Bench Top Machines

[Bob Steele]

We found a great portable bandsaw that was a big hit at the Pacific NorthWest and the Las Vegas regionals...and at CMP too...

Here is the reference: http://www.mytoolstore.com/stout/stondex.html

We have the saw and cutting station and it is extremely nice and works well cutting nearly anything. We made keys in seconds for several teams at LV and because of the angle of the blade it can cut a fairly wide swath.

It really is an amazing piece of equipment and the batteries last quite a long time. We cut everything from aluminum plate to steel rods for axles with it..
Its not real cheap but it is easily transportable and provides a nice platform to cut things on.

Take a look ... a word of warning though... if you get one and take it to a regional EVERYONE will want to use it...
We liked that feature....

I have purchased Grizzly bench top equipment for my robotics lab.
A mini-lathe... http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2007/Main/519
a bench top drill press. http://www.grizzly.com/products/G7943..
and a bench top bandsaw... http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2007/Main/80


All of these pieces are very nice and take a lot of abuse...They have their limitations but do quite well in the classroom and for smaller parts for the robot...

I hope this helps a little bit

[rachal]

Of course, you can also find band saw blades on McMaster

[ChuckDickerson]

For anyone that is interested in the Lowes Delta benchtop power tools you might want to check out your local Lowes ASAP. I was in Lowes tonight and they seem to be dumping their stock of Delta stationary tools (drill presses, bandsaws, belt sanders, etc.) and replacing them with another tool brand. Lowes seems to do this every year or two. I bought a Delta 4" Belt/6" disk sander for $79 that was regular $99. The Lowes guy said to check back tomorrow (Saturday the 19th) and they were going to drag all of their Delta tools out into the parking lot and put them on sale even cheaper to clear the shelves for the new brand. I don't know what they are going to have but it might be worth a stop by your local Lowes to see if they have anything you might want. The store I was in tonight had 9" bandsaws, 10" drill presses, and the 4" belt/6" disk sanders all for $79 each. The 9" bandsaw and 10" drill press looked pretty ideal for a small pit setup. They had other stuff too like table saws, planners, etc. but I wasn't really looking at them at the time. Just a heads up. YMMV.

[sanddrag]

My local Lowes seems to be doing away with the Delta stuff as well.

[Qbranch]

If you need a small (foot square type stuff) leightweight, light duty cnc vertical mill or lathe, DeskCNC/IMService has some nice ones (check them out here, price list bout 1/2 down the page)

The average price is about $2500 bucks, but their lathes run from $775 to about $1500, and the mills run from $880 to about $4500.

I have a large CNC gantry machine (15' x 5' x 1' travel) i've been working on completing that i'll be installing a desk CNC controller in this summer, so, more on that story later...

-q

[Protronie]

Originally Posted by Qbranch

I have a large CNC gantry machine (15' x 5' x 1' travel) i've been working on completing that i'll be installing a desk CNC controller in this summer, so, more on that story later...

-q

15 feet by 5 feet by 1 foot ! that ain't large... that's HUGE!
What you making that needs that much travel for?
Be cool seeing some pics of it!
I'm sure others would be interested in seeing that beast too.

Keep us posted

-Protronie