Tattooed and Dusty wrote:
Hi All,
So starting to plan another large cast iron purchase, and thought I
would pole the group for thoughts.

I am thinking of replacing my Grizzly G0555 14" Bandsaw. There are a
couple reasons for this. I have been less than satisfied with the
purchase since uncrating and setting the guy up. It works well, but for
a decent amount of my needs it feels somewhat wimpy. I have a bunch of
8/4 african hardwoods that I attempt to book match in virtually every
project. I have found this saw to be less than ideal for this use. I
realize I am asking alot of the saw, and it might not be fair to judge
it harshly for this failing, but I would like something better. It
doesn't seem like I can get the blade tension tight enough using even
1/2" blades, let alone 3/4" which the saw is rated for. This seems to
cause some great degree of wander in the blade tracking when using the
wider blades, something I haven't noticed when using thinner blades. It
seems to me that even without the riser kit installed there is more
flex in the body of the saw than I would expect. The table is small,
and the included fence is downright hard to lock in place without
feeling like I am torking the table beyond ideal.

Alright, so I would like to recoup some of the expense of the saw, and
invest in a better one. I primarily use the band saw for resawing,
trimming odd little things where I don't want to setup another saw, and
to cut curves with a jig.

I would like a decent size motor, as large as a table as possible, and
a really solid frame.

So far looking to spend maybe an additonal 1000, after selling the
Grizzly that moves me into about 1300 range. Looking online and some in
person the Jet 16" jumps out at me, the Laguna 14LTSE and the 16" are
both appealing, and the Delta 18" seems worth looking at. Are there
other models I am overlooking? Does anyone have experience with these
saws? Also it seems like while the laguna 14LTSE is smaller than the
other models I am looking at it, it has all the same features and might
have higher quality despite the smaller size. I have found that the
blade depth on my Grizzly has never been a problem for me, or at least
not one i couldn't work around by using a different tool.

Thanks in advance, as any help will be well appreciated

Andrew

I just bought a 40 year old Delta 20" with variable speed gear box
because my old 12" didn't have the jam for resawing. This baby will
allow me to dial in speeds from around 350 fpm to 5000. I would
recommend keeping your eyes open for some of the older used equiment.
The comparable saw to what I bought runs about $7,000 CDN up here, I
paid 1,500 with extra blades and blade welder. I had to spend about 300
on some Carter guides but I've been resawing Jatoba, Wenge, Maple and
various other hardwoods up to about 10" and haven't had a burp. Needless
to say I'm pretty happy.

JC