Home made Horizontal bandsaw for under $70

[aaxiss]

Ok If their is any interest I can take some pictures and let you figure it out from there as I made no drawings and did this right when I started welding again after like 20 or so years off, maybe 3 years ago.

what I did was make a pivot arm for a Harbor Freight hand held portable band saw. The cost of the band saw on sale and with a 20% off coupon was about $59 and I figure another $10 in material.

Materials were all scrap from other projects. some 3/16 as a base to bolt to work table, 2 small 1/2 plate rems about 5x5", a piece of 10" long 1/2x1" bar and a 4" piece of angle iron.

If there is any interest in seeing pictures or a video of it in action I will post up some pictures and a video like to youtube ( I'll have to shoot the video)

I figure like a lot of you my budget had no room in it for a big horizontal band saw and I hate how long and loud a chop saw takes to go though 2" .250 wall square tube or anything up to 4" ( the opening of the saw ). with a good 10-14 bi-metal blade this thing makes short work of .250 wall tubing or anything up to 4"x4" and that could be solid .

The blades I bought were also from HF but were amreican made. Morse Bimetal 3 blades for $19 but starret and other good blade companies make bimetal blades for this saw because Milwaukee and other make a similar saw with the same blade size Except the others cost about $300 or more.

the cuts are dead straight too ( god only knows why ) as I figured I just wanted to get the cuts fairly close but the cut end of square tube will stand up dead straight on a flat surface with a square on 2 90 deg apart sides.

Its ugly as hell but works great and only takes about a couple hours and cuts about 10 times faster than a chop saw without all the noise and sparks & mess. any interest let me know.

[ducksface]

Those things are $200+ on ebay. the vertical one is $72 plus shipping.

Post pics.

You can order just the swing arm on ebay for about $53.

[jakeru]

I am totally interested. Post pics and details!

Although I just bought a bandsaw, its a bit of a "basket case" so I can use all the info on them I can get. Also, I'd like to see how you make one custom!

I feel like I got a deal on the one I got, its a vintage "craftsman industrial" (made by atlas / clausing) horizontal 3x6 I bought for $40. I've already sunk about $30 of additional in parts into it and am not done yet. But it has neat features... a hydraulic cylinder, pretty decent construction. A real nice homemade stand. Nice, lightning-quick starting 1/2 hp motor. Maybe I will start a thread on its restoration and review myself if there is much interest!

So far I already have it up and running, and really like the utility of these horizontal metal cutting bandsaws. So much quicker and more accurate than hacksawing... By the way, I put a 24 tooth per inch high-carbon blade, and am finding I can cut things thinner than I ever could with a hacksaw... I'm talking thin (and fragile), .020" thick aluminum extrusions stood up on end, cut sideways through the wall, without causing any wall distortion.

[ducksface]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milwaukee-48-08-...item5adfb3d4a0

http://cgi.ebay.com/Stout-ST-CS250-p...item19c515333d

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Does anyone here have a STOUT brand portasaw? I'm willing to buy one just to get the table saw attachment.

[aaxiss]

I'm going to be laid-up for a while unfortunatly but will get my Dad to get a few pics, I'm pretty depressed right now, just discovered I have a pressure sore under my left hip on my left buttock which means about 6 wks of mostly in bed. guess I been up in my wheelchair too much lately.

But basically what I did is make a pivoting arm for the band saw that allows me to cut heavy steel with little effort, noise or mess. I will get the pictures up asap for ya and possibly I can get my dad to make some cuts on some material for a video also.

This is basically my life... just when things get going on an up note for me I get a sore or some thing happens to put me in the hospital or out of commission for a month or 2 .

[jakeru]

Definitely take care of yourself, and keep your chin up. The metal can wait.

[woodchuck]

All the best Don.


Chuck

[aaxiss]

I'm going over to my Mom's today after my Dr visit , will get some pictures while there for ya guys . Possibly some video too. I just have to limit my sitting time and try to keep most of the pressure on my other hip.

The sore is not very big 1cm x 2 cm it could easily get infected and much larger very easily so I gotta take it easy.

[ducksface]

There's a used factory Milwaukee one for sale on ebay. I bid $100 for the frame, it's going to sell for way more than that. I'll be building yours instead.