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18" Bandsaw


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50k on a shop? I have some swamp land in IL that I want to sell you.

You can get a awesome shop together for very little.

I have an industrial router 2k, sander 1k band saw 1k.

Then other little tools drill presses edge sanders.

with 50k you would have more than enought for a ton of stuff.

one thing to consider, power... how you going to run everything always comes into play.

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Garehanman, tell her if you get your midlife crisis over with while you are still young, she won't have to endure it when you are over the hill. biggrin.gif
:D:D

But then have another midlife crisis later anyway and just redo and update your shop. At least what you are doing is productive unlike some men that just buy the fastest most expensive sports cars they can find. haha. jason

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My sears bandsaw, you know...I really don't know how old it is. I bought it from an old lady in my church. Her husband bought it and died. He died in '96. Actually, she just died too. A shame, she was very kind. I think I paid $50 for the band saw. Let me go check the year right now...

...ok, I'm not exactly sure what the codes on it mean(or how to decipher them), but I think it may be from 1990. I'm really the only person who's ever put it through its paces. It's an 18", but the depth of cut is only like 7." So it's just a tad bit too small to bookmatch anything. Not to mention it won't accpt anything bigger than a 1" blade. I tried to resaw on it a few times, the results were acceptable after I ran the boards through a planer, but I do a better job doing a double cut on the table saw.

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Ah, so I'm guessing it's like a 3 wheel benchtop unit? I was thinking maybe you had one of the big, old floor-standing ones, like from the 1950's. Those were made by Parks, and were really well built machines, worth keeping an eye out for.

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I'd estimate I could be quite happy with around $50k invested in a shop.

You'd be FREAKIN' happy! I have a fully loaded shop with under $10k :D in it.

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  • 2 months later...

While we're on the topic of what tools to have. Nobody ever mentions having a milling machine. Since we got it it has been promoted to the #1 machine in the shop. And for about 3K its worth it.

You can use it as a

plane

pin router

Router table

jointer

dril press

mortiseing machine

not to mention the metal parts you can mill with it.

I made this just over the weekend with odds and ends we had in the shop

caul.jpg

Custom hardware anyone?

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Back to the bandsaw subject.... A couple months ago I finally picked up one of those new Jet 18x 18" bandsaws. I have to say that machine was worth every cent! It was set up pretty well right out of the crate. I had to make a few minor adjustments, mostly to suit my high standards for performance. After that it's been the BEST!

It takes 137" blades which are a little longer than last year's model. The one that comes with it is pretty good, but it's a standard blade so it wore fast resawing exotics. I popped on a Timberwolf and I should get more like out of it. I prefer 3 TPI blades anyway, and the stock one was maybe 5.

The fence was one of the main reasons for picking this machine. It is the best ever! It doesn't budge at all when resawing. I don't use the post thing for that, I use a solid backer so the wood doesn't wobble. I can cut veneer thin with no issues.

So, the point is, if you're considering a bandsaw, pick one of these!

-Doug

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I've considered getting a milling machine myself. Trouble is... I don't know Jack about how to use one!   :D  What machine did you get?

-Doug

I posted it a while ago Link

We got it used for $2500 CDN. Its a Craftex (made by busy bee tools) and had a lot of cobalt and carbide endmills with it and all the tooling as well.

The reason for the wood is that an arc, especially that large, is so hard to cut on a mill. It's cocabola so it will be hard as a rock and will be less apt to mar the frets.

THe mill is not hard to use at all and with the dials you can easily hit +-.0005 if you're picky about it. Not that Wood will keep that accuracy.

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