Craftsmanship in Wood

MachineryMax.com

Hitachi CB75F bandsaw

Table's pretty rusty - how hard is that to remove/repair? I have no experience refabbing old machines.

There's a Delta 14" for $100 on that site too - is that a "good one"? I'm in SoCal and was eyeing Lagunas; this would be 1/10th the price, but I'm wary of money pits.

surface rust is easy to remove I would not worry about it
there seems to be rust on the blade so I would be curious to see the rubber on the wheels
does not look bad and for the price you can not beat it.

A personal note: would never patronize Laguna for any products whatsoever from now until the end of time.

Can you tell us how your own CB75F conversion has held up over the years? Was it worth all the hassles with the motor, guides, etc.? Did it perform as you'd expected, or do you think you could've gotten similar work done with a "normal" bandsaw?

BTW, I'm also fairly close to Eagle Tool (INCA, Agazzani). Are they preferable?

I've heard Agazanni bandsaws are decent. Italian stuff is good for the most part, but not quite as good as the German stuff. A Zimmermann BZ800 bandsaw would be a machine I would look at, though you'd have to import it yourself. There are plenty of used ones available in Germany.

I still haven't gone ahead with the conversion of my CF75F to a 3-phase factory motor. I still plan to do so, but in recent months I have been finding other uses for $1000, if you know what I mean. It's an excellent small bandsaw, despite the noisy gear-reduction motor. Lately I have been thinking again of obtaining the 3-phase motor and related parts from Japan because the quieter running just might be worth the expense.

Ah, I wondered why that thread kind of petered out on the blog. I guess the noise must not be that bad, if you've lived with it for this long!

I just went back and re-read some of those posts and the comments section led me to the AskWoodman channel's videos concerning his Hitachi motor swap. I don't know, it seemed like a lot of work for not a lot of reduction in noise, though I'm sure the difference in power must have been substantial. Maybe it's just how the camera mike picked up the sound.

I also found some comments online about how people felt the sheer mass of the 3" resaw blade robbed the motor of some HP - and how switching to a thinner blade made the motor more efficient.. YMMV

I'm thinking I'd be using a thinner (<1/2") blade 90% of the time, but the idea of using a 3" blade for resawing appeals to me. I'm just wondering if that 10% of time is worth all the hassle, especially if we're talking over a grand for the motor swap/VFD. What size blade did you end up using in your saw, Chris? One of the old posts was saying you had some sort of problem with the guides? Do you do any resawing on it, or do you save that work for your big Hitachi?

Oh, I only use smaller blades on the CB75 as I already have a large 4" blade in my CB100FA. Right now I'm running a 1" blade in the CB75, and also run 3/8" or 1/2" blades at other times. With the 1" it can certainly resaw with ease.

The three phase motor from Hitachi is no more powerful than the single phase, around 2.2 horsepower IIRC.

You are right, it is a lot of money to spend just to reduce the noise, especially as compared to a pair of earplugs, and that's why it has been a low priority to make the change.

Well, that got out of hand quickly.Still a bargain, but too rich for my newbie blood.

durbien wrote:Well, that got out of hand quickly.Still a bargain, but too rich for my newbie blood.

What was the final price?