Powermatic Bandsaw

[Vince Shriver]

Recreational woodworker here. Want to get my first bandsaw and thinking about the Powermatic 14". I really need some feedback from you folks. Thanks, Vince

[Rob Will]

Vince,

What other tools do you have?
What are some of your favorite projects?
How much room do you have?
Any particular price range you want to stay in?
Do you do any resawing?

I'm no BS expert but others here are going to ask these same questions about your saw needs.

Rob

[Larry Conely]

For 20 years, I had a Yates American 16" band saw built in the '30s. It was massive, just too heavy to move again, so I sold it and got a Powermatic 14". I rationalized the purchase by saying it had all the whistles and balloons, roller guides, quick adjust blade tension, fence, etc that the Yates did not have. And it is, after all, a Powermatic. After a year of service it is OK. Not terrible. Not great. OK. If I had it to do over again, I would go through the pain of moving the Yates. Or finding a band saw with a lower price, read better value.

Larry

[Joe Jensen]

Recreational woodworker here. Want to get my first bandsaw and thinking about the Powermatic 14". I really need some feedback from you folks. Thanks, Vince

Do you want to buy new, or are you interested in used? IMHO the old iron in many cases is better than the new stuff. Especially in the case of 14" bandsaws...joe

[Gregg Feldstone]

I've seen many old Delta/Rockwells offered at ExFactory.com for $500-$1000. You would get a much better built machine for possibly much less$$. For not much more than the $900 you would spend on the new Powermatic you can get many used older 20"-24" saws, all made better than the new. Bandsaws are very basic machines but must be made well to run smoothly, and the new stuff from Asia is very cheap. I have also noticed that most of the older machines already had the roller guides or Carter guides as standard equipment.

[Tom Hintz]

Like some, I have gone through a few bandsaws on the way to my last one, the Powermatic 14". The last one I had before the Powermatic was a Delta X5 which was a good saw but I liked the Powermatic better because of its overall performance and the range of bells and whistles it comes with that others consider aftermarket (more money) pieces. And, it has dust collection that actually works!
I have a review of the Powermatic with photos and a video at the link below if that would help.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/reviews/pm14bsrvu.html

[Ray Knight]

I graduated to the Powermatic 14 from a Jet 12 that didn't have enough power. I have been pleased with the PM 14, but I don't resaw much more than 4 inch material, usually 8/4. I love it, and it had more features and power for the money than anything in the new market at that time (early this year). I gather from reading posts for a few years that if I start resawing bigger stuff, more stuff I might outgrow it. but it is sure working fine for me now. Ray Knight

[Tyler Howell]

I'm a solid gold kinda guy but the 14" PM BS didn't get good ratings from FWW mag. Sorry don't remember which month. It was in the past year.

[Jack Clay]

Like it was mentioned earlier if you like to recondition a bandsaw you can spend a lot less for a bigger and better saw. I have bought a Powermatic 20 inch variable speed bandsaw that I am reconditioning now. I was amazed at how easy it was to take apart. This saw weighs around 1100 pounds with a two horse motor that I bought new. One good thing is that these big bandsaws can take almost any motor frame style, so if it is three phase or has a bad motor they can be replaced very easy. Good luck

[Dave MacArthur]

See link in my signature below for some threads on choosing a bandsaw.

[John Bailey]

See link in my signature below for some threads on choosing a bandsaw.

Just wanted to say thanks, Dave, for the compilation. I love using the bandsaw and I use your compilation to find information all the time.

John

[David Weaver]

I don't want to be one of the people who tells you that you're looking in the wrong size of machine, but I can think of one machine now that you can get for another $150 new that is a whole lot more bandsaw - and still 110v with just a bit more hp (1.75) - the 18" redesigned jet model.

It has 1 3/8" diameter carter style guides top and bottom (really very nice quality stock guides), a cast trunnion, good weight (420 pounds) and a nice tensioning mechanism along with a rack and pinion guide height adjustment, a resaw fence assembly and the ability to take bigger blades.

There are a bunch of other places and companies that sell decent 17 or 18 inch band saws for barely more than the powermatic 14" saw costs and they're a whole lot more saw. Grizzly has a nice looking one (513x2) in 17" size for I think $950 plus freight - if you're not in one of their taxable states, that's a good deal - someone on here has to have bought one.

I can only speak about the latest Jet personally, other than some experience with some much larger saws in a furniture factory (not useful here), but I'm sure the other brands are OK, too, and it's easier to find sale deals on them than it is on the powermatic equipment sometimes.

http://woodworking.jettools.com/Prod...52&Part=710750

That said, stay away from any of the older Jet band saws - even a couple of years old. They weren't the same thing.

A mildy used Bridgewood saw would also be a good way to go if you can find one.

[Andy Pratt]

I've been very happy with the powermatic. I've used a number of different low-end bandsaws and this was the first quality one, so I'm probably a little biased in favor of it. It's not perfect but everything on it works the way it was supposed to, it has more than adequate power and the extras (especially quality blade guides and quick blade release) are really worth having.