" wrote in message
...
Looking to buy first & last bandsaw. Actually I've been looking for
quite a while now for an older Delta or Rockwell but I have not come
across anything within reasonable driving distance of where I live
(north MS). So, I'm going to splurge and buy a new one - looked on
Delta's website to see what is "current" and the only one they list
(oddly) is a 28-206 which is just a 14" 1HP jobber. (What is the deal
with that - are they coming out with new lineup?) I'd like at least a
1.5HP model, so what are other options? Considering Grizzly 514 or
555. Budget ~$850, no more than $1000 tops.
Ideas?
Heeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrsssss. Leon!
Just finished my bowl of soup....Steve... ;~)
Dukes..... you want your first and last..... hmmmmmmmmmm
You really need to decide what that really means..... Pretty simple really
but this is not as simple as you might think.
For about 20 years I owned but did not use very much a Craftsman 12" 1/2hp
BS. Under powered and a PIA to keep set up correctly.
About 3 years ago I decided I wanted a bigger more robust BS with more bells
and features. I jumped up to the highly recommended 18" Rikon. I read many
articles about it and heard great stories about it. I ordered it sight
unseen with the understanding that I could return it if unsatisfied, no
questions asked. Three weeks later I returned it, I had never done any
thing like that before.
The Rikon was an improvement but not nearly as big of an improvement as I
was looking for. Had I kept it, it would not have been my last. I wanted
my last one also.
Don't get me wrong here the Rikon is worth every penny but $1000 would not
buy a "new" BS that I would consider my last.
I wanted a BS that had plenty of power. I wanted a BS that would resaw with
ease. I wanted a BS that ran relatively quiet. I wanted a BS that did not
have to be readjusted 7 ways to Sunday every other time I used it. I
wanted a BS that was easily adjusted when adjustments or blade changes were
made.
I learned that for me my last band saw was going to have to be much better
than what a "new" $1000 saw had to offer.
Sooooo I started looking at the more expensive saws.....the saws that were
in my price range happened to be MiniMax and Laguna. Neither are
inexpensive.
Ultimately I ordered the Laguna, LT16-HD. 3 years later I can confidently
say that this saw is my last BS.
If you are relatively unfamiliar with band saws it will be hard to explain
why you want certain features and not others.
Why I chose the Laguna...
1. Buying the Rikon I thought I wanted roller bearing guides....In little
time I hated roller guides. The Laguna uses ceramic guides, 10 ceramic
guides. The upper guide has an upper and lower ceramic guide on each side
and a rear ceramic guide. The lower has the same set up. The blade can
touch the ceramic guides with out building up heat and this also keeps the
blade clean and free from debris. I found that roller guides would stamp
the debris on to the blade and made the blade dirty and very difficult to
clean. This created vibration and noise.
2. The Laguna is a beast. You can tension a 1-1/4 wide blade with little
effort and the saw holds it shape. WHAT?
One of the problems with less expensive saws is that they have to be fiddled
with to get them to cut properly. When you use larger blades you have to
tension them more. With cheaper saws the saw frames will distort slightly.
When they distort the blade tracks differently and you have to adjust the
upper wheel. Normally adjusting the upper wheel requires the readjustment
of the upper and lower thrust and side guides.... Going from a 1/4" blade
to the 1-1/4" blade requires no additional adjustment from the upper wheel,
on my particular model. Naturally you have to readjust the upper and lower
guides when changing blade sizes but the blades all tend to track correctly
with out having to fiddle with the upper wheel adjustment. I cannot
remember the last time I made an upper wheel adjustment.
3. My particular Laguna came with a 220 volt 4.5hp Baldor motor....
Resawing wide hard wood IS NOT a problem.
4. I normally keep a 1/2" blade in the Laguna and when I want to use the
saw I simply retention the blade, no other adjustments needed from that
point.
5. Basically I wanted a saw that was ready to go when I was.
Regardless of what you decide on, I would strongly advise you to go to the
Laguna web site and view the band saw videos on line. These videos are very
educational and will explain what you should look for in a bandsaw.
Here is what Laguna has to offer on bandsaws.
http://www.lagunatools.com/bandsaws
Here is their bandsaw video location, scroll down closer to the last bandsaw
videos.
http://www.lagunatools.com/company/video-bandsaw
One last thing, Laguna has a less expensive line of saws that are near your
upper limit. I am not so sure that one of those would be what I would
consider my last BS. I would suggest that if you want a "last band saw" you
should consider the HD line of saws. While these HD saws are indeed way
past your limit I found that for me $1000 on a saw that did not get me to
where I wanted to be was a bigger waste of money than the extra I spent on
the Laguna. With the Rikon I would have had a better saw than my old
Craftsman however I feel that I would not have used the saw unless I had no
other choice for making a cut. With the Laguna I look for reasons to use
the saw, it is that much more of a pleasure to operate and use rather than
constantly having to adjust. Keep in mind that as a blade warms up it will
stretch during use. This on many saws will require retensioning of the
blade, readjustment of the upper wheel, and often readjustments of the upper
and lower guides.... I only have to retention the blade on my saw.
If you want your last saw, save up for your last saw, don't let the $1000
you have now burn a hole in your pocket.
If you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me...or ping me.
Having gone through all this you may be perfectly happy with a less
expensive saw.