Porter Cable 14" Bandsaw

[LCHIEN]

That's a really good deal on a solid classic but basic Bandsaw.

If you are going to get a riser, do it before you invest in a bunch of blades!!!

Picture below of a Delta with a riser installed.

[nicer20]

Besides being a 14 inch bandsaw - which means the wheels are 14 inches in diameter - what is the "resaw" height of the saw? That is the distance between the table surface and the lowest point of the upper blade guide assembly when the guides are raised all the way up. It typically is around 6 to 7 inches on many bandsaws, especially 14 inch models. If your bandsaw is the classic "C" shape using two cast iron sections bolted together (in the area next to the table... in the vertical-ish column that supports the upper wheelhouse stuff) then you can buy a "riser kit" to increase resaw capacity. Riser kits include a metal block that fits in this joint, lifting it around 6 to 7 inches; they also include a new support shaft/rod for the upper blade guide assembly that is also 6 or 7 inches longer. That way you can resaw stuff up to 12 or 13 inches tall - quite a bit. A "Euro Frame" bandsaw will be made of folded and welded sheet metal... the lower wheelhouse, the vertical column, and the upper wheelhouse will be one solid assembly, not two cast iron pieces bolted together. Riser kits can't be used on Euro Frame style bandsaws. I'll bet your saw is the classic two-piece cast iron frame style so a riser kit is an option. Why do I bring this up? If you think you will need the large resaw capacity, get the riser kit now before you buy a bunch of blades... adding the riser kit requires longer blades too. What is the horsepower of the motor... large resaw work requires more HP unless you don't mind really slow feed rates. Bandsaws with less than 3/4 HP probably should not be used with riser kits. 1.5 HP or more will handle most resaw tasks at decent feed rates.


mpc

Hello MPC,

The resaw height is 6". I believe there is a riser kit available - will look into it more. You have got a good point about looking into this earlier than later from blades investment point of view. Thanks.

According to manual, the motor is "1.5HP Max Developed". It is a 120V/10A motor. Also the saw allows two speed operation - 1630 & 2730 Feet Per Second operation. I think the slower speed is for metal cutting and faster one for wood.

Thanks again for all the education. I am sure I will need more in future. So thanks in advance too.

- Nicer

[nicer20]

Porter cable is the name now on the old Delta line of equipment. That is probably the classic Delta 14" saw which has been copied by everyone. I think you will probably find parts easily for that very popular design. Probably a safe buy if the price was right. 14" is the sweet spot for bandsaws. I have a 12" Delta and often wish it was a little bigger; its a slightly reduced version of the 14" Deltas.

Got a picture or the lowes number or the PC model number?

How much did you get it for?

Hi Loring,

Here are couple of photos of the machine I got. It is Porter Cable - PCB330BS. I cleaned up all the dust it had collected being a display model - a few minor scratches on paint etc. nothing more than cosmetic blemishes. Some surface rust on the table but I am sure I can clean that too.

I got it for $120. Looks like after I add some missing parts like tires, blade and few missing screws, throat plate etc. I might be out for ~$170-175. I believe the regular selling price was $570 so still a very good bargain.

Of course, now I need to find projects to justify the tool. Have hammer searching for nails .

[nicer20]

A quick acknowledgement - thanks a billion for the in-depth knowledge. I will digest this and update as I go through and tune up the saw.

[mpc]

Even though it was sold "as-is", often the manufacturer will treat it as a brand new - both from a missing/damaged parts perspective and for warranty claims. So my first actions would be to look at the owner's manual, (download one from Porter Cable if you didn't get a paper copy) and review the parts lists. Determine what's missing. Then send PC's Support/warranty folks an email, or use their online claims page, to ask for the missing stuff. Include a scan of the receipt to prove the sold-on date so they know it's a new saw, not a used one.

Tires: you will find rubber and urethane tires available in sizes for most bandsaws made in the last couple decades. Bandsaw sizes are fairly standard/common. Rubber tires tend to be less expensive but won't last as long, especially in hot/dry garage shops, compared to urethane. But either will work quite well. Carter Products makes all sorts of bandsaw add-ons and replacement parts including tires; they would be higher priced tires but you can find them in Woodcraft/Rockler style stores. I got replacement tires directly from the manufacturer of my bandsaw (Rikon) as their price was competitive with other sources that seemed trustworthy.

Blades: you can find Olson blades at many retailers, including Woodcraft and Rockler. They're decent blades; I've had good luck with them. Woodcraft has started selling Starrett branded blades; I tried one on my bandsaw and really liked it. Lenox blades are good too. An online-only blade source is Iturra Designs - search for their address and phone number on the web - and ask for a catalog. Iturra's blades have a good reputation and tend to be priced better than most retail stores but you do have to wait for shipping. To start with, if you don't have any blades, consider a 1/4 inch 6 TPI regular tooth blade. That is somewhat of a "universal" blade that will cut decent straight lines (resaw cuts and rip cuts) and can make all but the tightest curves. It's a good "learner" blade too. You will see blades in a few basic styles: "carbon steel" are the most common and least expensive, Bi-metal are a little more expensive but the teeth stay sharper longer, especially when cutting tougher woods, and carbide toothed blades which cost a small fortune though they last a long time but only make sense if you use the bandsaw a lot and can afford the wider kerf they make (turning more of your wood into sawdust) during resawing. Carbide blades are generally available only in larger blade sizes (1/2 inch an up) for resaw work; they're all but useless for curve cutting. So stick with bi-metal and carbon steel blades for now. For your first blade, if you've never used a bandsaw before, I would spend money for a known quality blade brand just so you know it won't cause you grief while learning... a Starrett, a Lenox... those are the brands I know. Others might be quite good too; I have no experience with them.

What blade to use for a particular cut? You have two main things to consider: the thickness of the workpiece and the tightest radius curve that needs to be cut. More blade teeth usually means a cleaner cut until the workpiece gets too thick for the blade - when sawdust packs the gullets (gaps between the teeth) full that creates friction, heat, and distorts the blade leading to wandering cuts. So you want several teeth in the workpiece but not too many. 3 teeth in the workpiece is more or less the absolute minimum. A 3 TPI (Tooth Per Inch) blade cutting a 1/2 inch thick board would fail this rule... what happens is you end up feeding the workpiece too quickly into the blade so a tooth slams into the top of the workpiece as it enters, causing vibrations or even shearing the tips off the blade teeth. With a 3 or more teeth in the blade at one time, it is much harder to feed too quickly (you'll feel the blade bending) so you won't overload the next tooth entering the workpiece. Nor more than 12 teeth in the workpiece is a general upper limit rule. For the blade size (1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, etc.) you need to look at the tightest radius curve you will cut; there are charts in the saw's owner's manual, or online, that will tell you the minimum radius each blade size can cut. The straighter the cut desired (e.g. resaw cuts or rip cuts) the larger blade should be is the usual recommendation. With practice though you'll find 1/4 or even 3/8ths blades can make pretty darn straight cuts if the bandsaw is aligned/calibrated properly.

Besides being a 14 inch bandsaw - which means the wheels are 14 inches in diameter - what is the "resaw" height of the saw? That is the distance between the table surface and the lowest point of the upper blade guide assembly when the guides are raised all the way up. It typically is around 6 to 7 inches on many bandsaws, especially 14 inch models. If your bandsaw is the classic "C" shape using two cast iron sections bolted together (in the area next to the table... in the vertical-ish column that supports the upper wheelhouse stuff) then you can buy a "riser kit" to increase resaw capacity. Riser kits include a metal block that fits in this joint, lifting it around 6 to 7 inches; they also include a new support shaft/rod for the upper blade guide assembly that is also 6 or 7 inches longer. That way you can resaw stuff up to 12 or 13 inches tall - quite a bit. A "Euro Frame" bandsaw will be made of folded and welded sheet metal... the lower wheelhouse, the vertical column, and the upper wheelhouse will be one solid assembly, not two cast iron pieces bolted together. Riser kits can't be used on Euro Frame style bandsaws. I'll bet your saw is the classic two-piece cast iron frame style so a riser kit is an option. Why do I bring this up? If you think you will need the large resaw capacity, get the riser kit now before you buy a bunch of blades... adding the riser kit requires longer blades too. What is the horsepower of the motor... large resaw work requires more HP unless you don't mind really slow feed rates. Bandsaws with less than 3/4 HP probably should not be used with riser kits. 1.5 HP or more will handle most resaw tasks at decent feed rates.

edit: if you do an online search for bandsaw setup, adjustment, calibration, etc... you will see all sorts of articles and videos describing how to align the bandsaw wheels to be coplanar... and two theories on "blade tracking." Your bandsaw owner's manual probably states to adjust the blade tracking (where the blade rides on the wheels) to be centered on the "crown" hump of the upper wheel tire and (hopefully) centered on the lower wheel. The other theory is to adjust the tracking so the blade gullets ride on the crown center... most of the blade will be on the back half of the tire. The idea is that, with the gullets always in that position regardless of the blade size, you won't have to adjust the lateral blade supports fore/aft. And, with the blade teeth and gullets supported by the tire, the theory states you will have less "drift" during resaw or rip cuts. I have my bandsaw calibrated to track with the blade centered and I get drift-free resaw cuts. And I get drift-free cuts that way despite the folks promoting the second theory who state such tracking makes the blade teeter-totter on the crown. Maybe if the crown is really high or pointed? Videos and articles show how to make a freehand straight cut to see how your saw and blade drift... and to adjust the rip fence to match that drift. My bandsaw rip fence is aligned parallel to the miter slot in the table and to the side of the blade; it's not angled a few degrees and I get straight, drift-free, cuts. Getting the bandsaw wheels coplanar, with the blade tensioned (the blades are exactly above each other, one is not shifted forwards or aft relative to the other and are not tilted left/right relative to each other), is key in my opinion. You may have to add shim washers behind one wheel to move it forwards (towards the operator) to match the other wheel... not uncommon. The lower wheel axle shaft can be aimed/calibrated by 4 bolts on the backside of the saw; see what adjustment is needed with the blade tensioned but turn those bolts only when the blade tension is released; otherwise you can strip what few threads exist on the saw structure. Those 4 bolts tip the lower wheel up/down and left/right; get it exactly matched to the upper wheel when the blade is tensioned properly.

By the way: proper tension: most bandsaw tension gauges are not well calibrated from the factory... if they exist at all. A few well-known bandsaw book authors claim they read "too little tension" so they tell you to crank the blade tension until the gauge reads one size larger: i.e. tension a 3/8ths blade to the 1/4 tick mark on the scale. That is risky; you may overtension stuff if your bandsaw happens to be one that reads high, not low, like my Rikon originally did. You can bend/break parts or just the blade if you're lucky. Instead: set the upper blade guides to about 6 inches above the table. Align the guides in the normal manner - both the upper and lower set. Then push on the side of the blade with the face of a finger - where your fingerprints are. Push until the skin color on the fingernail side lightens a bit - that'll be around 15 to 20 pounds of pressure typically. The blade should not move sideways more than 1/4 inch when tensioned properly. Try some test cuts, especially resaw cuts in moderately thick workpieces. If the cut is pretty good, adjust your bandsaw blade tension scale to match the installed blade size.

mpc

[dbhost]

Amazon has dozens of different MFG urethane tires for band saws, just pick a set for the standard 14" saw and you should be good to go.

LCHIEN is right, the Porter Cable name has been stuck on what was previously Delta equipment. Not bad stuff at all... Motor might be a bit small for resawing but slow and easy usually does the trick..

[LCHIEN]

Porter cable is the name now on the old Delta line of equipment. That is probably the classic Delta 14" saw which has been copied by everyone. I think you will probably find parts easily for that very popular design. Probably a safe buy if the price was right. 14" is the sweet spot for bandsaws. I have a 12" Delta and often wish it was a little bigger; its a slightly reduced version of the 14" Deltas.

Got a picture or the lowes number or the PC model number?

How much did you get it for?

[nicer20]

I was wandering in the Lowe's over the weekend and they had a Porter Cable 14" Bandsaw display model. The manager made me a deal on the saw in as-is condition that he was trying to clear out.

Now I have a bandsaw missing a few set screws etc. that I hope to find at hardware store. But most important things I need is tires and blade.

Any recommendations on these? What do gurus recommend?

Thanks in advance.

NG
PS - And tell me this impulse buy is worth it . In the past you guys' advice on belt sander and drill press has been very much on the money. Tribal assurance needed again .