New bandsaw advice

[moonpool145]

Guys

Do any of you have a good recommendation for a wood / metal bandsaw for my home shop. I do a good bit of both woodworking and metal working so it needs to be versatile. I have a Northern Tool horizontal unit for cutting tubing and angles but want something for resaw and cutting odd aluminum and light steel shapes.

Looking at the Powermatic PM1500 which looks good. I do not have room for a big Doall, prefer single phase and 2 or 3 HP.

Any input is greatly appreciated

 

[ez-duzit]

It's not much for re-sawing, but look at the older Rockwell Delta wood/metal 14" bandsaws. I have a 20" Agazzani for re-sawing plus an 18" vertical Vectrax and for metal, in addition to a Vectrax mitering metal-cutting bandsaw. Saves having to switch blades, back and forth.

 

[j p smith]

That is a nice piece of equipment, looks like it would be for wood, I did not see that it has a slower speed for metal cutting. I have an older model Powermatic 143 that I rebuilt, it has 2 speeds and several pulley grooves to change speeds also. It does a good job for wood and metal. It was new in 1964.

 

[plow]

What's "re-sawing"

 

[ez-duzit]

Re-sawing is making thinner boards from thick boards.

 

[plow]

My Grandad, Dad, Brother, Uncle and Cousin were all pattern makers. You would think that I would have known that.

 

[ez-duzit]

Re-sawing is not a word most people hear every day. But it is a task that accounts for most of the running time on my wood bandsaw.

 

[zkling]

Look for a used 20" delta wood metal.

Just a heads up, cutting wood, especially re sawing and cutting metal on the same saw is a bit tedious. It seems no matter how well you clean out the saw and change the blade, chips always end up in the face of your resaw cut.

Re-sawing is making thinner boards from thick boards.

What saw is that? Looks like you really have it maximized.

 

[ez-duzit]

No, that was just an internet photo of re-sawing.

My 20" Agazzani clears 12".

 

[theoldwizard1]

Most wood band saws are much too fast for metal, unless they have a speed reducer.

 

[NUTTSGT]

What about two machines ? Buy the bandsaw you want for the woodworking. Then buy a porta-band saw and a SWAG adapter to use for the metal work.

 

[moonpool145]

Thanks for the comments guys. As to 2 full size saws, I just do not have the room which is why I was hoping to find a transformer. You know, all the machine in half the space for half the price.

I have a porta-band and its very useful. I like to do odd stuff and really like a big table so I was hoping that one of the units listed as wood / metal could do the trick, just have no experience with them

Thanks

 

[Falcon67]

What about two machines ? Buy the bandsaw you want for the woodworking. Then buy a porta-band saw and a SWAG adapter to use for the metal work.

I use two, neither takes up much space. One is an HF 4x6 metal saw and the other a 10" C-man sitting on an HF stand.

Here is the SWAG solution for a metal saw that takes up little space:
http://www.swagoffroad.com/SWAG-V30-Portaband-Table_p_55.html

 

[Jackfre]

I have a Delta 14" wood/metal bandsaw. It will run 115, 160, 220, 335 or 3000 FPM. I rarely use it for metal as the previous comment about cleaning and contamination are correct. It is difficult to prevent embedding of metal shavings into the wood you are cutting. It does an excellent job on either material once you figure out blades and speeds on the metal.

Here is a U tube vid on it

 

[ez-duzit]

This is an ancient Delta wood/metal bandsaw that served me for decades.

 

[JakeKohl]

I went through this myself...the truth is that there are very few off-the-shelf bandsaws today that have the built-in speed variability for switching between wood and metal. My primary bandsaw use is wood and aluminum (signs) and I ended up buying a 14" Rikon because it has two speeds and gets to where it needs to be for aluminum. It's still way to fast for steel, though.

The other comment about metal giblets getting into your wood work is a good one. A really good dust collection system can help minimize that...the Rikon has a nice setup for that and I haven't had much trouble (although, I do relatively little re-sawing).

 

[VOH]

This is an ancient Delta wood/metal bandsaw that served me for decades.

what are you doing to get this saw slowed down? I have that same saw, and would like to further convert it over to metal cutting.


VOH

 

[zkling]

what are you doing to get this saw slowed down? I have that same saw, and would like to further convert it over to metal cutting.


VOH

You probably don't have that same saw, the one pictured has a built in gear box (hence the oil cup on the left hand side), not all of them had that. If you want to do it to a standard wood saw, which is what I assume you have, you will need a ~33:1 reduction on top of the factory speed setup for wood.

 

[ez-duzit]

This is what the drive mechanism looked like on that wood/metal bandsaw. You push/pull the knob on the upper shaft to shift the hi/lo gearbox. Good little saw.