Picked up an Inca Bandsaw Yesterday

[Belle City Woodworking]

While I was at a woodworking class I checked out the Inca Bandsaw the teacher had.  Man those are some smooth running bandsaws!  I wonder why they stopped making them?  Anyway I digress... I have a Big Bandsaw for resewing and I have been looking for a smaller bandsaw for curve work and smaller work and this saw fits the ticket.  i found this on the web and went to pick it up yesterday....







I purchased this from the original owner who took really good care of it.  The marks on the face of the cover are sticker residue which will come off.  I came with the stand, fence, 4 blades, owners manual, and all the parts and brochures that came with the machine.

If you are looking for a small direct drive saw, look for one of these they are very well made!

John

[stav]

I've heard lots of good things about the whole Inca line.  It's too bad that the well thought out products are not always the ones that flood the market.

That's a really nice looking saw btw.

[jteneyck]

Inca made great machines, very high precision and smooth running but, being Swiss, their prices were too high for most folks to justify for what they were.  That's a great little bandsaw you got, but it likely cost $1000 new and not many people could justify that much for a saw with less capacity than a 14" Delta which sold for maybe half of that back then.  I had an Inca J/P for more than 25 years.  I bought it third hand and paid $950 for it in around 1983 which was serious money to me then, still is actually.  New it cost about 2X that. 

Most folks here value cast iron over pressure cast aluminum, the heart of all Inca machines.  But Inca had such high precision that there was essentially no vibration in their machines.  And a bonus was that you could easily move/transport most of their machines with one person.  I think my J/P weighed about 75 lbs minus the motor and stand.  The one Inca machine that I always thought was a dumb idea was their table saw.  You can do all the sales/marketing you want about precision but you'll never convince me that a tilting table is a good idea from an ease of use standpoint.  

Enjoy your new saw.  I'm sure it will give you many years of trouble free service.  

John

[Belle City Woodworking]

Thank you John and Stav!

[Phil Thien]

I've owned a lot of Inca gear, including a bandsaw or two.

Right now my current bandsaws are old Skil HD 3640 units (I have two, I've had as many as four).  They're a near knock-off of the Inca units except they are belt drive (motor still attached to unit and more on that below), and every weakness of the Inca (like the somewhat fragile upper guide arm and blade guard) are fixed.

Skil is part of Bosch and so this unit was also sold as a Dremel (also part of Bosch) with the ability to change speeds on that model quite easily.  A very nice feature.  I wish I had one of those.  The blade doesn't run slow enough to cut steel well, but it will do a passable work for a small job.

The Skil I have has about 7" under the blade guides, so I can resaw a little more than I could with the Inca.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Inca tools, but these Skil and Dremel units can often be found for $75 to $100 on craigslist, and for that, they're an absolute bargain.

[Cabinet Monkey]

 
Skil is part of Bosch and so this unit was also sold as a Dremel (also part of Bosch) with the ability to change speeds on that model quite easily.  A very nice feature.  I wish I had one of those.  The blade doesn't run slow enough to cut steel well, but it will do a passable work for a small job.

 

Actually - Skil and Skilsaw were sold by Bosch to Chervon Ltd. two years ago.

Chervon is best known for Flex grinders and E-GO outdoor equip. in the USA.

[Phil Thien]

Actually - Skil and Skilsaw were sold by Bosch to Chervon Ltd. two years ago.

Chervon is best known for Flex grinders and E-GO outdoor equip. in the USA.

Well at the time, they (Skil and Dremel) were both part of Bosch.

These are old saws, like 20ish years old, I believe.

[Belle City Woodworking]

That’s some great information Phil!

[Timberwolf]

While I was at a woodworking class I checked out the Inca Bandsaw the teacher had.  Man those are some smooth running bandsaws!  I wonder why they stopped making them?  Anyway I digress... I have a Big Bandsaw for resewing and I have been looking for a smaller bandsaw for curve work and smaller work and this saw fits the ticket.  i found this on the web and went to pick it up yesterday....







I purchased this from the original owner who took really good care of it.  The marks on the face of the cover are sticker residue which will come off.  I came with the stand, fence, 4 blades, owners manual, and all the parts and brochures that came with the machine.

If you are looking for a small direct drive saw, look for one of these they are very well made!

John

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All the Inca line were first class, John..I have had an Inca 8 5/8" jointer/planer for 40 years and it is smoooth!!!

[Phil Thien]

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All the Inca line were first class, John..I have had an Inca 8 5/8" jointer/planer for 40 years and it is smoooth!!!

Had one, great little machine.