Bandsaw help

[Scouter]

Anyone ever use a Craftsman bandsaw? Considering this, but not sure of it's quality and resaw capabilities:


Crafstman Bandsaw

[museumguy]

Not a bad machine, not the best available but not the worst. It really depends on what you are doing. Basic shop machine, it'll be fine.

[Scouter]

Not a bad machine, not the best available but not the worst. It really depends on what you are doing. Basic shop machine, it'll be fine.

Any resaw capability, or is this just an entry-level saw?

[Bill_de]

Anyone ever use a Craftsman bandsaw? Considering this, but not sure of it's quality and resaw capabilities:


Crafstman Bandsaw

I found the owners manual online which may help. An uncle had one years ago but I never used it.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/150266...tml#manual

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[Joe K1]

I purchased that model in 1972.  Still use it more often than my other saw which is a 14 inch.  As with any bandsaw, blade sharpness and type is very important.  I usually run a 1/4 or 3/8 inch blade with 4 or 6 TPI.  Usually cutting green (wet) bowl blanks.  I never had much luck with a 1/2 inch blade, too much drift and drag on the motor when cutting thicker stock.   The aluminum wheels can be damaged or bent if a small piece of wood or aluminum in my case, drops and is trapped between the blade and drive wheel.  The frame is an aluminum casting. Replacement parts other than tires, belts, pulleys or bearings can be a problem.  At the time of purchase, the saw came with a 1/3 HP motor.  I traded and paid the difference for a 1/2 HP motor.  I frequently cut 5-6 inch thick bowl blanks w/o significant problems.  Re-saw to me means surface one side, re-saw oversize and thickness plane to final size.

[Scouter]

I purchased that model in 1972.  Still use it more often than my other saw which is a 14 inch.  As with any bandsaw, blade sharpness and type is very important.  I usually run a 1/4 or 3/8 inch blade with 4 or 6 TPI.  Usually cutting green (wet) bowl blanks.  I never had much luck with a 1/2 inch blade, too much drift and drag on the motor when cutting thicker stock.   The aluminum wheels can be damaged or bent if a small piece of wood or aluminum in my case, drops and is trapped between the blade and drive wheel.  The frame is an aluminum casting.  Replacement parts other than tires, belts, pulleys or bearings can be a problem.  At the time of purchase, the saw came with a 1/3 HP motor.  I traded and paid the difference for a 1/2 HP motor.  I frequently cut 5-6 inch thick bowl blanks w/o significant problems.  Re-saw to me means surface one side, re-saw oversize and thickness plane to final size.

Thanks. Not sure why but people on CL don't provide a lot of information on what they sell. I couldn't see a model number.

[Scouter]

I found the owners manual online which may help. An uncle had one years ago but I never used it.

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/150266...tml#manual

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Thanks. Interesting manual, doesn't address thickness of material or resaw instructions. Wonder if that means not to use it for resawing or over 2" boards.

[Kmucha16]

Thanks. Interesting manual, doesn't address thickness of material or resaw instructions. Wonder if that means not to use it for resawing or over 2" boards.

I've got that saw and it's been a great little workhorse. Mine didn't come with a motor when I got it, so I put a HF 1/2 hp on it. I paid $60 for mine 10 years ago without a stand or motor. Properly tuned it's been great.

I posted in the other recent bandsaw thread that I've done some resawing with it, it's only got a 6" high capacity, and it won't be quick. I've done 5" oak on it and it was slooowww. But, with a decent fence and slow feed, it worked and was pretty straight. Softer woods work much better and actually have a great cut surface when using a sharp/new blade. After this last round of resawing though, I'm upgrading to a 14" with a 2.5 hp motor. There's a tension gauge inside the housing that's pretty accurate for various blade sizes. I've run 1/8 to 3/8 on it. finally replaced the tires this year when the rubber ones shredded. It's always tracked really straight.

My one complaint is that the one piece cover is a bit of a pain to deal with when changing blades, but the dust collection is decent with a shop vac.

Overall, I've been pretty impressed with this saw and I've cut hundreds of items with it. WOrked great when I was redoing the flooring in the house and needed to make angled cuts or cutouts to go around obstacles. For $150 with stand and motor, probably not a bad deal. I'll probably ask that when I go to sell my saw.

Edit to add that zooming in on that pic it has the aluminum table. Mine's got a cast iron table that is great. Not sure about the quality of that table.

Kevin

[Bill Schneider]

I had that bandsaw. My late father gave it to me about 20 years ago. I sold it when I needed a bigger size for large work. While I had it, I did these things to maintain it.

Purchased new blades.

Replaced the 40-year old bearings with some purchased from McMaster-Carr.

Replaced the original belt from the motor.

Put on new tires purchased from Woodcraft. Can't recall the brand right now.

Dynamically rebalanced the wheels. When I got it from my father, it shook so bad that I couldn't see a pencil cut line. I used the method shown here... http://wiki.vintagemachinery.org/Bandsaw...ncing.ashx This helped a lot.

Reduced remaining vibration by making a 3/4" MDF top to stiffen the sheet-metal stand, and added a side brace that I made of some angle iron pop-riveted together.









I also added a brush for the lower wheel.



When I was done, I made a video of a nickel balanced on edge while it was running.

I didn't do a lot of resaw work, but the little I did, it worked very well. I didn't cut more than 3" wide boards though. I made a fence for it from 3/4" MDF.



And I got results like this...



It was a good saw, and it's now in the hands of a woodworking magazine editor. I sold it for $75.

[jteneyck]

Anyone ever use a Craftsman bandsaw? Considering this, but not sure of it's quality and resaw capabilities:


Crafstman Bandsaw

If you have need to resaw more than a few feet of stock look elsewhere.  The general rule of thumb is you need 1 HP for every 4 inches of stock, and you need a saw that can apply at least 20K psi to the blade.   

John