Have you ever made the same/similar project twice, but done one on the CNC and one on the band saw? I’m not great with the band saw, but wanted to give it a try and compare both builds. If you have done something similar, please share your pictures, insights and opinions.
Bandsaws are great so long as one wants a cut which is 90 degrees relative to the plane of the stock, or a series of cuts at an angle you are willing to turn the table to.
CNCs are far more flexible, and more importantly, programmable — so one can cut any part one has the ability to create a file to render.
That said, I still need to find the time to move my (small) bandsaw out from underneath my basement workbench out to the shed where I can set it up to re-saw wood so as to cut it on the CNC.
West Hills Wood is a well equipped hobby wood shop and every piece of tooling is readily accessible. The XXLPro was added last June.
I can cut single items on the bandsaw or table saw much faster than I can even set up the cnc. Where the cnc shines is when there are multiple items to make and other things to get done at the same time. The machine can do its thing while other parts are getting sanded, cut, routed, planed, finished, or who-knows-what-all.
I’ve never understood the value in arguing for one tool over another. Get both, use both, move on.
I have not looked at the video yet but my experience with the two bandsaws I have, one a 16" 5HP SCM and a 10" Jet Benchtop, is the CNC cuts better but if you factor in the time to design something and then cut it, a small job if over in a flash on the bandsaw. So the comparison is apples and oranges. I use my little jet to cut projects out that the cnc did not cut all the way through. Even though I have a lot of experience sometimes things just go wrong and I have an onion skin on the bottom of the cutout and the bandsaw seems to be fastest way to get the project released.
Both my CNC and the Bandsaws have the potential to go wildly wrong. You can ruin a project on either however the bandsaw has a greater potential for personal injury due to the fact that you are very close to the blade. On the CNC you can watch from afar and the risk or potential risk of injury is pretty low compared to a bandsaw. My big SCM 16" bandsaw has the potential to cut your entire arm off. It has a 1" carbide tipped blade that cuts through oak like a hot knife through butter.
The convenience of just walking up and turning on a bandsaw cannot be understated. Both the CNC and Bandsaw have some basic safety rules that must be followed or the consequences can be devastating. For my woodworking both machines have a place. Both machines often have to be followed up with another tool like my router table to round off edges and definitely sanding. So in the end use what ever tool makes things easier because they are not mutually exclusive to each other.
Pritchard Harold. Spread the wood working gospel
Make some sawdust
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
