~14" Wood/metal bandsaw similar to (discontinued?) Rikon 10-326DVR?

[CoastRedwood]

I have a small hobbyist home woodworking shop and am considering getting a bandsaw. In a perfect world I would get a variable speed model that can also cut metal as it seems likely that would come in handy from time to time around the house, but most of the variable speed wood/metal bandsaws seem to be literally 3x or more in cost than a wood-only bandsaw, which seems like a lot for a bandsaw that's going to mostly be cutting wood. Also most of them are 220-only, which would require adding an outlet as well.

I did find the Rikon 10-326DVR which seems more reasonable at ~2x the cost of a wood-only bandsaw and runs on 115v, but it looks like it's been discontinued.

Does anybody know of any other options I should consider (or a source for the Rikon DVR), ideally under 2k or so?

I’m in the California Bay Area if that’s relevant.

 

[Packard]

Amazon sells Rikon bandsaws (3rd party seller). They show 14” dual voltage (115/230) and 10” (household line voltage).

They both appear to be available.

 

[CoastRedwood]

Amazon sells Rikon bandsaws (3rd party seller). They show 14” dual voltage (115/230) and 10” (household line voltage).

They both appear to be available.

Thanks for the reply. Most of the Rikon bandsaws (such as the 14" 10-326 *without* DVR suffix) don't support cutting metal (they don't go slow enough). In ~2019 Rikon released the 10-326DVR  which had variable speed down to ~45 SFPM, but as far as I can tell it's out of stock everywhere and no longer on their site, so I'm assuming it was discontinued.

 

[Packard]

Where I used to work, we had two heavy duty, industrial bandsaws that we used exclusively for cutting tool steel, and low carbon steel.  We bought both from a used machinery dealer for not very much money.

The one we used mostly came with a built in welder and grinder.  We bought saw blades in coils.  Cut them to length, welded and ground them.

The downside is that industrial machines are hugely heavy. 

I had my electrician wire one 220 line.  It’s not expensive, especially if you have it done at the same time as other work.  It probably added $75.00 to the bill to add the 220 line.

(When I say “add”, I mean he converted an existing line to 220.)

 

[Cheese]

I guess the first question to ask is how frequently do you anticipate cutting metal?

And more importantly what metal will it be?

If it's aluminum that can be done with a conventional wood cutting bandsaw at the conventional band saw speeds. That's not an optimum situation but it does work for thin materials or for a few projects. Aluminum is not much harder than several of the exotic woods that are popular.

From there the bandsaw recommended speeds go to copper, brass, HR steel, CR steel, tool steel and finally stainless.

My solution was to purchase a Delta 28-303 bandsaw about 30 years ago. It came with a 1-1/2 HP motor and incorporated 8 speeds from 40 SFPM (for stainless) to 3000 SFPM (for wood)...it contains a 2-speed gearbox and stepped pulleys to vary the speeds. I'd consider it to be a medium duty saw as it was designed to cut wood but was modified to cut steel. I've had no issues with it and it was manufactured in the US...bonus round for that.

I'd think you could pick something like that up used for under $1000...I purchased mine for $1500 new 30 years ago.

 

[whitesys]

I have the Rikon 10-326 which I upgraded with the DVR when it was offered.

The upgrade controller and motor is from Striatech.https://striatech.com/case-study-rikon/

The DVR motor is rated at 1.75HP/115VAC
The variable speed range was 100-2160RPM

You might contact Striatech to see if this is still available.

The upgrade was a simple motor swap out.
You might have to make a custom bracket for the control unit.