Popular Woodworking 2006-11 № 158, страница 25

14" Steel Frame

BAND SAWS

You might be asking yourself, "Why are they testing such a specific saw category?" Good question. The general consensus is that steel-framed saws are more rigid than traditional cast-iron saws and allow more tension to be loaded on the blade. There are cast-iron saws that can stand the tension, but they usually are of a much older design or larger throat capacity. High tension is a good thing when you're using your band saw for resawing. The tension offers a cleaner, straighter cut - important for waste reduction when working with expensive lumber.

We anticipated that all of these band saws would be good machines for general curves and joinery work - and they are. Our greater question was whether these steel-frame 14" band saws actually lived up to the potential of operating as resawing machines - or whether they j ust looked cool. And that's why we decided to put them to the test.

Our experience is that a good resawing machine will have an adequately sized motor to match the resaw capacity of the saw. It should be able to handle at least a ³/4"-wide blade, and have a resaw capacity (the space between the table and the upper blade guide) very close to 8". We also want the table size and support structure (the trunnion design) to adequately support a board of conventional resawing size.

Our test includes six machines that vary in resaw capacity from 7" to 13" and range in price from $479 to $1,195. Some saws are pre-

They're all the rage. But are they ready to resaw?

wired for 220-volt (v) power, while others can be converted to 220v or 110v modes. The motor sizes varied, and other features (including single or dual speeds) helped to differentiate the machines.

Tables: Firm or Flexible?

To test the machines we first checked the amount each table

flexed by loading the front right corner of the table with a 25-pound weight and measured how much the tables sagged.

We then resawed 7"-wide oak boards (removing V4"-thick slabs) to test motor performance of each saw. For the machines capable of wider resaw capacity (the Rikon and Laguna machines) we also

by David Thiel

Comments or questions? Contact David at 513'531'2690 ext. 1255 or david.thiel@fwpubs.com.

The trunnions on the Craftsman saw are cast alum inum and are adequate to the task, but could provide better balanced support to the table and smoother adjustment.

The General (and Grizzly) trunnions are cast aluminum in a different configuration than the Craftsman. They provide more even support, but could be larger.

The Laguna trunnions are large and of cast iron providing excellent stability and balance to the table. The other manufacturers can learn something from this design.

The Rikon trunnions are stamped steel and do a decent job of support and balance. The rack-and-pinion design adds smooth table adjustment and is a nice feature.

repeated the resaw test using 11"-wide oak boards. In all the resawing tests we used identical ³/4"-wide, three-teeth-per-inch blades from Grizzly Industrial.

As an aside, the blade lengths required on all of these machines are not standard and in some cases may require custom-made blades, especially if you're looking for a particular tooth design.

Features: Lean or Loaded?

We also looked closely at the features offered by each machine. A stable base was considered a good thing (with little assembly required even better). If the base included storage, that was also an asset.

We also examined the different blade-guide designs and offered our opinions of the variations in the individual comment sections. Table size and design, as well as trunnion design were also considered. Larger is better, but not as important as stability. While we noticed significant differences in table stability, all of the machines passed our 25-pound weight test and should be adequate for the weight load during basic resawing. Ease of use when changing blade s was another consideration, as well as overall ease of use in general operation.

In the end, we were able to identify two machines worthy of praise. The feature-laden Craftsman saw performed well at a very good price, earning our Best Value award. A redesigned Rikon saw surprised us in a very positive way, offering features and performance superior to even the much higher-priced Laguna machine.

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