My big saw is a Laguna 16HD with a 4.5 hp. Baldor motor. It is a beast and will walk though just about anything. It does have a foot brake, which I think should be standard on all bandsaws. I don't think they make it any more. It did require a 30 amp 220 circuit though. 1 1/4 inch blade on it for cutting slabs.

robo hippy
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I had a 16 and then got an opportunity to get a 24x24. At the time it was a custom. I did burn up the motor and they got me a deal on a Baldor (5hp?).
When I was doing large stuff, I made an outfeed table for it and would hoist logs up to 26" onto the table (with an engine hoist) and cut them up for bowl blanks. Great saw.
 
Some years ago a 20” Delta followed me home because it was super cheap at auction. Probably the main reason was because it had a 3 phase motor. I contemplated for a while about how to power it. I could run wire from my rotary phase converter, swap the motor to a single phase, or power it with a VFD. I decided to go with a VFD as I had an extra on the shelf and thought it would be useful when cutting non ferrous metal to reduce the speed. As it turned out, I never vary the speed for cutting. The VFD did provide a couple of useful features I never thought about. The first was I programmed it to quickly stop the blade and never even think about using the foot brake. The second and way off the wall, is I can run the saw in reverse at a very slow speed. This allows me to joint the blade for extra smooth cuts or actually sharpen the blade using a whetstone.

Random thoughts….. a little over five years ago I went to David Ellsworth’s house for a turning class. In his shop was a very nice 20” Powermatic bandsaw with a thick layer of dust on it. I asked David if he used the bandsaw and he said no. He cut his turning blanks outside with a chainsaw and they go directly on the lathe. This was for his personal turnings and also for student blanks.
 
I started out with a 14" Delta saw. It served me well as my lathe at that time was only a 12" swing. Later I upgraded to a 16" Duro Metal Products saw. The company has long been out of business but it had been well cared for and the price was right. Being a bottom feeder at heart I couldn't say no to A 20" Yates saw. It will eventually get restored (new tires and bearings are already purchased). I enjoy restoring older machinery. Deals are to be had for small money and one can hardly debate the quality of American made light industrial machinery from a not so distant past. I seldom use a bandsaw to to round blanks anymore. Between the chainsaw and the big Vicmarc Wood gets rounded nicely.
 
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