Technical Porta-band

That’s what I did. I Bought a craftsman band saw for 40$ without a motor, ( I see them for 100 ti 150$ all the time) picked up a dc motor off the bay and a dc motor controller. So less than 200$ I have a variable speed saw with a 80 inch band (long life). It does take some room but I have it on wheels to move it out of the way.

 

Im gonna dig mine out & look into some better blades. I was just using whatever was included with the tool.
Truth told I was in a hurry and quickly got frustrated ended up just using a regular cut off wheel then threw the band saw back on the shelf. I dont see much use for me personally to use for straight chop cuts very often.
Vertically with one of those stands I could see using it for a few things. Ive used my Pops old Delta in the woodshop for years so im familar with a Bandsaws capability and comfortable using one.

 

Wheels is the secret to utilizing lots of tools in small shops...............

 

So true! Until so much stuff is on wheels that something has to get moved before you can move the 2 items in the way of the thing on wheels that you need to use!

Yup! I got a blivet. 10 pounds in a 5 pound bag...

 

I would do that if I was you, I paid $30 at a swap meet for mine and it is a beat up saw. The blade has about half of the teeth missing and the rest are dull. Even with the bad blade it cuts ok, can't wait to get some new ones.

 

An 18t is a good all around blade, but you'll find it will likely not work well with aluminum as the teeth will fill up with aluminum quickly. A coarser 12t will work better, but then you'll have issues cutting anything thinner than 1/4".
I'd get a 24t for thin steel and a 12t for aluminum.
To help reduce aluminum sticking to the blades I keep a squirt bottle of kerosene handy and spray some on the cut as I'm cutting. It works great, and is cheaper than cutting fluids.