Who uses a 10" bandsaw for there blanks?

[jxdubbs]

Who uses a 10" or bench top bandsaw to acrylics, plastics, resins, stabilized & hybrid woods, worthless wood, hard ass exotic woods, antler & bone. Pen, bowl or call blanks. And hell... also tell us what brand. a if you like it or not? how much power? Did you stall it, and with what?

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[leehljp]

If you are throwing "bowls" into the mix, you may as well go for a 14 inch bandsaw - Grizzly, HF, ShopFox or better. I can't see a 10"er cutting 2 1/2 - 3 inch thick blanks except slowly and on rare occasions. A 10" is a stretch for bowl blanks IMO. Every time I have purchased a tool with the idea that I "might" do extra, I found out that it would have been more beneficial if I went up a notch in my purchase.

The 10" Rikon, Sears and a few others ARE consistently head and shoulders above the 9" ones from what I have been reading. I have a 9 inch Delta and it sits in storage. Only Good for Balsa, certainly not for pen blanks. I added new guides and spent hours but the basic problem was not enough tension and bad tracking adjustments.

 

[wood-of-1kind]

I use a 12" Dewalt mitre saw for my pen blanks. Oh yah I love it and it has power to spare.

 

[Dieseldoc]

If you are throwing "bowls" into the mix, you may as well go for a 14 inch bandsaw - Grizzly, HF, ShopFox or better. I can't see a 10"er cutting 2 1/2 - 3 inch thick blanks except slowly and on rare occasions. A 10" is a stretch for bowl blanks IMO. Every time I have purchased a tool with the idea that I "might" do extra, I found out that it would have been more beneficial if I went up a notch in my purchase.

The 10" Rikon, Sears and a few others ARE consistently head and shoulders above the 9" ones from what I have been reading. I have a 9 inch Delta and it sits in storage. Only Good for Balsa, certainly not for pen blanks. I added new guides and spent hours but the basic problem was not enough tension and bad tracking adjustments.

Hank got it right, I to went through the small band saw gig. Doesn't work out, get 14 inch major brand saw, mine is a 14 inch power matic .

 

[Edgar]

I have a 10" Craftsman that's about 40 years old & still works well. I only use it to cut blanks to length. All other work is done on my 14" Rikon 10-325.

While the Craftsman works well, it has many limitations - lack of power & precision, tedious to change & adjust blades, to mention just a few. On the plus side, it's variable speed which is really nice for cutting blanks to size. I drill all my blanks before cutting, then use the bs to cut them to 1/8" or less over tube length. If it's a 2-blank kit, I drill & cut for one tube then drill & cut for the second.

 

[Jolly Red]

I had one of the benchtop bandsaws and used it for a while till it quit. Never really liked it, but it was what I had. When it quit I got a Jet 14" with the 1 hp motor, and now use it all the time. Unless I need a really good cut, I will use it in preference to my table saw.

Tom

 

[JPW062]

I had a shopsmith with powerstand. I half horse motor I think. With a fresh blade it worked well on to make a bandsaw box for my wife out of purple heart.
Much simpler to change blades and set-up than most of the 14" saws. Great for pens. I sold it because I am moving and I have somewhat tired of Shopsmiths prices and the oddities of their machines.
I have a 14" Rikon at work I can use whenever I need more.

 

[tonylumps]

I use a Wen 10" for all of my Pen Work Mounted a By-metal Blade and cut everything including Brass tubes 'The 2 things I will not cut are Stone and Seashell Blanks. Learned a lesson there.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I had a 10" delta....hated it.

I now have a 14" grizzly - wouldn't even dream of trying anything else.

 

[monophoto]

Every time I have purchased a tool with the idea that I "might" do extra, I found out that it would have been more beneficial if I went up a notch in my purchase.

I understand the principle here - but the problem is that there is always another notch. Unless you get the biggest there is, there is always the risk that will regret not getting one size larger.

 

[leehljp]

Every time I have purchased a tool with the idea that I "might" do extra, I found out that it would have been more beneficial if I went up a notch in my purchase.

I understand the principle here - but the problem is that there is always another notch. Unless you get the biggest there is, there is always the risk that will regret not getting one size larger.

Isn't THAT the general idea behind tool purchases? :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

 

[Bryguy]

I have a Skil benchtop unit. It does the job, needed some adjustment when I got it, belt was loose. I'd love to get a full size bandsaw as the benchtop unit limits me to pen making. A full size saw would open up re-sawing, bowl making etc., but space is limited. I'd say if you have room for it get the biggest band saw you can get. You'll wish you had, later down the road.

 

[nava1uni]

10" Rikon band saw is quite nice, has good power, a nice fence and good bearings.

 

[keithncsu]

I started with a 9" (or is it 10" not sure) Delta Shopmaster and it worked like a champ to cut blanks and very small resize cuts. I bought it used for $40 and eventually the pulley came loose from the wheel and wallowed out the holes. Sold it to a guy for $40 who said he was going to fix it. Figured I came out a winner

Then bought a used 10" Ryobi and so far I love it. I'm sure I would love a Laguna too but without anything to compare, it does everything I've asked it to do. I've cut up some rather thick ash and maple with it and that is the only time I can get it to struggle. I've even cut 2" thick books with it and other than dulling the blade, the saw takes it.

 

[jxdubbs]

I ended up ordering the GRIZZLY 14" G055LX. I can't wait til it gets here. It was at least twice my budget. I'm glad I did it though. Let you guys know how it is when I get it.

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[MRDucks2]

I ended up ordering the GRIZZLY 14" G055LX. I can't wait til it gets here. It was at least twice my budget. I'm glad I did it though. Let you guys know how it is when I get it.

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Great. I think you will be pretty happy with it.


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[jxdubbs]

So it's been a few months with my Grizxly bandsaw. And let me tell I love this thing. Everything I've thrown at it cut with ease. I'm 150% satisfied. Would I recommend this.... hell yes I would. Also SUPER QUIET. Grizzly has made a customer for life!

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[ebill]

Who uses a 10" or bench top bandsaw to acrylics, plastics, resins, stabilized & hybrid woods, worthless wood, hard ass exotic woods, antler & bone. Pen, bowl or call blanks.

- I have a 10" Crapsman which I use for odds and ends of small things. It works well for some things but, you will find it very limited to about 5" or so in max cut height. The motors on these are also ready to bog w/o notice. For cross cut blanks, small trims, small rounds, etc, it does fine.

- I have a 14" Rikon which I use for re-saw, bowl blanks, rounds, logs and every thing else. Whatever you can hoist onto the table, it will cut. Never bogs and is very true/square on cuts.

- I could easily get by with just the big one, but I keep the small one around for odds and ends. Horses for courses ...........

- ebill

 

[menglor]

I have a 18" bandsaw in the shop for doing the lions share of my cutting.

in the room I have bench lathe, I have 9" for doing small cuts. its easily a 50 foot walk, and 2 flights of stairs. so it doesnt make sense to cut blanks to fit tubes on the big saw, or to walk over and do it

I will add, that my 9" currently has a 4 or 5 TPI blade and its scarry sometimes to use with acryllic.

I plan to put a 10 - 14tpi blade.