Delta Bandsaw upgrade

[Travis Porter]

I am doing something I have never done before based on Insomniac writing about his Rikon bandsaw. I am going to throw out a post on upgrading a bandsaw.

Here is the deal. I have had a Delta 28-245 open framed 1/2 horsepower bandsaw with riser block for about 10 years. I bought it new, and thought it was a pretty good machine until I tried to do some resawing, and boy, that was a joke. I finally decided I wanted to either buy a new saw or upgrade the one I had, but I went back and forth and back and forth trying to figure out what to buy. The Delta 18 inch looked pretty shabby to me and I wasn't real thrilled with the Jet 18 either so I started looking higher end towards the MiniMax, Agazzani, and Laguna's. I just had a hard time thinking about spending $2500 on a bandsaw when my largest single tool purchase to date has been a Performax 22-44 Pro for about $1800. Would I use it enough and could I really justify it. I got so bad on looking at these things the LOML was going to buy me one for Christmas, but I changed my mind so much that she gave up. I finally decided to "upgrade" my saw after reading too much of Iturra Designs catalog and old FWW articles.

I began by building a new base/cabinet for the saw. 1 1/2 inch thick birch plywood with two drawers (still making drawers) and planned to leave the motor out back. My father bought me a new 1 1/2 HP motor so that was a done deal, I bought a Kreg fence and 7" resaw guide, and a few other odds and ends. Now the fun starts.

I mount the bandsaw frame on the new cabinet, no problems there. First problem is the new motor has to sit further back than the original due to the electrical box sitting out so far and keeping me from opening the saw doors. So, I have to order a belt (the Fenner drive belts are AWESOME but expensive, and I have to make a new belt guard/cover. Took about 4 hours to get that straight and done. I had figured since my saw was US made, it was going to be in good shape and alignment. That was wrong. Although the saw says made in USA, the castings were made in Mexico and a lot of the individual components are made in Taiwan. Well, my wheels were not in parallel, nor were they concentric, nor was the table square vertically to the blade.

So, I order some goodies from Iturra design to include the spinner handwheel, urethane tires, wheel shim kit, improved tension spring, some other doo dad to make the wheels concentric, and a table shim kit. All of this ran about $248 dollars. It took awhile to get all this installed, but it was needed. The wheels were over an 1/8 of an inch out of parallel, and the table was almost as bad. I got to looking at dust collection and realized that was a joke so I bought a wheel brush and the improved dust collection hook up to keep the dust down. Electrical switch had to be replaced due to toggle switch not being easily remountable and not being safe enough. I went cheap and bought an electrical jiffy box and a 20AMP light switch and just mounted that to the post.

I will say the difference in the cutting quality and speed is amazing. I can resaw a 12 inch board very easily and with little to no washboarding. Now the question is was it worth it? I am not too sure about that when you add it all up.

Total costs (including gifts):

$100 for materials for new cabinet including casters and slides
$150 for a new motor
$248 for shim kits, tires, fenner belt, spinner, etc
$ 30 for improved dust collection
$20 for new thrust bearings (old ones were shot)
$120 for bandsaw fence and resaw guide
$19 for high tension spring

So I spent close to $700 on this thing. Cheaper than a Minimax or Agazzani, but very close to being able to have bought the 18" Rikon and just keeping the Delta for small cutting.

Would I do it again? No. I would have been better off buying the Rikon and keeping the Delta or just breaking down and buying the Minimax. My shop time has become very limited due to having a very young daughter and another one on the way, and I personally would have been better served to get a new one. I have the space, could have afforded it (still makes me wince to think about spending that much money on a saw), and the time would have been used to build more projects either furniture or shop storage/cabinets which is my focus at the moment.

One day, I will break down and take the wifes camera to the shop and take pictures.

[D L Ames]

Great, detailed post Travis. please do post some photos of your saw, I'd be interested in seeing it.

D L

[junquecol]

Congrats on the up grade. I wish your FIL had known that I have a 1 1/2HP- 1725 rpm motor that I would dearly like for someone else to own. I've already up graded the motor om my saw and now have an extra motor.

[Ryan]

Sounds like you have made a good machine great! I agree with D L, I would like to see some pictures. I never realized the "made in the USA" Deltas were really "assembled in the USA"!

[Mountaincraft]

I agree that it would be economically better to buy another saw. You did earn a masters in YOUR saw. Knowing your equipment is a price hard paid. You didn't just buy a saw, you learned it.

I met a guy that could do a great job of resawing treated 4x4's on a benchtop Delta.

Upgrading your own equipment is the best education that one could have. It is well worth the price.

[windknot]

Bruce, I wish I had know about the motor, I bought a 1hp about a month ago fo rmy 14" delta. I still have the old 1/2 hp 3 phase if anyone is interested in it.

[mkepke]

Travis - not a criticism, but it seems to me that some of that $700 you spent was simply the cost of maintenance on the 10 yr old Delta - tires, belts, bearings, - even the shim kit...

As you alluded to, the optimum strategy might have been to buy e.g. a new Rikon and sell the Delta as-is. The cost of quality machinery really has plunged over the last ten years.

The most important thing is that you have a machine that does the work you need it to though.

-Mark

[Travis Porter]

Some of it was maintenance, but some of it was part of the kit I got from Iturra. For example, the old tires were ok, but I ordered a kit from Iturra that included the spinner handle and the tires so I put them on. The belt I had to do as the new motor required a longer belt due to positioning.

The biggest maintenance issue is the thrust bearings, and they were $20 bucks, but they haven't showed up yet. Fortunately, they are easy to change.

It does cut a lot better, I will say that.

[DavidF]

You don't mention what blade you ended up using.

[Travis Porter]

Oh. I have a stack, but I bought a 1/2 inch timberwolf with 3 TPI. I resawed 12 inch red oak to 1/16 inch and it did very well. Little to no washboarding.

[cpowell]

Proof's in the pudding, Travis.

Sounds to me like you have a great bandsaw that is set up perfectly for 700 dollars. That's not bad at all!

[Travis Porter]

I finally took SWMBO camera out tonight and took a few pics. Took me awhile to figure out how to size them . I don't mess with pictures and the camera enough.

Two pictures of the front of the saw. I built the base around the same size as the open base (should have made it two inches longer due to larger physical size motor. I bought very good double locking casters and ball bearing full extension slides for the drawers. Still have to "compartmentalize the drawers). The paint I had matched at Home Depot and is a satin acrylic. Base is two layers 3/4i inch plywood with lap joints, screwed and plugged. I used DAP painters putty to fill oddball stuff and it worked quite well.





Next up is the dust collection upgrade. I only used one the one fastener (trunnion support) based on Louis Iturra's catalog and that made a lot of sense. Easier to swing out of the way to change blades. It works fair. It may be my dust collector piping as well as I have not optimized it since I got my new collector and need to do so. Unfortunately, I have spent what I can spend on the shop money wise for awhile and have too many other irons in the fire, but such is life.



Next up is one of the upgrades I ordered from Iturra (most of what I got was from Iturra). These little thumb screws and studs cost 6 bucks, but it makes the blade a whole lot easier to change. I would rate it in the category nice to have, not a must have.

[Travis Porter]

Forgot to mention a couple of things. I added the Kreg fence (25 percent off at Woodcraft with coupon and the 7 inch resaw guide. I would give the fence a must have, but the resaw guide I could have done without or rigged something as good as it is a bit high pricewise. Oh well....

Power switch I went cheap on (been spending too much money), bought a "jiffy" box, a 20 amp light switch, and a 25' 12 guage drop cord. Turns out it is cheaper to buy a drop cord than to buy a plug and a length of wire at the BORG. Surprised me.

Here is I guess what is called the "spinner". It used to be a ROYAL pain to loosen and tighten the blade, and this thing makes it sweet. This is a MUST have in my book, but it is not cheap. I ordered it, the wheel shims, upgraded tension spring, urethane tires, and a couple other very small things as part of a kit that was in the 160 dollar range. All I can say is it is a breeze to tighten the blade.



Here are pictures of new wheel tires (picture is the pits). They weren't bad to put on, just make sure you have a 1/2 inch or larger dowel.



Lastly, and the most painful is the motor cover. Home made out of 1/8" hardboard and 1/2 x 1/2 wood strips. Screwed and glued. I did make it so it was removable, but painted the screws so I did ok. Had to use a Fenner drive belt to make sure I had the right length belt. First time, and I love that stuff. Would recommend it to anyone.



Thanks for looking.

[D L Ames]

Great looking mods Travis.

[cpowell]

Hey, that really looks great Travis. It's obvious you took your time, researched and thought through what you wanted to do.

Runs better than a new one now, huh?