Opinions on Palmgren 803015 Metal/Wood Bandsaw

I might be inclinded to give Palgren the extra $200. I bought a Wilton Disc/belt sander for about $250 and though it works well, I was dissappointed to later see a Delta model that looks exactly the same for less than half the price. They both had plastic guards and I could see almost no difference between Delta SA180 and Wilton Wilton 4002. My bias now is that Wilton is overpriced, but Palmgren may be the same.

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| > It's $1200 on Amazon (shipping included). It's a lot less than the | > cheapest Grizzly vertical metal saw (G8144 $2025 w. shipping) and I | > don't plan on using it for wood. It seems like somebody should be | > selling a 14" saw for metal that would be maybe a $100 more than the | > wood saws, but I can't find anything like that. I want to cut up to | > maybe 3/4" aluminum plates and maybe some steel. I have 2 questions: | > Are there cheaper option for what I want? | > Is this saw up to the task? (since wood/metal combo saws often are not | > well regarded) | >

The above mentioned palmgren is a generic import saw. I have one. I don't like it much, light duty. It is sold in Canada under the Canwood label. It is a slowed down wood saw. Not rigid enough to cut metal.

For $1200 you should be able to find a good used 16" DoAll or Grob that'll cut anything you can lift onto the table.

For instance...

If aluminum is really all you want to cut, buy a wood cutting saw. Aluminum is cut at wood cutting speeds, or close.

If you want to cut steel, though, you'll need a metal cutting saw. The speeds for cutting steel are so much slower that it is not practical to get there with step pulleys or a jackshaft or anything similar. You need a gearbox. It is that gearbox that adds so much to the cost of a metal cutting saw. And it is not simpy a case of slowing the blade down - you need more torque at the wheel for steel cutting as well. The higher torque is the reason the jackshaft belt drives often work poorly.

By whom are the wood/metal saws not well regarded? Industrial users, maybe? No, they don't compare to a DoAll or a Marvel or a Grob. If you need the capabilities of one of those, then buy one. But you haven't said whether you're going to be spending several hours a day with it, or an hour or so a month. Do you need coolant? Power feed?

I have a Delta 14" wood/metal cutting saw. It's handled everything I've ever thrown at it, up to maybe 2" steel, 2" aluminum, 12" wood. I wouldn't recommend it to someone who wanted to cut steel all day long, however.

John Martin

I recently bought an old Delta. Cost less than 1/2 of a new wilton and works much better than using my 4x6 cutoff saw in vertical mode.

I considered a used doall but the weight made it too much to handle.

I second John's opinion. I also have a Delta Wood/Metal saw and it works well on alum at top speed(3000fpm) It is not a Doall, but is about perfect as a general purpose band saw for a home shop.

Randy

Yeah, but they're heavy. I bought a licensed copy of a Grob 18" wood/metalcutting bandsaw with blade welder for $600 AUD. Fast enough for wood, low speed range suitable for stainless and inconel etc. Guesstimated its weight at 300kg. Hah. Closer to 500, I reckon.

Now it's in the shop and on a castor base, I don't care about the weight but getting it into the shop by myself, off of soft sloping ground, was - err - interesting.

Agree about the utility versus one of the import saws 100%. It's a great machine and once I master the blade welder I can pretty much be independent of the local shops.

PDW