HF Band Saw

[JoeyGee]

I currently have the 10" Craftsman (Rikon) band saw. It's ok, but I'd like to have more capacity.

What are the current opinions on the HF BS? I'm worried it may be underpowered. Right now, I've got some small logs I'd like cut into bowl blanks, which is about the biggest job I could see myself doing. mainly I'll just make band saw boxes, general curves and maybe light resawing.

I'll need a new blade (which I would do for any BS), maybe new guides, but I'm not worried about a fence. I'll make some jigs for the logs.

I'd love to get a classic 14" Delta style used, but band saws just don't show up used in my area. I've been watching for a couple years. The good side of that is I know I can probably get some money out of my 10".

[Pappy]

Several members have bought the 14" HF BS in the past and after some tuning and fiddling have been satisfied with the results. Hopefully some of them will chime in with more specifics on what had to be done. In my case I spent a little more and bought the Grizzly G-055 with a riser block kit.

The G-055LX is currently on sale for $614 shipped. ($50 off) It comes with a fence and roller bearing blade guides. The riser kit is another $87.95 and gives you a 12" resaw capability.

[dbhost]

I have an older model HF 14" bandsaw, with the Harbor Freight riser kit, cool blocks etc... Power has never been a problem as long as I keep in mind what I am doing, and ALWAYS use good blades! A band saw is NOT a high speed cutting tool. Just give it a good steady feed rate and keep anything you want to stay attached away from that blade!

FWIW, I had bought a 2HP HF motor to use in a drum sander project that I changed design on. I plan on swapping that motor in more for bragging rights than necessity.

The differences between my old model, and this new one are purely cosmetic with one exception, and that is the location of the dust port. The old model had the dust port right below the throat plate, the new one on the door to the lower wheel, both locations have merit. A better option would be BOTH, but nobody does that. I have considered getting a 2.5" dust port for the lower door and cutting the hole on my own. I am certainly not afraid to do that. Put the stock port back under the throat plate and use a 4" x2.5 x 2.5" wye adapter and call it good as it gets...

See one in store, and use your own judgement. I have had mine for years and am happy with it...

I did a couple of mods that helped. They are...

#1. Harbor Freight riser block kit. I do not know if they still sell one. I believe the Grizzly kit fits no problem.
#2. Cool Blocks / blade guides. The OEM guides are junk. Cool blocks are cheap and REALLY work well.
#3. Carter Cobra Coil. This helps keep tension on the blade that the OEM coil just looses when using a riser block.
#4. Upsize the stock dust port to 4". Helps, sort of.
#5. The biggest and scariest, upgraded by saw to a Grizzly GO555 Quick Release mechanism.

[tfischer]

I have the HF band saw. Now I've never used any other band saw long enough to know the difference, but it's done well for me.