Is a vintage Craftsman horizontal bandsaw up to the task?

I picked up a craftsman 3x6 at a farm auction a while back. $40 It had been sitting in the back of a shed unused for several decades. I replaced the blade. Don't remember where I got the blade but it wasn't hard to find. The nylon gear broke a tooth and Brino 3d printed me a replacement. I found that to get straight cuts I needed to use a very slow down feed. The down feed dial goes from 0 to 5. I run mostly at 1 or just under on the dial. I don't trust the straightness of the cut so I always touch it up. It will be pretty rough anyway even if it is straight from the saw blade. I put wheels on the stand. Roll it out when I need and then stick it back against the wall when not in use. It has served me well. No complaints.
 
the small old vintage craftsman hor. bandsaw that I had in my small shop was well made and cut straight, but 60" blades are not common. when mine broke I silver soldered one to fit and then sold the saw. I have two 4x6 HF saws that cut very straight also, and 64 1/2 " blades are easier to buy a lot of 3 or more reasonably priced. I have an older 93" blade wells saw and an older vertical saw with a 120" blade. three hand held bandsaws that take 44 1/2" blades.--- a guy has to have saws to cut metal and I have lots of metal :)
Dave
 
MrWhoopee said:
That's an excellent price, depending on shipping. Yes, cheaper than HF.
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Recommendation would be to create a free account and they ship free at $50. Or free shipping at $75 with no account required. They often do 10-15% coupons and 20%, though less common in 2022, still available from time to time.
 
60" blades are readily available. I just did a quick search and found several sources for 60" blades.
 
It sounds like you can't go wrong with a 4x6 HF bandsaw instead of that old Craftsman, If I were in the market to buy a small horizontal saw I would seriously look at the HF one.
 
For decades my FIL did packing house equipment and his main saw was a Craftsman just like pictured. It worked but in that kind of production environment it was not up to the task. The aforementioned gears broke and the time you could get the gears. He kept spares. The thing that took it out was the take up wheel wore out and needed either a bushing or something as it had a bunch of play would jump the blade under tension. Went to a 7x12 and never looked back. I know that’s not what you’re looking for but when I bought my HF 4x6 40yrs ago they didn’t have the cold saws they have now. It’s basically like a wood mitre saw. They are way smaller/lighter than a 4x6 and don’t make the huge noise and cloud of toxic abrasive dust an abrasive saw puts out and are supposedly accurate. I think they are cheaper than a bandsaw too.

 
C-Bag said:
40yrs ago they didn’t have the cold saws they have now
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They had cold saws but, maybe not consumer grade ones. The description says 15 HP & 2.4 rpm. Amazon sucks! Reviews say it throws chips so the carbide tipped blade must be turning pretty fast. It only talks about cutting tubing!
Interestingly my very old and also the new ones run steel blades. I run it w/o out the coolant pump running. 14" blade turns slow enough no flying chips. 3 phase, 3 HP. Biggest thing I've cut is a bar of 2 1/2" 4130. Massive vice that can be used to auto clamp and unclamp the work for production cutting. The blade, gear box and motor move vertically on a cast iron, dovetail column. The table and column rotate in the base for angle cutting. This type of cold saw is still made in Italy. Can be had with pneumatic stroke. W/O the power stroke it is about $13K. Relatively fast cutting with a nearly machined looking finish. My 50+ year old one was given to me when a manufacturer was bought out and closed. Still accurate. Recommended.
 
C-Bag said:
For decades my FIL did packing house equipment and his main saw was a Craftsman just like pictured. It worked but in that kind of production environment it was not up to the task. The aforementioned gears broke and the time you could get the gears. He kept spares. The thing that took it out was the take up wheel wore out and needed either a bushing or something as it had a bunch of play would jump the blade under tension. Went to a 7x12 and never looked back. I know that’s not what you’re looking for but when I bought my HF 4x6 40yrs ago they didn’t have the cold saws they have now. It’s basically like a wood mitre saw. They are way smaller/lighter than a 4x6 and don’t make the huge noise and cloud of toxic abrasive dust an abrasive saw puts out and are supposedly accurate. I think they are cheaper than a bandsaw too.

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The shop I bought my Kalamazoo from, replaced it with a cold saw so they didn't need a 50 year old bandsaw taking up space. Talking with the shop manager in charge of selling the saw, they paid a lot more than $300 for the new saw, I think more like $3000.
 
C-Bag said:
For decades my FIL did packing house equipment and his main saw was a Craftsman just like pictured. It worked but in that kind of production environment it was not up to the task. The aforementioned gears broke and the time you could get the gears. He kept spares. The thing that took it out was the take up wheel wore out and needed either a bushing or something as it had a bunch of play would jump the blade under tension. Went to a 7x12 and never looked back. I know that’s not what you’re looking for but when I bought my HF 4x6 40yrs ago they didn’t have the cold saws they have now. It’s basically like a wood mitre saw. They are way smaller/lighter than a 4x6 and don’t make the huge noise and cloud of toxic abrasive dust an abrasive saw puts out and are supposedly accurate. I think they are cheaper than a bandsaw too.

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There seems to be a little confusion about "cold" saws. A true cold saw is a heavy, very precise saw with coolant and a HSS blade that runs in the 60-80 rpm range. I ran one extensively in the early 80s. They can easily hold +/-.005 or better, eliminating the need for milling to size. The newer, dry-cut saws (like the Evo) are lighter construction (more like an abrasive chop saw), run a carbide tipped blade without coolant, running in the 1400 rpm range. They are quieter than an abrasive saw but noisier than a cold saw and I understand they throw hot chips. The lighter construction makes them less precise than a cold saw but produce a much cleaner cut than abrasive or bandsaw. Neither can be left unattended while cutting, unlike a horizontal.
 
Aaron_W said:
I think more like $3000.
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You get what you pay for! 3 grand is on the cheap end of the semi-production cold saws.
My sharpening service stopped by one day with a stack of 24" cold saw blades in his van. Said the saw hangs from a crane, clamps on to structural steel to cut. He has to send the bigger blades out for sharpening. He can only go to 30"+-.
 
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