New Christmas Present to Myself

[DavidCBaker]

The machine as a whole:

Extension table (very robust), useable on any of three sides:

Solid acryclic wheel with solid steel axle:

Blade tightness gauge as viewed through open window. It's a starting place, based on width of the blade. This was a 1" blade, so you can see where I set it:

Lower roller with dust control brush and yellow foot brake:

Upper roller, along with tension gauge on lower left. See safety red box in upper right that keeps machine from starting unless large door is closed:

Upper European style roller guides, side to side and front to back. This whole arm goes up and down based on the height of the cutting piece:

Ditto

Lower European style roller guides, side to side and front to back:

Fence (usable on three sides). Very robust:

Foot brake and front wheel assembly to move it around (just under 1,000 lbs):

Wheels to adjust wheel tracking and wheel tension:

 

[jmbfestool]

VERY NICE!

I want one!  I have been looking at the Hammer one! This is nicer though!    Im sure you will let us know how it runs!

Cheers for sharing!

JMB

 

[Holzhacker]

You are soooo cruel. Very nice machine. I was eyeing an older model in a friends basement just yesterday.
Did it come with the chips all over it or have you been playing with your new toy before Christmas, naughty boy.

 

[tbellemare]

Did it come with the chips all over it or have you been playing with your new toy before Christmas, naughty boy.

I was about to ask the same thing, David.

I'm jealous.

Tom

 

[DavidCBaker]

I'll admit--I've been playing. Trying to tune the blade just right.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Beautiful machine, David.  [drooling] [thumbs up]  What others were you considering and what made you select this over those?

 

[DavidCBaker]

The only other one I seriously considered was the GRIZZLY G0636X Band Saw, but I ended up settling on the better build quality of this one...and they had a nice sale. It still took two months to ship over here, and it took me nearly all day to uncrate it and get it in the garage.

 

[Musatoved]

Congrats on your new toy I am sure you going to love  it  [smile]
I am looking to by Felder shaper some time next year just have to stop buying festool [unsure]
So my questing is when you assemble the band saw what did you think about there quality,  the way it was build?  Where you impress with it?,  Is it worth paying top $$$ for their tools?

 

[DavidCBaker]

Yes, I was very impressed with the build quality...and the instructions. Top notch. Very much the same way I felt when I put together the SawStop. It felt like the last band saw I'd ever buy.

 

[Jesse Cloud]

Sweeet saw!  I'm drooling.

BTW, if you haven't already figured this out, looks like the wheel is not crowned.  So if you are reading any of the How To books on tuning a bandsaw, their advice is probably useless.  The blade doesn't necessarily go to the center of the wheel.  When the manufacturer's literature differs from the books, I would give the mfg the first shot....

Happy sawing!!!

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Great saw, David.  My only suggestion to really improve resawing cuts is to get ceramic guides or the Carter linear ball bearing guides.  I found that the Euro-style worked, but I had trouble with bearings freezing up and found them hard to adjust.  This is an easy retrofit when the time comes to replace them.  This is an awesome machine and IMHO, the right size for most any woodworking task. I have an 18 inch and while it is good for most things, a 24 inch would be just about right.

Congratulations!

Scot

PS - like how the green matches your other toys!

 

[DavidCBaker]

Where's a good place to buy those when the time comes, Scot?

 

[Neill]

David,

I hate you!  Hate you, you hear!

[wink] [drooling]

Neill

 

[DavidCBaker]

I thought my wife would hate me, too, but she's actually been pleased that I got it!

 

[BigHonu]

That is one impressive looking saw!

 

[tigger]

I thought my wife would hate me, too, but she's actually been pleased that I got it!

Firstly, I love the new toy. I'm very jealous.

However, from your Bio, I know you've been married a while. Coming from a guy thats only been married ten years, even I know that when my wife is happy about me buying a new powertool, it's for ONE reason only. SHE HAS WORK FOR ME TO DO! I know this because at some point I've squirmed out of doing a fix-it job at home because -

"Honey, I need a bandsaw to make that for you! Sorry I just don't have the right tool for the job! When I can eventually afford one for my home workshop, I'll do it for you."  [thumbs up] (my factory is too busy to use the tons of tools I have there!!! [embarassed] )

That always lands me in trouble because she forgets nothing!!!  [scared]

Keep those fingers safe and Merry Christmas!

 

[MrToolJunkie]

Where's a good place to buy those when the time comes, Scot?

Hi David,

Laguna carries the ceramic guides and they are stationary -- support the blade from 5 points of contact above and below the table so the blade runs much, much smoother than with Euro -- nice for resawing.  Cart sells direct too.  Cost is comparable between both sets.  I have the Laguna and love them.  Laguna also carries the Driftmaster fence which makes adjusting for blade drift a breeze. 

I noticed in one of the pics that it looks like the front of the blade was hitting the plexi-glass guard -- is this just sawdust or did the blade touch the blade guard?  You can adjust the tilt of the upper wheel so the blade tracks front to back -- I usually run smaller blades right in the middle and larger blades I let the front teeth hang off just a little bit.  There should not be any front to back movement on the blade.

Scot

 

[DavidCBaker]

Thanks, Scott!

I just finished a project with it and can't wait to post pictures.

I'm having a blast.

 

[mattfc]

I thought this might be interesting to see the similarities between David's lovely FB600 and my Hammer N4400

 

[DavidCBaker]

Looks pretty darn similar to me!