# Finished building Matthias Wandel's 16" bandsaw



## jdeacon (5 Feb 2017)

I bought the plans for this bandsaw nearly a year ago. And I've had the no longer needed IKEA shelves - for the frame - for even longer.

At last, starting November 2016, I got going.

I've never had or used a bandsaw before so I have nothing to compare it against, but I ended up pretty pleased with it. It seems to have plenty of power and isn't too noisy. The star knobs and trunnions you see in the pictures were cut on it. Although both needed sanding.

Here is the big, sanity check printout:





And one shelf-worth's of individual templates:




Glueing up the first lamination of the frame. Lots of squares to, well, keep it square. And clamps and weights to keep it flat; don't want any twist to develop.




The finished frame:




Glueing up one wheel's blanks. Two cheap 15mm plywood blanks:




Pressing a bearing into a wheel flange. Baltic birch plywood:




Fitting the drive pulley to the lower wheel. Baltic birch again:




Fitting the lower wheel mount block. A hardwood/softwood "Battenberg" arrangement:




The lower mount block with shaft and wheel. The shaft is iron pipe. Couldn't find (nor afford probably) proper shafting:




Here's the upper wheel mount arrangement with tension mechanism and tilt mechanism:





A few more pictures still to come.


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## jdeacon (5 Feb 2017)

Continuing the pictures of the bandsaw build.

The motor pulley:




The top wheel with tyre (inner tube) and blade. Big moment. It tracks!




Guide bar and raise/lower clamp:




Lower blade guide and ceramic thrust "bearing" experiment:




And this was the first useful cut. This is the curved wheel space in a leg supplement/dust enclosure:




Trunnions and sub-table:




Top table ready for insert plate:


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## Bodgers (5 Feb 2017)

Looks great. Congrats. Did you consider MDF for the wheels at all - were plywood wheels ok to balance?

Motor looks quite new, what is the power of that?

Any plans to do the covers?




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## custard (5 Feb 2017)

jdeacon":g9ycc1dv said:


> At last, starting November 2016, I got going.



Well done for finishing it.

I wonder what the ratio is between plans sold and bandsaws actually built? I suspect you're a member of a fairly small and elite club.


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## jdeacon (5 Feb 2017)

Thanks.

I've done the two main covers:








And I'm working on all the little enclosures like this gap under the table:





Then I have to make the difficult choice of paint colour for the covers and enclosures. The functional parts will remain just varnished. Machine green like MW? I think I'll paint the covers to match the main panels on my Axminster table saw.

Incidentally, someone here kindly posted some Axi machine colours (RAL 9010 for White, 7015 for Grey). That must be a dark grey; the light grey for an AWB10BSB2, according to the nice Axi customer support is RAL 7035. Although I haven't actually tried it yet.

The motor is new. Unlike Canada there don't seem to be discarded furnace motors in every other skip over here. It's 4 pole (1500rpm no load) and 1HP.

I decided against MDF for the wheels. Although the table saw and the router have dust extraction, the room doesn't; and I didn't fancy cutting, routing and turning any more MDF than I had to.

Plywood was fine. I was careful with the placement of the flanges; and I made them circular; so a couple of little lead weights and one small bore hole and the wheels were balanced OK.


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## AndyT (5 Feb 2017)

Congrats from me too. I see this in a long tradition of make-do-and-mend ingenuity!


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## pollys13 (6 Feb 2017)

Nice job.


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## n0legs (6 Feb 2017)

Cool =D>


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## mayo.mick (6 Feb 2017)

Great job!


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## Orraloon (7 Feb 2017)

Very nice job on the saw.
Regards
John


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## AES (7 Feb 2017)

The saw looks excellent John, thanks for posting. 

Looks like you've done a very good job  and the design looks sensible too.

=D> 

I think custard is probably quite right - the ratio of plans sold to tools completed is probably quite small. I certainly fall into that category myself, and continue to struggle a bit (needs re-adjusting virtually every time out) with a poor quality Einhell table size band saw.

The problem I find is that I'm always torn between the time to make tools/cost to buy tools v the time needed to do a particular project issues. In my 70s I know that I don't have a million hobby years left to me, so especially because I'm a slow worker the issue becomes "Do I spend X days/weeks/months making, say, a decent band saw, or is my time better spent finishing off project Y in that same time?" 

And the issue of what is a "sensible" cash investment comes into it as well for me.

Clearly all those decisions are personal to every individual, but good to see that the Woodgears band saw (example) can produce worth while results. I've got a couple of MW's other plans (not even started yet).

Thanks John

AES


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## Random Orbital Bob (7 Feb 2017)

+1. That shows great perseverance and the quality looks great.

Purely out of curiosity, what do you think the total cost to you of all the components was? (Not including your time but the actual pay away)


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## Hot stuff (8 Feb 2017)

Quality. I love the idea of using the bandsaw to make itself.

I admire your patience and perseverance, patience being a quality I lack in spades.


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## jdeacon (8 Feb 2017)

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

The most expensive item was the motor which was new - about £90. I had the Baltic birch plywood already; not much is needed and I'd got some from a previous project. The only things (as far as I can remember) that absolutely needs BB plywood are the wheel/bearing flanges. Then I didn't happen to have any 6 mm ply for the covers and had to get some. (It all began with my having a lot of IKEA Ivar shelving no longer in use, so the frame didn't cost anything.)

If I'd used big lumps of hardwood everwhere I was supposed to - like the wheel mount block and the trunnion support beam - that would have cost a fortune. But I laminated and sandwiched, so I only needed a length of 1" thick sapelle.

I like to have an NVR switch. They seem to have gone up in price. I think I paid £15.

All in all, the stuff I didn't have to hand ended up costing me about £200. I guess I've ended up with a bandsaw that would have cost me £700 - £800 from Record or Axminster. And I know that whatever goes wrong with it, I can fix it.


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## Claymore (17 Apr 2017)

excellent work and I would love to have a go at making one, I have loads of hardwood offcuts I could use and get some decent plywood for the cases. I already have a bandsaw but the idea of making my own would be great. Patience isn't a problem thanks to my love of modelmaking for 40 years.
Don't suppose you have a link for the motors as I'm not that much into electrics and wouldn't have a clue what to buy or where to buy it.
Cheers
Brian


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## MrDavidRoberts (18 Apr 2017)

nice work mate! Where did you got the motor from? How many days do you reckon it took you to build it?

I wouldn't have patience in making one myself when I could take the 200pounds , go on ebay and buy an used one


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## Rorschach (18 Apr 2017)

Great work. When I have space (current workshop is too small), I would like to build one of his larger bandsaws. I think I would go for a modified design though removing the trunions as I don't think I have ever tilted the table on my current saw.


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## jdeacon (18 Apr 2017)

I got the motor from eBay from Electric Motor Man but he shows as Seller Away. It was a Single Phase, 0.75kw, 750Watt, 1HP, 4 pole, 1400 rpm. It looks like this one: http://r.ebay.com/kAexaw

It was possibly too large both in terms of power and dimensions. I had to increase the size of the shelf it's mounted on. I'm pretty sure 3/4 HP would have been enough.

I did ponder whether or not to build the trunnions. But I decided that as I tilted the table saw blade and the disc sander table often enough, I might find a tilting bandsaw table useful. And as someone commented, the idea of using the bandsaw to make itself, i.e. cutting out the trunnions and cradles - was appealing. So far I haven't tilted it!


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## MrTeroo (18 Apr 2017)

That's a brilliant project! Thanks for sharing it.

=D> =D> =D>


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## gaci (18 Apr 2017)

Hi there it looks great, ive got the plans for the sander when I get round to it. I reckon it would look good in record power moss green Ral 6005.


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## Brian18741 (20 Apr 2017)

Great project, turned out excellent! How would you rate your own skill level? Would it be something someone on the intermediate side of novice could tackle?

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## ColeyS1 (21 Apr 2017)

That's amazing !!! Congrats on making your own bandsaw machine.
Coley


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## DTR (21 Apr 2017)

Wow, very impressive =D> =D> =D> =D>


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## jdeacon (23 Apr 2017)

Brian18741":3ck69h0c said:


> Great project, turned out excellent! How would you rate your own skill level? Would it be something someone on the intermediate side of novice could tackle?


I'd say that I'm intermediate on woodwork. But I have been making and fixing stuff for 40 years: cars, motor bikes, electronics, lock and safe tools, ...

And I see I missed an earlier question about how long it took. It's really hard to say as I tend to work really slowly. Typically I do one thing a day. And often there'd be a wait for a shipment, like the NVR switch; or a delay before I could be bothered to go to the hardware shop for some carriage bolts or whatever. The elapsed time was about eight weeks. I reckon I could have done it in two weeks if I'd had everything to hand and worked all day long.


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## dtecting (7 May 2017)

Great job nice one


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## dynax (7 May 2017)

Nicely done, looking forward to seeing it after its paint job =D> =D>


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## jdeacon (7 May 2017)

Here it is, painted. I did go with "Axminster" grey.


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## AES (7 May 2017)

Very well done Sir, it looks really very professional - and the stand with drawers.

=D> =D> =D> 

As said somewhere at the start of this thread, you should feel very proud and satisfied, 'cos I bet yours is one of the few plans sold which have ended with a complete, finished, workable tool. Personally I would have preferred the Mathias green, (or even blue or yellow) but that is purely a matter of personal taste.

Thanks for posting, an inspiration.

AES


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## Terrytpot (14 Aug 2017)

Bodgers"
Motor looks quite new said:


> Got mine from eBay for the same reason.. Single-Phase-Electric-Motor-0.75kw-240V-50Hz-4 POLE 15000RPM-FOOT-FLANGE-OPTION-/222179210854 , and no.. not quite got round to building mine yet either


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## custard (14 Aug 2017)

Congratulations John, that's a substantial undertaking, so respect for sticking with it to completion.

=D>


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## OscarG (17 Aug 2017)

That is absolute quality, nice to see someone follow up on Matthias's genius! I do love his youtube channel.

Thanks for sharing.


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## Brian18741 (1 Nov 2017)

Was the plan measured in metric or imperial? 

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## jdeacon (1 Nov 2017)

I'm pretty sure they were metric. I'm away for a couple of weeks and can't check. But there are previews available on Matthias' web site.


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## Brian18741 (1 Nov 2017)

Yes I was trying to look at them yesterday but the samples are such a low resolution that I couldn't tell! Thanks for the reply though! 

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