What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

horizontal bandsaws...

ryoken

ryoken

Puppy Fabricator
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Posts
35,573
Reaction score
13,560
Location
Jersey Shore
cheap.. I want budget.... 500 or less... i've heard of people using better blades on the horrible freight and northern units...


http://www.harborfreight.com/horizontal-vertical-metal-cutting-bandsaw-93762.html


i see northern has jet and their own...

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200323677_200323677

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200365120_200365120



i've had good luck with grizzley stuff in the past...



http://www.grizzly.com/products/4-x-6-Metal-Cutting-Bandsaw/G0622



anybody bought one recently and done the major Google-fu reseacrh gig? suggestions? :ears:
 
This question is right up my alley.

The only HF in my shop is that bandsaw. And its the biggest piece of crap I've ever used. I use it for cutting 1/4" plate and less int he vertical position. To do this I had to make a table for it as the one provided is worthless.

When I've got to use the thing in the auto-down position its almost pointless. Adjusting the bearing guides is a non-stop ordeal. Also if everything is going well and you've got enough loctite on the belt tensioner to hold the titanic together then inevitably the ****ty workpiece clamp will fail on you. Jamming the blade halfway through your part so that you've got to torch the piece off.

With that stated I do run Diemaster II Bi-metal blades. Its the only way to go but the machine is such a piece of **** that its really akin to a glimmer of sunlight in the ninth circle of hell.


Also all the machines you posted are most likely the exact same machine just with different branding. Maybe a better set of bearings between the three, but really in the same league of saw.
Save some dough and buy a Do-All, Kalamazoo, or a Wilton league machine.
 
I was eyeballin a used kalamazoo the other day.. need to make that a CL search.. thanks for the insight! :D
 
My school of thought is never to purchase anything precision at HF. But if you do the 'old 20 percent coupon is always a nice stand-by. I keep a couple bookedmarked on my smart phone at all times :D

even if the coupon is expired, the clerks are high school kids and will normally give you the discount regardless.

Harbor-Freight-coupon-at-lowes.jpg
 
I think grizzle is just a few steps above HF and Northern stuff.

I have the small HF one you posted, it's ok for small stuff and I only use it for vertical cuts. The base of that saw was so bad I just took the saw off of it and will make a stand for it.

I also have a Grizzle G6051 http://www.grizzly.com/products/7-x-12-Metal-Cutting-Bandsaw/G0561

It's a bit more money but a lot better saw. I was cutting a lot of 4x3x.25 angle and the little saw just took to long to get the job done. With the bigger saw I could stack 4 pieces of that angle and it would gut them in minute or two(controlled by the Hydraulic feed control).

You might want to take a look at Jet products too. I'd put HF/North in the same grouping and then Grizzle/Jet on par with each other.

You never said what you were going to be cutting with it.
 
mostly tube, some angle here and there, strip steel.. nothing huge, and probably nothing thicker than 3/8"....

the grizzley is pretty cheap compared to the jet.. the grizzley is 400 or so shipped, whereas the Jet is like 575 shipped...

my belt/disc sander from Grizzley has been pretty decent.. and they also seem to be a decent company, i've ordered belts and such from em for it...

i may hold off till the winter and just use the chopsaw for now.. $500 would be 5/6th's of my upcoming tube order... :haha:
 
The HF one takes some mods to make it work well, not a ton but some. There is plenty of discussion on it, I will see if I can find it for you Paul

The northern and grizzly are pretty much the same from what I have seen similar problems.

The Jet ones is a bit better but still needs some mods to work well

I have helped a friend mod the HF one it works great now. We made a table for it to do horizontal stuff, no big deal at all.

I will try to find the link with all the mods on it
 
i have that jet one from northern. ups broke it when they delivered it. i watched the driver up end it off the hand cart and let it flop over onto the face of the box. it smashed the box and crushed the styrofoam packing material. opened it up to find he dented the housing on the motor and broke the cast iron arm that holds the saw on the bed. northern was good about quickly sending out all new parts and it's worked fine since.

the only thing i don't like is the platform you bolt on to use it vertically. there's a piece of stamped steel about 8" square that bolts on like a small table top. it's only about 18 gauge and it can flex. it's caused a couple of catches and ruined a blade on me. i'll eventually make one out of 1/4" plate.

i have grizzly tools in my wood shop and i've seen the grizzly band saw at their muncy pa. store. i've also seen the HF saw in the store. w/ the exception of the legs, the saws looks identical to my jet. i wouldn't be surprised if most of these companies aren't getting these tools from the same factories in china and just having a few parts made/painted differently to differentiate the lines.
 
Ive used the JET liquid cooled model on some 7/16 rectanglular tubing. And a bunch of other stuff and LOVED it! Havent used any of the otheres. But if i ever have the money to buy one of the liquid cooled jet saws, itll be in my garage. :waytogo:
 
good stuff, thanks guys.... :bow:

I think I'm gonna wait till winter... gonna keep my eye on eghey and CL for a good used unit locally, and if i don't see something by x-mas, I'll do a Jet or something...

I just want 1 automated tool in the Dungeon..... :pimp:

unless ya wanna count milling stuff on the belt sander against the fence with weightlifting weights holding it in place... :haha:
 
K5 Jess said:
For what its worth, go liquid cooled! :waytogo:
Click to expand...

For what its worth that is the wrong way to go on saws. I got the pump the fluid and everything and it was a big waste of time. Blades didn't last any longer and I could not cut any faster. It just became a big waste of time and money. I use the 6051 dry and it's just as good as wet.

Even the big metal supplier I use doesn't use cooling on their saws and that's with the big 1 inch blades.
 
The only real need I see for cooling is when you are cutting contantly.

I did some cutting on mine where I was cutting 1.75 solid for end caps on stuff.

Cooling would have helped for sure cause it was constant every time it shut off I started it again.
 
When I was running my business I would run my grizzly non stop for about 6 hours a day without cooling.

I started out using the cooling pump but after about 2 months I started testing without cooling. I found that I could cut at the same rate and the blades lasted just as long. Moreover, saw clean up was 10x easier as I could just sweep up the shavings and I didn't need to clean the screen on the cooling pump.
 
I've been using a Milwaukee porta-band with the Swag off road, table. It's worked great so far had it about 2.5 years.
 
K588 said:
I've been using a Milwaukee porta-band with the Swag off road, table. It's worked great so far had it about 2.5 years.
Click to expand...

Thats a win right there really. Thats what we use at work (without the table) and they slice pipe all day like butter. Then its small and compact enough to put away somewhere and not take up so much space.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom