Wood/Metal cutting bandsaw ?

We have a Wilton 8201VS in our art metals studio. It isn’t exactly a quick change from wood to metal cutting and since ours is dedicated to metal, I removed the belt for the wood drive. Ours is the variable speed, so just twist a handle on back to adjust the speed, but you still need to be able to get to the back of the machine to change belts. I would think about getting one for my shop at home, but understanding it’s somewhat limited. If you have had the chance to use a real metal cutting bandsaw the Wilton’s will suffer by comparison. The biggest thing I have cut on the Wilton is 1.5 x 1 inch aluminum bar, I’ve cut round and square annealed O1 and W1(?), and various aluminum, brass, copper, bronze, in various shapes and sheet, and even a bit of silver. I’ve haven’t tried it for profiling a knife blade, but it should work fine. A lot of guys are happy with mounting and rigging up a table for portable bandsaw, and its much less expensive option. What do you plan on using the Wilton/Jet for?

Todd
 
What a pain changing blades from wood to metal . I picked up a table top shop fox wood bandsaw from grizzly and am very happy with it , than set up a portaband saw for the metal . Got about $350.00 invested in the both .
 
I have the Wilton, great saw but too much trouble changing from metal to wood, to metal, to wood, to....... I leave it set on ivory now.

Get two saws, I have three :D
 
I have a Craftsman 14" that I use for wood, I also have a 4 x 6 I used to cut across my steel, and them profile with a belt grinder.
I have used my Craftsman to also cut G-10 and mircata, bit found out blades don't last cutting man made material.
I start looking for a 10" bandsaw to put a bi-metal blade on for the man made stuff. I was talking to the owner of the Woodcraft store in Lexington, Ky when he told me about the Jet bandsaw on sale for $1000.00, and this month there is a 15% off in his store. With my business tax number it would be around $850.00delivered to the store.

Rick
 
Wood, metal, and ivory, I assume?
Click to expand...
Yeah, pretty much. Two saws for steel and one for ivory/wood.

Ricky, put biemetal blades on both your saws. I don't think you need another saw,
unless you just want three :D Or a better metal saw...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top