Which mini bandsaw

[patrick_1853]

Ok heres the question.

My girlfriend is getting me a bandsaw for Christmas (aint she great). She ordered the ryobi 9" from Home Depot but that is backordered. They have it in the store but she cant carry it by herself. Thats actually the good thing. Since I will get to go with her to get it, I have the option to select among the various 9" models. First, let me say I know the 9" models aren't as useful as larger ones but I am in college and space is a definite issue as well as money, so I will definitely be getting a 9" model that is around 100 dollars.
Which of the following would you choose. I half way want to go with the GMC just for the heck of it. I mostly do penturning so working on blanks and other small stuff is my main concern. If you dont mind give me your comments and histories with each.

Thanks,
Patrick


[link:www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1327706809.1103050130@ @@@&BV_EngineID=cccjadddgdgdkficgelceffdfgidgll.0& CNTTYPE=PROD_META&CNTKEY=misc/searchResults.jsp&MID=9876&N=2984+3966&pos=n24|The 9" Ryobi?]

An obvious clone of the Ryobi, but suprisingly, a few dollars cheaper.
[link:www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00 921477000&tab=spe#tablink|The 9" craftsman?]


[link:www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=59928-32764-BS100|The 9" delta?]


[link:www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&pid=00 921399000&tab=spe#tablink|The 8" Sears companion], more accesories, but only 8", but only $60


[link:www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=99436-38307-LS9BSUL|Or the 9" GMC], once again a no name, but more accesories(including a laser!, and everyone knows you cant do woodworking without a laser :) ). I know this is just an import from Asia through Australia, but Lowes seems to be backing them pretty well

EDIT - Just shortened the links... :)

[BigDaddy]

i would say go with what your heart chooses to get. I had the delta 9" before i upgraded. I couldn't tension it properly, the blade kept bending on me and drifting, and the table wasn't very stable ...

look at some of those optiosn as far as table stableness, and how easy it is to tension the blade and you may have your choice ..

[Greenhorn]

I also have the Delta and ditto the problems.



Greenhorn,
I keep cuttin' it and it's still too short!

[WoodMangler]

Hmm... I really haven't heard anything really good about any of them... that is, no real standouts.... so I guess I would go with the GMC so that when I upgraded I would only be out $60 instead of $100 :)

[Original Bart]

Please wait a while & save your money & get at least a 12" Band-saw. I have heard more people that have 9" band-saws say that they can't tension the blade properly & another problem is the small wheels which cause the blade to flex more & heat up which can cause premature failure of the blade (it breaks the blade). I feel that you would be throwing away your money as well as causing yourself hours of frustration.

[James47]

Of the choices, I'd go with the Delta. I was in a similar position a while back - had to conserve space and money. I first bought the Ryobi and it was horrible. I took it back and went with the Delta. For small projects short of big resawing, it worked out fine. My wood skills were not at a high enough standard at the time to warrant anything else. It was a couple years before I could justify something better. I made several projects with it including 2 sets of outdoor furniture. It's small, cheap, and gave my valuble experience - certainly got my $100 out of it.

My $0.02.

James

[ChefHDAN]

The new issue of Workbench magazine has given the 10' ryobi one of their innovative tools of the year awards. I think it was priced closer to $200 than $100 but the features listed were quite impressive.

HDAN

Just saw an ad link over in "Just Talking" to HD's site to check out the New Ryobi 1001vs band saw.

[patrick_1853]

Well, I went and took a close look at HD, lowes and sears. At Lowes I imediately eliminated the GMC model(even though it does have a laser, which is required for woodworking), because the table wasn't even aluminum, it was basically slightly thicker sheet metal, and the miter gauge slot wasn't standard size.

The delta didn't really impress me, mainly since the table was mounted on what seemed a lot more like plastic than metal. It may have just been a coating on metal, but I generally can differentiate betweent the two, and I didn't like not being able to.

At sears the craftsman was a clone of the 9" ryobi on the home depot website.

When I went to home depot, I realized that the in store model is different than the one on both the home depot website and on the ryobi website, and comes with a rip fence(questionable useability, as I think a cross cut sled will be my best tool). Even though it was less impressive than the 14" rigid and the 14" delta, for what I need I think it will do.

The way I see it, for next few years, no matter how much I save other priorities will quickly wift it away from a bandsaw, so I will go ahead and get the 100 9" one as its about all the band saw I can justify while in college, (oh, and my girlfriend is buying it for me for Christmas and I think this is an important precedent for later in our lives :) ).

Patrick

[RogerA]

How about this one?


http://www.toolcenter.com/rikon/10-300-10BS.htm

Looks like a REAL saw (albeit only a 10 incher)

Roger

[Blueraven]

I went to sears, home depot and lowes and decided on the Griz 9" band saw. Its $175 + shipping.

I just didint get the impression the others wld hold up..

Happy Holidays.