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almarktool

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
What is the better name out there right now,
Jet, Grizzly, Dewalt,
looking to get a bandsaw planer and drum sander
middle of the road not top of the line but not
crap either

Thanks
Mar
 
You probably get a little more for your money with Grizzly on a band saw, which is the route I went. But the Jet stuff looks like it might be a cut above and a little more expensive. I bought the Jet drum sander and it is nice. Dewalt makes nice mitre saws, but I know nothing about their bandsaws or sanders.
 
Might want to check out shop fox for a sander and planer. Bandsaw go grizzly or jet they both make a good product. Like any tool though you get what you pay for.
 
I have Craftsman Professional 14" band saw, And Craftsman Professional drum sander. Very happy with both, and blades and sandpaper for drum can be ordered online or picked up at most Sears stores.
 
I would take a Craftsman over a Dewalt any day. I haven't had a single dewalt tool that wasn't a piece of garbage.

I have the Jet drum sander and it seems to work well. When I bought my planer years ago, I was looking for something small. I went with the Ryobi from Home Depot. Was only a couple hundred dollars and I've fed 8' 8/4 maple boards through it with no problems. I would have definately gone with something larger if I had the space for it.
 
I recently purchased a compound miter saw during some home improvements. While shopping for said saw, I was looking at the DeWalt and Rigid models. The gentleman working at Home Depot told me that DeWalt quality has gone down over the years and they're selling on their name these days. He said the Rigid saw is a much better saw and was a good chunk of change cheaper than the comparable size/function DeWalt unit. I went with the Rigid model and am very happy.
 
I would buy a slightly lower grade band saw and purchase a carter bearing and guide kit. These peices are what really seperates most machines anyways. Other factors like hp, ban speed can be manipulated pretty eaisly.
 
the only thing bad about craftmans is that they use there own dementions on things, meaning when something breaks down you have no choice but to go with them. I used to buy exclusively from them yease ago before I knew any better. Only thing I get from sears now are sockets and wrenches. Stay with Grizely, jet, delta,
 
If you go the route Bubs suggested, make sure you can get the bearings for that particular band saw ahead of time. My band saw is my worst piece of equipment. It does what I need it to, but no more. He mentioned these bearings a long time ago and I looked into getting some and can't for my saw. One of these days, I'll just suck it up and buy a new one. This was free, so I can't complain.
 
bubsbug said:
I would buy a slightly lower grade band saw and purchase a carter bearing and guide kit. These peices are what really seperates most machines anyways. Other factors like hp, ban speed can be manipulated pretty eaisly.
Click to expand...

That is what I did. I bought a Harbor Freight bandsaw for $169 on sale a couple of years ago http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=32208 and bought the Carter guides for it for another $149. It cuts like butter now. I wish the table was a little bigger but it hasn't been a real issue yet.

Larry
 
I bought a buffalo ban saw for $100 once. Had parts from a delta lying around. I converted the table and fancy dial in gadgets from the delta and put it on the buffalo. Year later I modified a carter bearing set to fit because they didnt have one for the buffalo. Believe it or not it cuts better then my newer one. This was about 13 years ago.
 
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