Ah..yes...the search for the BANDSAW to end bandsaws. :)

I too was on that search and this is what I found.

First, the comments about having different saws for wood and metal are
right on the mark.

From a shop perspective, you should not be doing woodworking in a
metalworking area (way too much dust even with dust collectors) and no
metalworking in a woodworking area (too much oil, grease, sparks and
wood dust is a fine abrasive). If you do, please practice your speech
to the insurance agent when the fire happens and remember that some
policies are voided if the policy holder has not adhered to common
sense safety precautions.

Next in respect to metalworking, the different in saws depends on
whether you are cutting flat sheets of metal or long narrow pieces. If
it is long narrow stock, one of the $200 Asian imports is a great
investment. Used they go for $20-50 so there is NO reason for a
metalworker not to have one of these. I wanted a larger detachable
table for mine so I brought the aluminum table that Delta has for
their 9" wood bandsaw and retrofitted it on my Asian import. Works
great for small piece and plate cutting!

For flat sheets of metal, one needs to look at how large and thich of
sheets you will be using. I have seen and done myself modifications of
Asian 14" wood vertical saws with a surplus motor/gearbox to get the
speeds down to the meatlworking range. This works great because you
are dedicating the saw to metalworking so you avoid the complexity of
trying to have one saw serve both wood and metal. The gearbox in the
combination meatl/wood saws are the cost driver in these saws and also
their major weak spot since to repair them costs $$$. The same
approach of modification with a surplus motor/gearbox combination
works for larger saws. I had a Powermatic 20" wood saw modified for
metal and it went through it like butter.

Cost for this approach in my case was less than for any wood-metal
combination saw I have ever found. For all the saws I have modified,
the combination motor/gearbox has been a freebie and wood saws because
of the greater numbers manufactured are cheaper. The downside is you
need more floor space for two different saws but as I said earlier,
you are asking for trouble if you are doing woodworking and
metalworking in the same area.

Good luck with your search. The results are well worth the effort
involved with installing a bandsaw in your shop.

TMT



(bryanwi) wrote in message . com...
I don't know if it's "$1000", but I have a delta 28-306. I have cut
from heavy bolt steel to light wood with it, all worked fine. I've
also cut disk drives in half (great way to make sure they cannot be
read, DO wear your goggles), and other such odd projects.

The difference between a "wood" and a "metal" bandsaw seems to be the
blade speed range, until you get into high end metal saws, which will
have a blade welder.

I'm not sure where it's made, but aside from the dust port being sort
of silly, and the v-belt cover housing being attached with
mickey-mouse clips that I replaced with screws, it all seems OK to me.

Mine is on Delta's wheeled base, which makes it easy to move. I
recommend that.

Iturra designs sells bigger dust ports, brushes to keep sawdust off
the wheels, and so on. I've not ordered their stuff yet, but looks
good in the catalog.

The blade that it comes with is, uh, not wonderful. But bandsaw
blades are consumables anyway. And first rate blades are easy to get.

The $200 saws always seem to be cut-off/miter saws. Which is great if
you want to cut some straight edge at some known angle onto a steel
pipe or bar. They have the merit they can divide parts of limited
width x height but arbitrary length. So they're clearly great for
parting turned stock, sizing stock for the metal lathe, cutting tubes
to be fabricated, and lots of other useful tasks. But they're not set
up to work on wood at all.

The Delta (and I think the Wilton you speak of, I bought the Delta
instead), are verticle saws. They cannot divide (cut off) a thing of
arbitrary length at a right angle. But they can cut curves. They can
"rip" pieces of any length, by large heights, up to just less than 14"
(for a 14" saw) from the edge.

The delta has a miter slot (but no miter gauge that I can recall,
you'd have buy one or build one), but with a little work a bandsaw
will cut quite straight. There is a rip fence option for the Delta, I
bought it, haven't used it yet.

As for metal and wood together - most of us don't have a choice.
However, do disconnect the wood dust vacuum before cutting metal,
since sucking hot metal cuttings into a pile of sawdust with 1100cfm
of air blowing over it will make quite a fire. (Then again, if all
the dust is in the dust collector or the waste basket, hot metal
cuttings falling on the concrete floor are no big deal, are they?)

I find that small vices improve the value of the saw. A small part (a
bolt, say) can be held in a small machinists vice, then slid past the
blade to cut it off very close to the head (say), or at a funny angle.
[By analogy, miter fences, rip fences, setup gauges, and push blocks
make any wood saw faster, easier and more accurate.]

I personally love this saw, because I trust it much more than a table
saw, and it lets me do so many of the odd projects I want to do,
quickly.

good luck
bmw



wrote in message om...
I would like to purchase a band saw in the $1000 price range capable
of cutting both wood and metal. I've found some information on two
possibilities: Wilton's 14-inch 8201 Tradesman band saw and
Craftsman's 15-inch wood and metal band saw, but I haven't seen either
saw and I don't know anything about Wilton's reputation. I'd
appreciate recommendations for other saws that might work and any
information others have about the Wilton and Craftsman saws. Among
the things that would be helpful are knowing where the saws are made
(Taiwan, PRC, etc.), whether speed change uses gears or belts, and how
the saws compare to JET band saws in general quality and features.

Thanks for the help.