Motor for wood cutting bandsaw?

Chiro75

Chiro75

Joined
Feb 4, 1999
Messages
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I dug what looks like a decent Inca bandsaw out of a neighbor's garbage pile a few years ago. I need a metal cutting bandsaw, which I will get from HF and slap a good Lenox blade on, but I was wondering if it was worth it to slap a motor on the Inca and dedicate it to cutting handle material? Or should I just get the metal saw and use it for everything? I wouldn't want to switch the blades all the time and stuff. I cut mainly G-10, Micarta, some carbon fiber and some wood for handle materials. I know the size and RPM of a motor is dependent on the pulleys, too, but just for giggles, is there a standard HP and RPM rating I would want to look for for the wood cutting bandsaw (JUST for handle materials, not trying to do a conversion)? That would be great if I could get it working and have what looks like a real shop! :D
 
I have a little benchtop bandsaw (delta) that I swear at all the time, but wouldn't want to do without. It can cut much tighter curves and cuts faster than a metal cutting bandsaw. I can cut my scales out almost flush with the tang and save a lot of grinding. I'd think that if the only cost is a motor, it would be worth your while to get that saw running.


As far as that goes, we need more info. Is it a direct drive? Or is it pulley driven? Its the same concept as a belt speed on a grinder, figure out the circumference and rpms of the wheel that drives the blade and you'll be able to find the speed in fpm. I think my saw runs around 2500 sfpm. Which is probably a little fast for some materials, but it works pretty well overall.
If its belt driven, you need to find out the diameters of the pulleys and use that to figure out their ratio to figure out how fast you'll be spinning the drive wheel.
Also, how big is the saw? My little benchtop saw only has a 1/3 hp motor, but it doesn't bog down. A bigger saw, or on of the old 3 wheel types will probably take more power to run. At any rate, it doesn't take as much of a motor.
If its only a motor, and its a nice machine I'd go for it. A new benchtop saw can be had for under $200 and should serve your needs for the most part (can't do any real resawing or anything), so I wouldn't spend a whole heck of a lot fixing it unless its made better, or has a bigger capacity.
 
Or if it a nice old solid base you can rehab it, put a VFD and a 2hp motor in there and have a saw that you can cut anything with. I have no idea what the size of this saw is, so it might not be worth it.

Wayne Suhrbier
 
It looks like all the parts are fine. Just needs a motor. It'd be the same setup as a belt grinder. Looks like it needs a v-belt to drive it, and the pulley is directly mounted to the lower wheel that the blade runs on. It's a "big" bandsaw. Thing is probably 3 feet tall by itself. No base or anything.
 
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