Bandsaw

                        There comes a time in every woodworkers life when it becomes obvious that you need a bandsaw.   When I broached the idea with
                        my wife she was a little reluctant to spend $400 on one thing (for my birthday!) but it eventually dawned on my wife that I really wanted
                        this tool.   So I began the task of searching for the bandsaw in my price range.   It became obvious that there was several classes of
                        bandsaw.  The bottom was the small 6-8 inch wheels type that sat "on" the bench and was great if you wanted to build plane models and
                        model railways.  They generally had small throats that was good for very light duty only.  The next level up was bigger wheels but still sat
                        on the bench or a homemade stand to lift it up.  Still toy like and some priced up to $350 Australian!    So I looked at the bottom of the
                        serious saws, which started round the $400 mark.   Looking at several models put out by woodworking houses I ended up choosing a
                        Hafco Woodmaster 14" 4 speed model.
       
                        So what do I think of it...pretty good.  It has a one horsepower motor and the blade supplied was pretty good for most woodcutting
                        chores.  I guess my biggest gripe of the saw is that the fence is pretty ordinary.  At the time I purchased the saw I bought a much better
                        fence as a miscellaneous part, but did not buy the rail to mount it to the saw - something I will be remedying soon.  You can see the fence
                        sitting on pictures 2,3 & 5.

                                                                      

                        When you buy the saw, it come in a giant constructor set  form - a big kit of about 30 pieces.   Initially I had a fair bit of trouble getting the
                        power switch sorted.    It turned out that the instruction book was incorrect and it took a few minutes with a multimeter to sort it out.
                        The power switch was of the sort that it would only hold on when power was present.    But after about three months the saw stopped
                        working and upon inspection the switched was burned out.   A thought that had been bouncing around in my head for a while...that of
                        freeing any operation of the saw away from a hand switch - and to use a foot switch to operate the power.   Now that I have done it, I am
                        considering changing several other of my power tools to foot switch operation.   If your handy with all things power I heartily recommend
                        converting - once you have, you'll never go back.