I think it's time I bought a bandsaw...

[Froggie]

Hi All,
I rip down timber into 7-12mm thicknesses fairly regularly (oak, maple, beech), if it's less than 3" thick it gets done on the table saw and anything greater gets done with a hand saw. Unfortunately I think that age is starting to catch up with me as my shoulder was killing the other day after ripping down 3m of 6 inch oak by hand. I was also a smelly, dribbly mess afterwards as it was pretty warm.

I have another 15m to do to finish the project so I think it's time to add a bandsaw to my workshop.

The motor on my old table saw died a couple of weeks ago so I went over to Charnwood and picked up the W650 and might have also accidentally bought a W583 Planer Thicknesser while I was there, needless to say the boss (the wife) wasn't overly impressed so I don't have much to spend on a bandsaw. If I could pick something up between £100 and £200 that would do the job then I might get away with her not noticing...

Given my budget I'm looking at older machines that don't really have much info available on the net and critical measurements such as max height of cut aren't readily available. Does anybody have suggestions for suitable machines that would do a reasonable job for me?
Thanks

 

[marcros]

Kity 613 or inca. Make sure they are complete with fence and ideally mitre gauge. They both should be well within your budget.

You could always rip it on the table saw, flip it and rip it again. If you had anything left in the middle on a 6" piece it would be minimal. You will probably have to make a new riving knife for the tablesaw but that is easy enough.

 

[Froggie]

Thanks marcros,
I have ripped down on the table saw in the past but have found that the heat generated tends to warp the timber in towards the cut from both edges which means that I have to cut 3mm wider than I actually need in order to plane down to the right width.

Any idea which size of Inca I would need?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

There was an Inca for sale on here last week IIRC???

 

[marcros]

I can't remember the model number but it is also known as the euro 260 I think.