Considering a vertical bandsaw build

I love to make stuff, but I have an aversion to making from scratch when I can mod. There are a TON of details in making bandsaw. It’s not a simple machine and if you are having probs with making one track as I did, you need to see this vid. In watching this I realized everything I thought I knew about bandsaws was wrong. And thinking back I have no idea where I got those ideas.
 
I recently saw a post from someone who converted a cheap horizontal Harbor Freight 4x6 saw to a vertical saw. You can buy the ones which are dual use.... ( they have a little table you bolt on)but that’s a little bit of work swapping from one to the other.

converting the 4x6 to be a dedicated vertical saw is a pretty good idea in my opinion, because the saws are fairly bullet proof. I like the idea of that conversion.
 
Tim9 said:
I recently saw a post from someone who converted a cheap horizontal Harbor Freight 4x6 saw to a vertical saw. You can buy the ones which are dual use.... ( they have a little table you bolt on)but that’s a little bit of work swapping from one to the other.

converting the 4x6 to be a dedicated vertical saw is a pretty good idea in my opinion, because the saws are fairly bullet proof. I like the idea of that conversion.
Click to expand...
The downside that makes that not workable for me is the extreme limitation on the maximum size you can cut. I used mine ike that for years and that limitation made it near worthless in that mode. Special clamping fixtures handles most small parts. The difference of going from 4" to 17" was a world of difference but 26" would be better :p
 
It totally appeals to my junkyard dog heart. Especially if it was the basis of a moving table style like Tom of Oxtools has.

My problem is I hardly ever see a 4x6 for sale and if I do they are often more than what you can buy one new at HF. Even when they look like they have been outside for decades.

The added complication is I don’t think what we know and love as the common 4x6 here in N.America might not be at all common in the Europe. In the short lived RF forum Nicholas noted that the N.A model was different from the EU model and theirs couldn’t be used vertical. And is 3x’s what the HF 4x6 is.
 
NC Rick said:
The downside that makes that not workable for me is the extreme limitation on the maximum size you can cut. I used mine ike that for years and that limitation made it near worthless in that mode. Special clamping fixtures handles most small parts. The difference of going from 4" to 17" was a world of difference but 26" would be better :p
Click to expand...
I used my old 4x6 vertical for years and with the silly dangerous sheetmetal legs that came with it. It was always very dangerous because the saw could tip over backwards or the leg could collapse if I pressed too hard and the table that came with it was basically useless. Now the mod Mikey came up with is brilliant and useful but I have to go through so many contortions just to move stuff around already in my fully packed space. I just decided to go with a dedicated vertical. Much safer and with that auto feed much happy making. Two different saws for different jobs. Nothing is one size fits all or does it all. At least not well. With the added benefit of being able to have them both cutting stuff at the same time!
 
Using a 4 X 6 make huige sense to me. My vertical saw is nearly 100% used for a quick "cut of" of well under 4" and / or a long cut on a piece of strap steel or angle iron.

Limitations are met everyday on the 14" limitation of my 14" vertical bandsaw.
 
This is what I’m talking about. It would be a hybrid between the 14” vert and the 4x6 using the 4x6 head. I think the original like what Tom L. has is a Roubax. It is now made almost exactly like this by Dake. But hold on to your shorts when you see the price tag. As my junkyard brain kicks in I could see making something like this out of an old defunct cabinet saw. Cast iron top, solid base just need a 4x6 head and some guides....too bad I trashed the old Grizzly cabinet saw as it had all those parts. That’s where I got the motor mount for the vert saw.
 
What an interesting thread this is turning out to be!
That gravity feed is quite cunning. Footprint is waaay too big for my shop, though, sadly.

I'm tempted to say I won't need huge capacity. I don't tend to work on plate any higher than 12" square. The power hacksaw takes care of anything bar like and that has effectively infinite capacity length wise. What really works for me is that the work gets mounted at the front, not the middle like a horizontal, meaning it sits usabley under the lathe bench. But chopping stock is about all it does...

I think I've found something local I can rip the guts out of or convert. Fingers crossed.
 
I think the footprint on that Dake hybrid saw is at least as big if not bigger than my 18" Grob vertical bandsaw. I do think the gravity feed system is interesting. My Grob bandsaw originally had a gravity feed system but it was missing when I got the saw. I am contemplating adding some sort of feed system to it.
Ted
 
I only put the vid up there to show the mechanism I was talking about. That head must be 2x’s the size of the 4x6. That why I thought of the cabinet saw base. That has to be 1/4 the size of the Dake.

when I was looking for a auto feed I went on Frank Ford’s site( a member here) and looked at his 40’s Delta 14”. He had made a sled system for his that used a can full of lead with a cable to pull the sled. I couldn’t find what kind of weight it was and it dawned on me I could use compressed air and regulate the pressure to anything I wanted. Got the 3/4” ram for $12 off eBay. The reg and the air switch I had. The most expensive piece was the special 3/4x3/8 key stock made by Starrett that was $40.
 
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