Ideas for portable band saw stand?

Pedro G.

Well-Known Member
I just bought a milwaukee 6230N portable bandsaw and I want to make a stand for it. I've tried a picket fence like structure but it didn't hold it tight enough.
I was thinking of making a mold of it and then creating a hard plastic base but that might not work and could be expensive.
One thing I don't want to do is damage the machine in any way as is drill holes in it and what not.
I've seen the swag of road model and pretty much all the commercial/ some home made ones but I just can't see how to reproduce it.

If you have any idea or pictures I would really appreciate it.

(I'm new to DIY building.)
thank you
-Pedro
 
Pedro, I used my base from a old Harbor Freight drill press that finally bit the dust. had to loosen the set screw for the head of the Drill press and it came right off. Then adjusted the table to one side and positioned the saw till it was close to where I figured it would allow me to use the saw. Next I had to drill a couple holes in the case of the saw (one high and one low) and I attached the saw to the base using Heavy Duty Zip strips.. Attaching to the upright of the drill press and the table.. easy as that.. took about 15 minutes to do and had worked good so far. Also I had to attach the base of the Drill press to the bench. just ran a few large screws with larger washers into the bench.. Not sure this will help. But I hope it gives you some ideas. I have seen quite a few different set ups, each was unique and it seems like the person used what was on hand, and improvised to make it work :)

Good luck
Randy
 
Oddly enough, I have the harbor freight model and i just shove a beer cap under the handle. It holds really well in just the right position, no kidding..
 
Here are a few shots of the HF I put together. It works quite nicely. * excuse the mess *


-can't get pictures to work-
 
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Alright well thanks to everyone my imagination kicked up and I just gave it a go and I did it! :)
Here are some pictures of the stand. It's really ugly but it works!

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Tell me what I can do to it to make it better and I will try. Thank you!
P.s. What common store sells foot switches?
 
New knife design idea?

This is a knife I have drawn out to scale and took the measurements and I want to know if this looks good. I want to make a knife worth selling! Please critique and give me tips since I am pretty new to knife making.
Thank you!
-Pedro G.

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P.s. Sorry if the drawings are a bit wavy. Couldn't find my camera and had to use my phone.
 
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and any knife is worth selling. The price however is determined by the quality.
The only tip I can give you is to look at as many knife pics as you can. If you find a design that is pleasing to your eye try and figure out what it is you like. There's very little that has not been done in knife design and you can also combine features of different knives to try and create your own style. Even if it takes you weeks to draw 2000 pics you will eventually find one that is practical. After design make a template from wood/plastic/anything and feel what is is like in you hand. An aesthetically designed knife that does not feel right in the hand or hurts the user's hand is worth nothing IMO. A knife is firstly a practical tool and then a thing of beauty.

It could be just me and maybe you will hate me for saying it but I personally don't like your design. I have a cheapline "made in China" knife lying somewhere in my workshop for years now looking exactly like that. I sharpened it for some guy a couple of years ago and he never came back to pick it up.
 
Pedro,
It aint bad at all, what I see is you're trying to come up with something new and or different, right now while your still learning stick to tried and true designs that follow function first, say a camp knife, or a smaller EDC, something someone WILL USE, and use a lot, nothing wrong with trying to be different or come up with a new design. I do it all the time, the problem with finding something new lies in that the knife is man's oldest tool, and the majority of all functional ideas short of mechanisms have been done at some point. It is extremely difficult to come up with a new idea for a knife especialy when you only have 4 to at the most 5 parts that have to be ergonomically sound. If you'd like some ideas I've got drawings running out of my ears!! I'd be happy to share some with you if you'd like, Rex
 
Thank you for the advice and your opinion! I am trying to model this after a knife that once belonged to my father and i'm trying to redo the knife I tried to make as my "first". It's in my profile picture.
-Pedro
 
It's actually modeled after a knife my father owned. It was mainly used for camping and barbecue which I think weren't it's correct functions. I'm just trying to compensate in my head for such thick metal I see how bowies are made from 1/4" but it doesn't fit into my head when it comes to a smaller knife. So i'm trying to give it a more stout look if that makes sense?
I would love to see some of your ideas!
-Pedro
 
Interesting design. The saber grind, grinding the bevels half way up the width of the blade, looks good. Is there a reason that you chose that over taking the bevels up to the spine? You might want to consider making the ricasso as long as the blade is wide. It would also give better ballance to the blade if you beveled the blade lengthwise to at least the ricasso if not the shoulder of the blade. Some might advocate beveling the tang lengthwise too.

I can't tell by your drawing but if you are going to cut the arm of the guard into the tang then all you will have to do is sandwitch the bolster material onto it then shape it. If the tang is going to straight and the arm will only be in the guard then you will have to inlet the block of brass you're making your bolster from to accept the tang. It can be done both ways but the latter is a lot more work without a milling maching but it can be done with drill bits and files. The order of assembly that I'd use on that handle is to install the bolster blank with the rear angle cut. Then cut the corresponding angle to the scale blanks and install them followed by the pommel scale blanks. I would then finish shaping the whole handle.

The design is a little more involved than most do with a first knife but it is doable, though simpler might be a little better to start with.
 
Pedro,

If correct and there is a swedge on this blade it will be difficult to intersect the two grinds without distal taper. Its also hard to produce a fine point without distal taper.

Fred
 
I want to give a Non-full flat grind for once. By width do you mean thickness? What do you mean by beveling the tang?

I was thinking of just making some bolsters on the sides but the blades metal itself would extend as a guard and the bolster followed.

This isn't my first knife but its the first knife I will make sure to take my time on no matter how long it takes. I've realized that I tend to set a date to when I want it finished and rush to finish it and I want this knife to come out really well. I would add some spine designs as in some "chips" (not too sure how they are called) to make it a little different but I think simple is alright right now.
 
Distal taper is tapering from tip to ricasso or some point between tip and ricasso. With a swedge, you might taper to a point just past the swedge (like 4.25" based on your drawing), then leave it normal thickness. You've got a nice up-swept tip on there - wiser heads may tell you how to keep that tip from breaking, but my limited understanding would lead me to want to leave some thickness on the tip, so I'd be thinking about a convex grind after HT.

Beveling the tang is tapering from tang to ricasso, so it would be narrow at the butt, and taper to natural thickness at the ricasso.

Doug is suggesting you use the tang in conjunction with the bolsters as your guard, which is probably easier, and then dovetailing the bolsters and the scales so looking at it from the spine (back) it angles towards the butt - the scales slide up under the bevel of the bolster. Pretty and strong, and might accent or give a reference point for your filework on the spine.

Only thing I'd mention is the curve under the guard, looks a little stepped in the drawing. That could make for a hot spot for the user. Again, no expert here, I'm far better at using than making them right now, and the notched guards can pinch on the index finger with heavy use. I don't want to disrupt your design flow though - that's your baby! Maybe cut it out as a wide arc and feel it in the hand, and then relieve it back until it feels natural to your hand. I make a prototype of my knives out of wood first, just to get the handle feel.

Keep us posted!
 
I plan on posting a tutorial on building a port-a-band saw table stand this weekend. You can get a variety of blades for your saw at most hardware stores. I have a Harbor Freight saw, but I use the Milwaukee blades and they work very well.
 
I would like to see the tutorial!
I have a question about the blades. I bought some milwaukee blades 10 TPI and 14 TPI. They came together. I've only been using the 10 TPI, but there is something weird going on with it. At the point where the band is welded together it kind of thickens a bit more than the rest and bumps my material so every time it passes my material jumps a bit and it won't let me cut smoothly when it comes to thick metal (1/4"). Do they all come like this or did I just get a bad one?
 
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