I just carrried my 23 year old Sears 12 inch BS up my basement stairs under one arm and tossed it out the side yard door. I can’t believe I put up with this thing that long and I’m now preparing to find out what a real bandsaw is. I’m pretty close to to pulling the trigger on a MM16, but my big concern is getting it down my basement stairs. I know it will be a tight squeeze and I’m wondering how far I can break it down. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dan
Replies
I sent an alert out to tms, he has one. I'm jealous -- nice saw!
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Feeling rich? Tired of wrangling POC gear? Deserve a treat? Always wondered what a real piece of woodworking machinery feels like?
Buy yourself a MiniMax - anything
Cast iron for the soul
Jeez they're nice
Malcolm
New Zealand | New Thinking
Edited 2/27/2005 3:30 am ET by kiwimac
Hey Jamie,Got the message, but if you'll remember, my shop has a loading dock which made delivery embarrassingly easy.As someone already pointed out the MM16 is mostly one piece, so it's unlikely that you can make it much smaller for transport. I think my first step would be to take the table off, the base, then the motor. I think that's about all you could do. If you get down to splitting hairs, the doors come off with some effort. Nothing I know will make it significantly shorter.As someone also suggested, you could put a hatch in your floor and lower it that way. If you have a carpeted floor, it might not be such an off base idea. You'd probably spend less time with that, than disassembling the MM16, and re tuning it after reassembling.In any case, you won't ever be sorry that you bought the best you could afford.
As was once pointed out to me, If you want nice, new, fresh oats, you pay a premium price.
But, if you want used oats, well, those come a little cheaper.Good luck with your new saw.Tom
Edited 2/27/2005 8:14 pm ET by tms
"my shop has a loading dock " Of course I remember. Just thought of you when I saw MM16 and also gave you a chance to "gloat" a little, LOL.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Just put me in your will and I'll get it down stairs for you. Jeeze, everyones always complaining when it's so easy, just leave it to me in your will and I'll take care of it....................... Peter
MTslntP,
I looked into an MM16 a while back and had to give up the idea for the same reason -- access to my woodshop is through a bulkhead leading into the basement.
When I buy a new power tool, I carry sections of it one at a time into my shop. But the Minimax bandsaws are all one-piece designs. There just is no practical way to get it through a bulkhead. I have to be careful whenever I order something to make sure I know how it is delivered.
If you have the same kind of access to your basement, you probably will not be able to get an MM16 down there. Yes, it's frustrating, losing out on the chance to own a tool that could last for years just because it doesn't fit through the door. But what can you do?
On the positive side, it does help you with those difficult tool decisions!
It's worth the challange so go for it. The difference in performance would be worth cutting a hole in the living room floor and lowering the saw into the shop, but it can be done without resorting to that. The saw weighs 500 pounds now, just been upgraded to 4.8 HP, and 16" of resaw height. Assuming your stairs are a straight shot to the shop, consider removing the table and fence from the saw (not difficult) and sliding the saw on it's back on a plank down the stairs. The saw has two holes for lifting in the top, use those to attach a strap or rope to control the saw as it slides, and have at least two friends or three, to help. Good luck, and be careful.
Thanks to everybody for your suggestive replies. Mainegywolf has encouraged me to accept the challenge and with his post, I had a brainstorm. As a regular contributer to the athletic department of the local college, the thought crossed my mind to contact the football coach with whom I am an acquaitance and see I could borrow about 4 or 5 of his linemen for about 20 minutes. I sure that would do the trick.
Hi Dan
I own the first generation MM16 (with only a 13.5 inch resaw capacity). You can easily remove the motor (about 50 lbs) and the case iron table (about 100 lbs) from the saw. Which will get the weight down in the mid-300 lb category, but you have to be careful as the machine is very top heavy, not much you can do to reduce the height as the body of the machine is all welded plate steel..
Best of luck
Edited 2/28/2005 8:28 am ET by BOBABEUI
You should consider how you will get the saw out when you want to move it.
No basement shop can do enough work to need a saw that size.
It is funny that you mention that because I woke up this morning thinking the same thing. I am already considering downsizing the nature of the saw, but which saw? I'm trying to make a well thought out decision because I'm trying to avoid the replacing and upgrading equipment syndrome that ends up costing so much more in the long run. I would like to stay with Mini Max or Laguna but I'm concerned about the long haul ability of their smaller machines. In all honesty, I'm not resawing for guitar tops or anything like that but would just like to have the ability to do some clean resawing of 6-8 inch hardwoods and do a lot of contour cutting on a solid vibration smooth running machine. I must admit that I do catch myself getting carried away with the thoughts of owning a bigger machine without the practical applications to go along with it. Additional feedback and suggestions would be appreciated.Thanks
Dan
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