Take a tour of my Bandsaw
Interesting Characteristics
I have a Delta 14" Bandsaw that has a number of enhancements, both custommade and aftermarket commerical upgrades. I do a lot of resawing so I've added Delta's riser blocks to get that extra height to resaw upto 12+ inches. This is great for bookmatch panels and veneers. I've also added the Carter ball bearing guides (a conversion kit) and the stronger tension string. But probably the most beneficial commerical upgrade I've added is a carbide-tipped saw blade. I use a 3/8" 4 TPS blade. I've had this blade for a number of years for general purpose cutting and resawing. It leaves the smoothest finish by far of any bandsaw blade. Of course it's very expensive, but in the long-run it could be the cheapest blade you'll every buy. I expect mine will last me more than 10 years (so far it's been 7).
Commentary
From the photographs you'll see I've added a number of custom shop-made asssessories for the bandsaw. A custom dust port to the front lower door of the saw is especially handy to hook up my dust collector when resawing. That operating generates a lot of dust. The tabletop lays over the standard cast iron top but provides a longer/wider surface with T-track running in two directions. I use this as a holddown for my resaw system. Attached to the tabletop is a long extension wing. I like doing a curved work (cabinet doors, curved drawers, etc.). This wing provides the table surface for radius cutting jigs. Here's link to a photo series on cutting curved faces for cabinet rails or drawer fronts. It's hosted on Picasa. If you run it in SlideShow mode you'll see how I curve cut front and back door rails and drawers fronts.
Click here
for a photo essay on bandsaw curve cutting.
Be sure and click the
button to see the process in action.
For a detailed walk-thru of individual workstations in my shop, click on any of the links below.