Thread: Hafco BP-500 feedback

I'm no expert as I don't even own a bandsaw so take this with a grain of salt. My interest only comes out of also being in the market for my first bandsaw and having been looking at options.

You could consider the Harvey saws. Gregory has some and the 18" at ~$3400 weighs ~240kg.
Bandsaws | Woodworking Machinery | Gregory Machinery (gregmach.com)

Its definitely worth considering not a bad looking machine, I have seen this one on Gregory's website, I guess another consideration is how the blade is supported ( bearings , ceramics and how many of these ?? ) at the cutting edge , hopefully some experience Woodies will help in our decisions and underline what to look out for.

Agreed. I feel like I've been studying at the university of YouTube for many nights over the past few months researching, comparing and learning about bandsaws. My early research into the guides basically said I had to have ceramic guides on a bandsaw and the cost premium for them certainly seemed to indicate they were far better than roller bearings. However, one particularly useful class I studied was from StumpyNubs: Cut through the BS! - Here's what you need to know about band saw guides - YouTube

He has a good way of explaining technologies and in this case made it clearer to me what I'm after. My reading of it is that ceramic, old-skool steel guides or other cooler/softer block guides can be quite useful if you're resawing lots of green wood as they can help to scrape the sides of the blade if any resin/residue builds up from the green wood. This is particularly the case for wood turners (I'm told - I'm not one so couldn't comment).

On the other hand, roller bearings will by definition have lower friction if they are decently-engineered (I feel that's a critical point - cheap roller bearings could be a 'worst of both worlds' kind of arrangement).

In my case, I took all his comparisons and explanation in and came to the conclusion that I'm more likely to benefit from well-engineered roller bearings, however if a particular saw I ended up with happened to have ceramics (a la Laguna), it wouldn't be a bad thing. I just don't think I'd lean towards paying more just for ceramics.

Of course, again, this is not based on experience, just lots of reading and Youtube research, so I'd happily hear from other experienced sawyers with opinions either way.

I have had a saw with metal blocks and my current saw has bearing guides. I have found both can get the blade gunked up if you try and cut resinous wood. Never had ceramic guides so cant say how they go. These days I avoid cutting green wood on the bandsaw. Chainsaw can do that.
Regards
John

I had the Rikon for 3 years and it was great for that job. I now have this machine to use for resawing 25D43B33-87D9-424C-9982-8D29DECA60D4.jpeg
I paid $500 for it and it is a beast. I spent half a day cleaning it up and an evening on the lathe putting new thrust bearings on the top and bottom guides. It’s 3 hp single phase and cuts all I need for now. I honestly think if you spend $5k on a machine that you really only use at the start of a project for perhaps 10% of the time it takes to do the whole job, you’re wasting a lot of money that would be better spent elsewhere on other more important machines, like a good panelsaw (essential) or a domino joiner( great). I know plenty of joiners who only have a small bandsaw for light work and never resaw at all, if you have access to a lot of green logs I would think a small milling bandsaw like a Norwood or Chinese equivalent would be a better option, take the tool to the log rather than the other way round.

Like most bandsaws they need a bit extra in the dust extraction department.
The standard port under the table is almost useless.

2BS.jpg

One thing that is really worth doing on bandsaws is to rotate and open up the throat plat so the slot sits on the side opposite the teeth.
This i typical of what I see with the slot facing the operator
UTDC.jpg

Now rotate the slot.
Reversetheslot.jpg

Now rotate and open up slot.
Reverseand-open-slot.jpg

The holes make no difference as they are covered by the workpiece.

Back to you Hardywood , my head is throbbing from all the research.... I think we all just want to make the 100% right choice first time round and have the dream workshop , but reality is our direction and needs will change over time , but in saying that I would like to make a purchase and not regret it in a few weeks . Stumpynubs video was great with a very good explanation on all the guides pro's and con's and he has 5 different bandsaw's, so no one bandsaw will do everything you want, which brings me back to a good solid machine that I can tweek and modify as my skill level develops. So I guess most of the well known brands would provide that.........Holdens, Ford or Toyota ??????

Originally Posted by seanshar

Back to you Hardywood , my head is throbbing from all the research.... I think we all just want to make the 100% right choice first time round and have the dream workshop , but reality is our direction and needs will change over time , but in saying that I would like to make a purchase and not regret it in a few weeks . Stumpynubs video was great with a very good explanation on all the guides pro's and con's and he has 5 different bandsaw's, so no one bandsaw will do everything you want, which brings me back to a good solid machine that I can tweek and modify as my skill level develops. So I guess most of the well known brands would provide that.........Holdens, Ford or Toyota ??????

correct, but sometimes unknown brands are also jewels. I bought an 18” Luna, which is a swedish made machine, from a bloke who bought it as a job lot at an auction and didn’t want it, for $600, and it absolutely the most beautiful and smooth bandsaw I’ve ever seen or used. It runs on for almost 7 or 8 minutes after you switch it off, it’s so well made and balanced. It really is a good find and I hadn’t really heard or seen much about them before, apparently in Europe they were popular in the ‘80’s and 90’s. So sometimes, you can find a good one, unless you’re committed to buying new, therefore my story is invalid anyway.

Luna was a quality machine and not a monster.
Another quality one was Centauro an Italian make.
A mate in Brisbane has one, it’s cast iron and the best Saw I’ve ever seen for the size.
Their later machines like most nowadaze are fabricated.
Fabricated is OK if by a decent maker like Wadkin Bursgreen, Meber, or Luna.
Ive had little to do with the more recent saws from both Chinese countries.
What I have seen of 2 H & F bandsaws and a Jet left me rather unimpressed at the gauge of the metal they were fabricated from and the badly thought out guides and guards seemly designed to catch dust and make blade changing as awkward as possible.
H.