Leo Levitt's bandsaw
Leo Levitt writes:Hi Im Leo, 15 from the UK and I wanted to show you the bandsaw I built from your plans. It took me about 2 months to complete because I did little bits during the day but mostly on evenings. I decided to buy the plans for the 14" saw because it was the right size for my woodshop and needs. All the parts I had to buy cost me £177 altogether. I hope you like the saw and thank you for the really well made plans.
wood for frame - free
mdf for wheels - £20
bearings - £20
shaft - £7
inner tubes - £6
1hp motor - £50
blade - £16
hardware - £16
varnish - £44
paint - £14
Some of the parts cut and numbered out using the plans.
The frame all glued up. The bottom wheel mount fitted but I change this
later on in the build. I used 17mm thick pine boards because I had
enough of it to build it without buying any more boards.
I turned the wheels and mounted them to the frame and held it in a vise
to check that the blade can run on the wheels. The blade ran on the
wheels really well the first time. I used 30mm bearings and shaft.
The new bottom wheel mount. I decided to use the same design mount
from your 20" bandsaw because I thought it was a better design. This
also shows the bottom blade guides cut out.
​Here is the top blade guides made and ready to be fitted to the frame.
I used a slightly bigger bearing on the guides because thats all I had
on hand at the time but it works ok.
The top guides clamped on temporary.
Here is the bottom blade guide block almost finished. I also the same slightly
bigger bearing on the bottom guide as well and it worked fine too.
​The table made and fitted I used 22mm MDF left over from the sheet used for
the wheels for the table top and 18mm plywood for the sub table. You can
see that I have a small bench grinder motor connected to the saw it wasn't
powerful at all but its just until I get the saw one a stand.
​This is the rest of the Frame at the bottom gluing up.
​Finally starting to make the cover for the saw. Gluing the top cover here.
​The bottom saw cover gluing up.
The saw on a stand from my store bought bandsaw until I build one to put
it on. the cover put on the hinges and clamped on the frame.
The saw taken apart and sanded ready for painting and varnishing.
​I used satin oil based varnish for the wheels and frame applying
2 coats. I used a green paint for the frame and other parts also
applying 2 coats and after 2 coats of water based satin varnish.
The knobs where painted black and had a coat of varnish. Other
small parts had 2 coats of the water based satin varnish. You
can see the grey motor in the background, this is the motor I am using.
​The saw finished but without the motor fitted. It looks great and I
am really happy with how it turned out.
See also:
14" bandsaw/sawmill
Mitch's 14" bandsaw / sawmill
16" bandsaw
More reader builtMore about bandsaws on my woodworking website.
