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New bandsaw

T

treedoctor

Joined
Feb 16, 2008
Messages
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Location
East Texas
I am relatively new to turning and am looking to get a 14" bandsaw.
I think I've narrowed it down to the Powermatic and the Delta X5.
Both are about the same price and have 1.5 hp. I have little experience with
either. Any pros/cons and advice is appreciated.
 
Any more, I would tend towards Powermatic (I own neither).

Last year I was pondering the same questions, I decided that there is no alternative to more power, and since I had 220V available, I went with the 2HP band-saw (in my case a Grizzly).

If you have 220 available, consider more power
 
I went with a 17" grizzly after others in my club had purchased laguns. They said that they paid nearly $1000 more for the same amount of saw. Save for one bad tire, it cuts bowl blanks just fine.

Aaron
 
For milling wood, size of throat and horsepower are the two biggies. Poor tolerances and a blade that wanders all over the place aren't really an issue when milling green wood. Big pieces and cutting through thick, wet crap is. If you want to make bandsaw boxes or do resawing, get two saws.

I've got an old (un)Reliant with a 2hp motor, 6" riser, and 2 1/2" plywood cutting platform. Works fine as long as I don't mind cutting curvy lines (and I don't). Total cost used, $150. Burnt the motor out twice but easy to rewire.

dk
 
Thanks for all the comments. The Grizzly sounds good but,
since I don't have access to 220 I'll have to wait on something
larger(same issue I had with the lathe selection)
With that in mind, is the Powermatic a reasonable choice with 1.5 hp??
I'm leaning towards that over delta.
 
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Don't let the lack of 220v power influence bandsaw selection. I had 220v power added to may shop. It was not expensive. Make the bandsaw purchase decision based on your current needs and reasonably anticipated future needs - not availability of 220v power. - John
 
jjkingjr said:
Don't let the lack of 220v power influence bandsaw selection. I had 220v power added to may shop. It was not expensive. Make the bandsaw purchase decision based on your current needs and reasonably anticipated future needs - not availability of 220v power. - John
Click to expand...

QFT
I'm not an electrician, my neighbor is. He gave me a list what to buy, helped me install the first line, and I did the rest. Total was less than $100.00. Drives my lathe, DC and bandsaw (17" Grizzly). I installed 3 separate lines which was my choice and not necessary.

Jim
 
I have two bandsaws: a 14" Delta, 1hp on which I keep a 1/2" X 3 tooth Timberwolf blade for resawing, bowl blanks, wide radius cuts, and straight-line cuts. The other is a 10" Rikon with a 1/4" X 4 tooth Timberwolf I use for radius cuts the other saw won't make. I'm satisfied with both, but I have used the Powermatic and I think it is a better saw than the Delta. If I were to do it over, I'd get the Powermatic in a heartbeat with as big a motor as you can get. However, 1 - 1 1/2 hp is adequate.

110 will drive a 2 hp motor as well as 220 - it just draws twice the amps. Make sure your breakers and wiring are up to the load.

Good luck,

Ken
 
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