swivel head metal bandsaw

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Nov 7, 2012
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anyone have this or similar style saw?

http://www.boltontools.net/saw/band-saw/BS-128HDR

I've had a Milwaukee portable band saw with SWAG style table before, works fine I but never was that in love with it. This setup is useful for those with limited room in a shop

I've got more room now and wondering if this 5"x6" setup will be more of a real saw?
will use mostly as a vertical.

thanks
 
The Harbor Freight/Grizzly 4 X 6 bandsaws are similar and are pretty much the standard knifemakers' saw. This one should work well, but it costs about twice what the 4 X 6 saws cost.
 
The added cost is the hydraulic downfeed and the swivel head, which is a super nice feature to have. On the other hand, the head is the *same* as the grizzly/hf ones, and has a really shit wheel design that doesn't track worth a damn, and leads to a lot of broken or jumping blades IMO.

Some of these tool sellers have a nicer, upgraded one on a stationary, heavier stand, for about $1200, and I've seen a couple in person, they work pretty nicely. I will say, a good mitre head saw is the cats ass for cutting tiles for flipping damascus billets, but if that's your purpose, get a higher end one, preferably of the style that has the vise extending on the cut-off side of the blade also, which will let you clamp short pieces with a C-clamp, when the vise can't grip it.

For general work though, yes, that saw will add a lot of versatility and less aggravation than the HF/Griz versions. Those are especially big pain in the ass to setup for angled cuts, and the vise design is really annoying.
 
I agree with Bill. If you're primarily wanting to use it as a vertical setup, there's not much advantage in getting the saw you posted, over say, a HF or similar vertical/horizontal saw. You might also keep an eye on your local classifieds, ebay, auctions, etc...
I got an older 58B wellsaw for about what the HF saw costs, and it has a much larger capacity, and a couple of additional features.

That said, I primarily use it as a horizontal cut off saw, and probably use my bench mounted portaband for 90% of everything else, unless it's a particularly long piece. Still nice to have options though.
 
Yeah as a vertical, it won't be any better than what you already have. Keep your eyes peeled for a smaller old industrial vertical, something that can take small 1/8-1/4" wide blades is really nice for contouring cuts. The taller the blade, the straighter the cuts typically, but the harder it is to cut curves.

Bear in mind that old non variable speed 3ph wood bandsaws can be run with a cheap Chinese vfd and cut metal just fine, with the right blades.
 
not sure what kind of cuts you are making but i had 3 of the 4x6 (that 5x6 is reight from the same group) never had a PC and swag table. this is really at the hobby cost vs semipro tools. i cut alot of 2x3foot sheets into blanks so my roll in saw is hard to beat. if you plan on cutting alot of barstock a self feeding saw might be perfect if all sheet stock a std vert. band saw might be the better style. all this said we have hobby vs pro/semi pro tools and its kind of about 1K$ brake point it sucks but its for the most part true you have to kind of deside what style saw will work best for you and then pick your price point
 
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