Deluxe 14" General Bandsaw

I’m not too fond of having roller bearings for my blade guides. So far all of the saws I’ve used that had them didn’t perform any better than those with well-tuned guide blocks and the bearings had to be lubricated or replaced regularly.

Riser blocks are something I’d avoid unless they are really, really needed. I use a delta 14” saw that someone converted with a larger motor and a riser block. It cuts well enough but I’ve not been able to tune all the vibration out of it yet. I’ll probably have to mess with shims in order to get it working smoothly.

The standard 14” Delta in my own shop works very well. It doesn’t have anything fancy on it with the exception of a quick release tension lever. It does have a 4” dust port built in which is nice.

With really good tuning and a good, sharp blade, I’ve resawn 8” wide boards with a Delta 14” and a 1HP motor.

-- See my work at http://altaredesign.com

A couple of years ago I got the 18” Craftex at BusyBee. I am happy with it. I have cut planks out of birch logs with a 1 1/4 blade and I have a 1/4” blade for fine work. 2 hp with several speeds. It was just under $1000 on sale. My only complaint is that the stamped steel wing is not very sturdy. My 1 1/4” blade is not very good. I will have to replace it.

-- My Boss was a carpenter

Thanks for the input guys. Does any one actualy own this saw and have comment to make? It is fairly new so would be nice to here a review