Band Saw advice

[coby65]

Joined here not along ago and have been reading and searching many different topics and getting ideas for my 2 car garage remodel this year.
Just wanted to say thanks for being a great resource and web site!

My question is I need a bench top band saw that I can cut wood and steel with. The Steel would be 3/16" thick, maybe 1/4" at biggest. I have a couple of jeeps and I find that it would be a useful tool for some of the fab jobs I have coming up in the next couple of year.
I do not need new and have time to search craigslist for deals.

Thanks, Coby

 

[OccupantRJ]

You will need a saw that the linear speed of the blade will be between 100 to 200 feet per minute, and wood saws are too fast. I would buy a metal frame saw and drive it with speed reduction. A treadmill motor and controls will work.

 

[Packard V8]

There are a few older Delta and Walker-Turner wood/metal bandsaws, but they're hard to find. I've built a conversion kit to slow a wood bandsaw to cut steel. Don't do it.

The Chicom metal cutting bandsaws are so cheap, just get one of those. It will be adequate to your needs.

If you still need a benchtop wood bandsaw, they are on craigslist all the time.

jack vines

 

[cdent]

If the pieces to cut aren't very large, one of the portaband saws might work out well. They all have bolt up points for the handle and it's easy to rig up an angle iron bracket so the saw can be held in a bench vise and used as a small upright saw. It can easily handle 1/4" thick steel.

If you need bigger, open up your wallet and get the right stuff, one for wood one for metal. I don't like the combo wood/metal saws because they're expensive to end up with basically hobby capability. Careful, watch for smoke if you cut metal in a saw that's filled with wood dust.

 

[A_Pmech]

Hi Coby, welcome to GJ!

My question is I need a bench top band saw that I can cut wood and steel with. The Steel would be 3/16" thick, maybe 1/4" at biggest.

I don't think such a thing is made, unfortunately. The vast majority of "bench-top" tools tend to be hobby-grade at best and in the case of band saws are generally high-speed wood cutting machines. Wood band saws move the blade past the work around 20 times faster than the correct speed for sawing mild steel. They also lack the mass and rigidity required to tension the band properly for sawing metal. If you're limited on space, you could use a gear reducer and chain drive to slow a heavily built bench-top machine sufficiently to cut ferrous metals.

Some high quality small wood and metal band saws exist, such as the Walker Turner 16" machine shown here: Mitch's Walker Turner

Rockwell / Powermatic also made the model #143 which is also a small metal and wood vertical saw:

Larger industrial machines you might consider include Grob or DoAll, such as Nightshift's Doall ML:

Or you could go a little bigger and get a V-36 like mine. Click here for the rebuild thread to see what makes them "go".

V-36 sawing 1/2" mild steel:

The Green Bear et al. sell cheap Chinese import metal / wood vertical machines, but I would advise you to avoid them at all costs. For the money you can buy a MUCH better used machine made in a first-world country to a much higher standard of quality and performance. It just takes patience and a willingness to travel.

If you need bigger, open up your wallet and get the right stuff, one for wood one for metal. I don't like the combo wood/metal saws because they're expensive to end up with basically hobby capability.

Don't tell DoAll this. They have been making industrial combination vertical band saws for about 73 years.

 

[cdent]

...Don't tell DoAll this. They have been making industrial combination vertical band saws for about 73 years.

I can only dream of a DoAll. I was thinking of the more likely to run into 14" Jet/Wilton combo saws. They can barely tension for decent wood resawing and it's usually nice to have even more to cut metal. New, it's well north of 1k, won't sit on a bench and would be sort of ok for either material.

You have a terrific saw that I'd just dedicate to metal. Wish I could make a cut like in your picture on 1/2" steel. Great pics!