Small bandsaw in US

[Michael Kellough]

My neighbor is a Swiss visual artist who wants to start working with wood. I’m helping her with advice and some tools but she also wants a small bandsaw. My knee jerk response is not to buy anything with a wheel smaller than 14” but that’s too costly for her.

Anyone with experience or knowledge of a good small bandsaw?

 

[Bob D.]

You can probably find a good 14" on Craig's List for about what you would pay for a new 12 or 10 inch saw.

I see older Deltas, Grizzly, and other brands for sale all the time for less than $300.

Set up a search and get emailed when new bandsaws hit the list in your area. If there is no immediate need then you can wait and punch on the 'right' one.

 

[kevinculle]

She should be able to find a serviceable Delta 14" USA made for a couple hundred dollars.  Parts are widely available and the saw is easy to work on.  To get similar (actually lesser) quality in a new saw will run her a thousand dollars or more.  If she needs guidance the OWWM website has a wealth of information.

Old Woodworking Machines

 

[RKA]

How small and what's the budget?  What kind of throat depth will she need?  Does she need a tilting table?  How thick are the boards she will be working with?  Does she have a truck to haul CL finds home?  Does she want to consider something that may need some TLC before she can use it or does she want something ready to run?

 

[ChuckM]

Does she need a scrollsaw or a bandsaw? If she does not plan to work with thick and long stock, she may look at scrollsaws as well.

 

[Joelm]

+1 for a scroll saw. My wife thought she wanted a bandsaw to make art centric work but after seeing what a scroll saw could do,  she changed her mind.
She's still learning how to use it but is happy with her choice.
I bought her an 18" Jet scroll saw for her last year. Oh and a scrollnado was a must for good dust collection.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I think she wants both a small bandsaw and a scroll saw.

The saws she asked me about are WEN and similar 9 and 10 inch saws. I cringe thinking about trying to keep them adjusted. Maybe I could get her to “upgrade” to a 10” Rikon, if that really is an upgrade and not just a WEN with different paint and higher marketing expenditures.

Right now on Craigslist in our area an ancient Rockwell/Delta 10” is $250. A late Delta 14” is $500. The big one is more than twice as good so I’ll try to up sell but still interested in hearing what you know about the little ones.

 

[Michael Kellough]

scrollnado    Thanks Joe!

 

[kevinculle]

You don't want a late Delta 14...look for something mid-1980s or earlier are higher quality machines.

 

[ryan_k]

I've seen the Rikon 10" in person and it seems quite nicely made.

 

[Bob D.]

Expand your search to include neighboring areas.

I am in Southern NJ and when I am hunting for something I
watch all of NJ, northern DE, SE PA, and on up to Easton and
as far west as Gettysburg. Basically anything within a couple
hours drive. You will find better prices if you look outside where
you are located. My experience from working up there (Peekskill)
years ago everything is 1.5 to 2x what it is here at home.

 

[xedos]

I've seen the Rikon 10" in person and it seems quite nicely made.

I think so too, especially give it's $300 price tag.  It's what I'd buy if I were looking for a small bandsaw today.

 

[rmwarren]

I've seen the Rikon 10" in person and it seems quite nicely made.

I think so too, especially give it's $300 price tag.  It's what I'd buy if I were looking for a small bandsaw today.

I have the prior model, it's a very capable little saw, fit & finish are great. Thinks I paid $250 just before the updated model came out. Now I wished I'd waited because the changes they made look like they fixed a few nits I have with the saw.

+1 for the Rikon 10".

RMW

 

[RKA]

I have the 10" Rikon (10-306) and it's generally pretty good.  The fence on it is garbage though (doesn't lock down properly) which is a big drawback.  The only nice thing I can say about the fence is it can be oriented as a tall or short fence depending on your needs, but again, if it can't be locked down securely, what's the point (I have to add a clamp).  But the BB guides are easily adjusted with a knob, no tools req'd.  Whether it's worth the upcharge over the 10-305 I couldn't say.  And as an only saw, I couldn't recommend it for the price (about $350 on sale), when for a few bucks more you could pick up a nice 14" that is much more capable.  But of course it depends on your space, budget and needs. 

 

[serge0n]

I also have the Rikon 10-306 10" bandsaw, which I think is excellent, even unbeatable in a limited space. I have a very small shop and fitting a full size 14" bandsaw would mean making some serious changes with the layout and possibly letting go of some other tools. Which I'm ready to do at the moment.

The best feature of this bandsaw is it's adjustability - you can configure top and bottom guides without a problem, easily configure blade tension and wheel alignment. It has a lever for a quick blade release, so blade changes don't take more than 10 minutes, all adjustments included. And the best part -- all the parts stay tuned through all cuts, nothing wobbles itself free due to vibration. The cast iron table is flat and secures nicely to the base. There is a set screw that can be used to set the 0 degree position, makes it very easy to tilt the table and then set it right back to square.

I used this bandsaw to cut curves in 1" thick ash with the included blade (which is kinda crappy, but usable), the saw didn't struggle at all, it's very smooth. I also put it through it's paces while resawing 1" thick walnut and 2" thick ash to 5/16" boards at maximum capacity (5"). I had to change the blade to 1/2" and kept the feed rate at a reasonable speed, but I got beautifully resawn boards as a result. I love this saw.

Stay away from most other ten inchers on the market. I have tried Wen, Ryobi and Skil. All of them are a joke, adjustments are either non-existent or don't hold, they vibrate like crazy and most parts which should be metal are plastic. Forget about resawing anything with these saws. Oh, and the table on both Wen's I tried was not even remotely flat.
Older Craftsman and Rikon (which are really the same model) are OK saws, but the 10-306 is superior in all regards.

[member=21249]RKA[/member] a lot of people were frustrated with this Rikon's fence, but it's not garbage at all. It's a great fence once you fix the lock down issue. The problem is with UHMW sliders on the side of the fence locking mechanism, they are too thick. Just call Rikon, their CS is great, they will send you replacements. Here is a video that explains what is wrong with the fence and what needs to be replaced:

I was lucky that my bandsaw went through proper QA and fence was locking right out of the box. However, it wasn't packaged that well and one of the top door hinges was broken. A call to Rikon's CS resolved that issue.

A question to all -- some of you were saying 14" or get out. Why is that? Other than cut capacity, what else makes a full-size bandsaw more desirable than a compact one?

 

[grbmds]

Both Jet and Rikon make 10” saws which might not be good for resawing but should handle any curve cutting. Boh get good reviews but I think the Jet has a little larger motor.

 

[Bob D.]

I would say that a possible limitation of a 10" BS would be resaw capacity,
and does the motor have the power to handle what resaw capacity it does have.

Also, blade size is probably limited. I would guess a 3/8" or maybe 1/2" blade
might be the biggest it would take, I haven't looked it up. A 1/2" blade wouldn't
be too bad.

I had a 12" BS for many years and it was limited to a 1/2" blade and 6" resaw
capacity and I got by just fine. Used it to bookmatch some walnut for a box lid.

 

[VirTERM]

I also have the Rikon 10-306 10" bandsaw, which I think is excellent, even unbeatable in a limited space. I have a very small shop and fitting a full size 14" bandsaw would mean making some serious changes with the layout and possibly letting go of some other tools. Which I'm ready to do at the moment.

The best feature of this bandsaw is it's adjustability - you can configure top and bottom guides without a problem, easily configure blade tension and wheel alignment. It has a lever for a quick blade release, so blade changes don't take more than 10 minutes, all adjustments included. And the best part -- all the parts stay tuned through all cuts, nothing wobbles itself free due to vibration. The cast iron table is flat and secures nicely to the base. There is a set screw that can be used to set the 0 degree position, makes it very easy to tilt the table and then set it right back to square.

I used this bandsaw to cut curves in 1" thick ash with the included blade (which is kinda crappy, but usable), the saw didn't struggle at all, it's very smooth. I also put it through it's paces while resawing 1" thick walnut and 2" thick ash to 5/16" boards at maximum capacity (5"). I had to change the blade to 1/2" and kept the feed rate at a reasonable speed, but I got beautifully resawn boards as a result. I love this saw.

Stay away from most other ten inchers on the market. I have tried Wen, Ryobi and Skil. All of them are a joke, adjustments are either non-existent or don't hold, they vibrate like crazy and most parts which should be metal are plastic. Forget about resawing anything with these saws. Oh, and the table on both Wen's I tried was not even remotely flat.
Older Craftsman and Rikon (which are really the same model) are OK saws, but the 10-306 is superior in all regards.

[member=21249]RKA[/member] a lot of people were frustrated with this Rikon's fence, but it's not garbage at all. It's a great fence once you fix the lock down issue. The problem is with UHMW sliders on the side of the fence locking mechanism, they are too thick. Just call Rikon, their CS is great, they will send you replacements. Here is a video that explains what is wrong with the fence and what needs to be replaced:

I was lucky that my bandsaw went through proper QA and fence was locking right out of the box. However, it wasn't packaged that well and one of the top door hinges was broken. A call to Rikon's CS resolved that issue.

A question to all -- some of you were saying 14" or get out. Why is that? Other than cut capacity, what else makes a full-size bandsaw more desirable than a compact one?

There is a newer model 10-3061 already available. Apparently several issues, including fence related issue are corrected.

 

[RKA]

[member=50918]serge0n[/member] Thank you for that!!!!  I always assumed that cam lever was too weak...always felt like I would break it if I pushed down further and if I left it half cocked it would move on me.  So additional clamps were my fix.  I'll call them on Monday and get the new shims.  The rest of the tweaks VirTERM mentions don't seem too significant. 

Figures, I wait until v2 of this saw comes out with all the improvements and they turn around and create version 2.1!  [tongue]

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks for the posts guys! Looks like it’s a Rikon or hold out for and old Rockwell-Delta.