Building Out a Workshop

[nixiebunny]

For power tools, please consider that you have to live with the darn things for years, so don't skimp on quality. Don't buy Harbor Freight. It will drive you batty. Check that the drill press doesn't make the drill bit wobble, and that the table is square, and other such things. Get a band saw that's made for cutting metal, as they are stronger and last longer. Delta is reasonable quality.

Generally speaking, old power tools are better built than new Chinese ones, if you can find them. But make sure you have someone on call who understands how to make them work well and keep them tuned up.

[Qbot2640]

Originally Posted by apb2390

Surprisingly, I hear the Harbor Freight 9" benchtop bandsaw or MSC/Northern equivalent is pretty good.

We have what is basically this same saw. Ours is from Northern Tool, and it may have some slight differences, but again - essentially the same. This has been one of the best additions to our shop. It has been running flawlessly now for three seasons. It can be used either vertically or horizontally (requires addition/removal of the table) but we very rarely ever use it horizontally. (We have a power miterbox with an appropriate blade for aluminum and a large chopsaw set up for ferrous metals that are better choices for straight cuts.)

The saw is usually about $250 from HF...but watch for their coupons. They occasionally offer a 20% off one item coupon. I'm seriously considering a second one of these for my basement the next time there's a 20% off coupon.

[sanddrag]

On bandsaws, we recently had a need to buy a couple saws in a hurry. We chose the Grizzly G9743 7x12 horizontal and the G0555X vertical. They haven't arrived yet but I'll post back when they do.

We went with Grizzly because they have good parts availability and they're a fairly reputable supplier, albeit not the top quality in machines.

We currently have a G9742, and it's been okay. The motor caught fire about 2 years into its life, and the power switch gave out about 3 years in, and the hydraulic down feed is now going out at about the 4 year mark, but overall, it's been an acceptable tool for its cost. We cut big bar stock on it all the time, and pretty darn straight once we got it dialed in. Slow, but it gets the job done.

The new saw will support a bigger blade which will be nice.