Bandsaw Recommendations

I'm looking for a little bandsaw to cut strictly UHMW up to about 1" thick. I'll need to put some gentle curves (2" radius) in some places, so I'd like something with some throat depth. I think one of the little 3 wheel triangle saws will work good for me. Does anybody see anything wrong with these saws? Will them and an appropriate blade cut this stuff? Doesn't have to just plow through it, just a steady cut. Are they built good enough to use it a couple of hours per week?

And about the blade, how many TPI should I be looking at for cutting UHMW? And what thickness do you think? I don't see wanting anything over 1/4" thick. But don't won't a wire either, no jigsawwing here.

http://www.deltamachinery.com/index.asp?e=136&p=918

The three wheels saws are hard to tune, and have short blade life since the blade makes three shrap turns with every revolution, versus two gradual turns.

For the blade, a Lennox Diemaster II, 1/4" wide, .035 thick, six tpi, hook tooth.

http://www.lenoxsaw.com/diemast.htm

UMWP makes continuous stringy chips. What ever you pick for a bandsaw (I suggest a 14" two wheel saw) make sure it has lower guides, s wheel scraper/brush, and ready access suited for cleaning out chip masses.

How about a 12 or 14" saw? Footprint is about the same as a 16" 3 wheel saw. Both are common. The 12" will be priced about the same as the 16"er. The 14" a little more. You can get a used 14" import in good shape for $175/250.

I have a 14" Delta and it easily cuts through plastics of all kinds. I use a Timberwolf blade for both wood and plastic. In this size saw I think the blade is as important as the saw. Blade sizes 3/16 or 1/4 and 6 TPI will work nicely.

14" two wheel import is the best value, especially used, commonly available for $100 and under. Don't like 3 wheel hobby saws at all. Older 12" Craftsman saws aren't too bad either.

There are a couple good books on bandsaw use, and I highly recommend them, Duginski is one, don't know the other, but it's much newer and very good.

The thicker the material, the fewer teeth you want. For stringy plastics, you'll want few teeth. Need to get the swarf out of there before it heats up and melts everything back together.

The narrower the blade, the higher the tension (function of less cross section that needs tensioning) and generally the better performance you'll get. To that end, while harder to obtain, 3/16" blades are great on these saws for general purpose. I've routinely resawed 6" hardwoods on an import 14" saw with a 3/16" skip tooth blade with no problems.

Tools

let me be the first to say it... if it does not say DoAll its not really a contour saw, just an imitation...
Doall's beat up on about every saw I ever ran ( and seen except at the tool shows). Hyd mech makes a good horizontal, grob makes a sorry excuse for a vertical saw ( I have one...). whats every one else's opinion's?

Uh Tools, if there's a smaller cross-section, it should need lower tension to produce the same stress in the blade.

My Powermatic bandsaw has a "gage" of sorts that is moved based on compression of a die spring. (Compressing the die spring loads up the blade) A 1/4" blade requires a lot less compression than a 1" blade.

(I didn't want to assert that compressing a spring tensions a blade because the opposition of loads would probably confound my explanation but that's the case)

-Matt

That's my point, the saw is able to tension it adequately without undue strain on the saw. IE, most import saws have NO CHANCE of properly tensioning a 1/2" blade, much less a 3/4" blade many seem to think necessary for resawing.

The limiting factor then being can the blade take adequate tension for the job at hand. Usually it can, until it gets dull... Clearly, it's a tradeoff. The better the saw, the greater your options.

Maybe I should have said resultant tenion with equal compression of that little spring.

Tools, who may not have been very clear!

Tools - You are correct as always

A 1/4" blade is about the maximum width that any Delta 14" (or clone) can adequately tension. If you replace the standard die spring in the Delta with the aftermarket spring from Iturra Designs, you can easily tension a Diemaster II so it will resaw 12" hardwood.

There's a lengthy article in the book Power Saws & Planers http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?Nsl=1166&Ix=7&R=0942391837B&Rt=15 It was the first reference I saw to the Diemaster II 1/4", .035, 6 tooth, hook blade.

I have two old 14-inch bandsaws (one Delta/Milwaukee, and one Delta/Rockwell), which use 93-1/2" blades (or 105" with the riser block).

For clean cuts, I like the 6-tpi blades that are sold under the Delta brand name, and are available from amazon.com. These blades are not the standard .025" thickness, they are a little bit thinner, which makes them good for cutting soft materials. When I switch the saw to cutting metal, I use a thicker blade with a finer pitch.

For 2-inch radius curves, 3/16" width certainly would be narrow enough to make those cuts without binding. I think 1/4" would be OK too, but 3/8" might be too wide for such a tight curve. It depends on the set of the blade.

You might be able to find a used 14-inch Delta band saw for about $200, if you are patient.

I know it is ancient history, but I want to thank precisionworks and Jon_Spear for your comments in a 2005 thread about bandsaw blades and tensioning. I have had an old Tiawanese copy of the Delta 14 inch bandsaw for decades and always attributed its lackluster performance to it's $100 used price tag. I always replaced the blade with one similar to what was on it when I bought it, a 1/2" wood eating monster. 5 years ago when trying to re-tension the blade something snapped and the saw got pushed to the back of the shop. So many years later, my other cheap little saw breaks and somehow I end up reading your 2005 post on this site. It led me to figure out that I had broken the blade tensioner trying to over tighten it for a blade that is too large for the saw. I ordered a new tensioner hinge, a new Delta 1/4" 6TPI blade and tightened the thing right to the specs on the tensioner. This along with recalibrating all of the blade guides made the saw cut better than I have ever seen! I was able to cut a consistent quarter inch slice along the long length of a 10 inch long 2x4 like never before with a well tensioned 1/4 inch blade. I always thought bigger blade was better. Now I know different. Thank you for sharing your knowledge so long ago. Both you and precisionworks really helped up my game. I am sending him this note too. Thank you.
Dave Chapman.
Dave Chapman

Here is the old thread:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general-archive/bandsaw-recommendations-86456/

Jon_Spear said:

I have two old 14-inch bandsaws (one Delta/Milwaukee, and one Delta/Rockwell), which use 93-1/2" blades (or 105" with the riser block).

For clean cuts, I like the 6-tpi blades that are sold under the Delta brand name, and are available from amazon.com. These blades are not the standard .025" thickness, they are a little bit thinner, which makes them good for cutting soft materials. When I switch the saw to cutting metal, I use a thicker blade with a finer pitch.

For 2-inch radius curves, 3/16" width certainly would be narrow enough to make those cuts without binding. I think 1/4" would be OK too, but 3/8" might be too wide for such a tight curve. It depends on the set of the blade.

You might be able to find a used 14-inch Delta band saw for about $200, if you are patient.

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