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For resawing of dry walnut logs (10" dia). It does take up space. On small work, there is no problem. They are difficult to install and remove. 14" saws with the riser blocks cannot compete with this machine.
Practice has gotten this down to 15 min. Not like a 14" saw with 5 to 10 degrees of eccentricity. Keeping the saw tuned up is important for good operation. If you plan to do serious resawing then a 3HP motor is the choice.
I need to convert to 230V and use shorter cords due to the circuit breakers kicking out if the motor starts to slow down. Considering the overall uses, the motor is well sized. Tension on the ball-bearing guides is simple to adjust and blade tracking is dead on straight. I use it in cabinet shop for everything - small tight curves, cutting mulitple stacked pieces, resawing small logs, etc. I have several 1.5" 1.2tpi for resawing. For occaisional work 1.75HP is fine.
While there are better saws on the market - ie: Laguna and their more expensive brothers, if you want a good all-purpose bandsaw - this is a good choice for less than $2K. Blade tensioning is good and easy to use. I purchased the earlier version of this saw about 4 years ago. and gloves are important. Lower blade guides are hard to access and to keep clean.
You can use the factory fence.
I have learned to trust the indicator.
It is even better when you compare it to a Delta with the same motor size.
the motor is fine.
Final piece of wisdom - don't confuse the quality of the saw with the quality of the blade.
I mounted mine on a rolling platform for storage when not being used.
Small 1/4" and 1/8" blades work fine.
I have learned how to keep it humming and coasting.
Cheap blades can make a good machine look bad.
I love my Jet 18" band saw. JET 710041 Premium Bandsaw Blade 1/2-Inchx137-Inch 6 TPI.The blade was easy to change. The only problem is that Amazon recommends the wrong blade. A 133" is recommended, but 18" saw needs a 137" blade.This is the part # needed. I was concerned because someone said it was hard. I found quite the opposite.
You won't be sorry you bought this saw. This saw, along with AMAZON'S price,and FREE shipping. was an unbeatable, SMOKIN DEAL. You can always trust AMAZON.COM. JET 710750 JWBS-18X 18-Inch 1-3/4 Horsepower Resaw Woodworking Bandsaw with Roller Guides, 115/230-Volt 1 Phase
This bandsaw is absolutely incredible. I read other reviews and was a bit skeptical at first but found it to be a breeze to adjust. I also sawed a 11" piece of redwood. I contacted Amazon through the return process and they sent out another one right away. I look forward to using this product for many years. You couldn't ask for any better. When I ordered the bandsaw at first, the product came to me damaged. I sawed a two inch wide piece of curly maple at about a hundred thousandths with no problem.
When I received my new bandsaw I was impressed with how heavy duty everything was. The guide bearings are great and easy to adjust. The blade tracked perfectly straight and I was able to remove a piece of redwood less than 1/8" thick with a consistent thickness. By the way, I contacted the manufacturer's technical support to verify a couple of things, and they were more than willing to support their product and I didn't have to wait too long.
However, I suspect if I resawed oak the saw may lack the power to saw a an economical pace. This bandsaw will do everything you want and more. ( I'll edit this after I actually resaw some oak). The main thing that could make it better is add a 3 hp motor for serious resaw work. The quality of the resaw work that I have done using cedar so far is perfect tracking with very little drift and plenty of power. The reason I only voted 4 stars is because the plastic insert at the rail opposite the locking cam on the fence fell out after a few uses. That could be fixed if they used an alternate method to attach it instead of the self adhesive.
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