Band Saw Riser

Cool Paul glad u chose to go for it..

What's that orange crane u using. I think I could do with something like that?
How high can u have it go?

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What's that orange crane u using. I think I could do with something like that?
How high can u have it go?

Its basically and older version of this one:
http://www.harborfreight.com/2-ton-capacity-foldable-shop-crane-60388.html
I bought mine when they were switching from orange to silver/grey and ended up with a grey base and an orange top.

The specs say something like 89 or 90" but don't think that counts any length on the grappling chain.

Its saved me an immense amount of effort. It was just BARELY tall enough to grab my 17" grizzly saw off of the trailer I'd borrowed to haul it up to the house, I had to rig it up and then very carefully tip the trailer out from underneath it - that was an adventure!

My main complaint is that I waited so long to get it.
 
Cool Paul glad u chose to go for it..

What's that orange crane u using. I think I could do with something like that?
How high can u have it go?

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Rob, here are the specs for the ones they sell now. Mine is about 30 years old so it is heaver than the current ones and mine does not fold up. I take it apart to store it. I have used it a lot over the years.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2-ton-capacity-foldable-shop-crane-69514.html

And I guess I just gave you the same info as Ryan did.
 
Okay, so I call Ellis Mfg. Started tell in the gentleman that I wanted to buy some saw blades and what for and he interrupted me and asked where I lived. I said Washington so he say these are the vendor that sell our blades in that state. Like, I was a little shocked and said okay and hung up. Maybe I will try again in a day or so. Course in my state of shock I didn't get the names of the vendors in my head. Other than Oxarc... maybe they sell welding equipment...
 
It gets worse, I decided to email them from there contact page. I asked for a list of vendors of their blades in both Washington and Oregon. I was thinking that way I would have a list to look at. I got a quick response, with one vendor in Washington, one in Oregon... all at least 250 miles from me. When talking to him on the phone I heard 4 or 5 in Washington alone... I know I am not a good communicator, but my questions were pretty simple.
 
Low barrier to sales often results in more sales... I wish more vendors got that. I haven't ordered from Ellis myself because you have to call them and I'm slightly allergic to talking on the phone for pretty much these reasons. If they even had a form to get an email quote I'd consider that.
 
It's been a few years since I ordered blades from Ellis, but they were very helpful, listened to what I wanted to do and asked all the right questions. If I got treated like you described, my next call would be to the owner or a manager and get it straightened out.
 
Well I will try defend them if logic would help but somehow people only see their side of the equation these days.

Ellis is a blade manufacturer.
While they have entertained product inquiries and sales to the general public, their is a overhead and cost to doing this.
What ends up happening is loads of calls where the value per transaction is low and the frequency of repeat order low. My guess is once per year for a typical woodworker buying a few blades.
So if you were on the other side of the fence and looked at the salary of the person dealing with you on the phone, in Canada that's around $40k then divided that working time over the number of transactions you would find the direct cost of that person works out to be around $30 per call then look to cover all the overheads to have a person on a phone (computer, telephone , insurance gov taxes and levies ) jus how much do you think they actually make net on your $50 - $100 dollar order.
What they strategically have to do is push this business down to distributors who will be required to buy a large stock and reorder in economic batch sizes to retain distributorship which will allow a margin on the blades. In theory if they have chosen good distributors then that distributor is required to support the product by having stock on hand and being able to offer relevant technical advice. But that's where things fall apart.
Companies make the mistake of appointing too many distributors in a specific market area and destroy their own brand value in the process and they do not know or setup the methods by which they route retail customers to distributors.

Despite what I know, I actually believe this multi layer market approach is severely under threat and collapsing as brands discover how to make good use of the web. A distributor needs to be way more than a box mover.

Take my favorite gripe.....Best Buy. How often have you been into the store or even on their website and the person helping you has no clue about the product and even if they do they cannot articulate it to a consumer. You don't get that quality of person on min wage. So if I am on my own (as in not getting any advice or support at point of sale) and going to rely on my friends for purchase advice then I am NOT paying a box mover their cut and I will seek out the lowest price.

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Along with information about the positives about a riser installation should be the admonition to equip with two bandsaws---one for resawing an the other for everything else------I went through the experience of having a full stable of 93 1/2" blades-------now much later I have the second bandsaw and money spent for shorter blades. Just don't want to change from resawing setup to smaller blade work.-------Works for me.
 
Rob, your are correct for sure, but all that said, their website should state that they are wholesale only or there is a minimum order, maybe it does and I missed it. No harm done, there are other sellers.
 
Just bought an 02 Delta 6.5" for $100 , i think a riser is just what I need.
Where do I go to get a good blade for this saw ? The blade that came with it cut good. I was able to slice a 5" log of snake wood but I have a feeling after the rest of the snakewood is cut it will be dull if not before.
 
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At the risk of starting a war, since there are many conflicting opinions, I find that a regular steel bandsaw blades lasts for about 2 hours of cutting, and not more than 5 hours. I have had a couple people ask for advice on buying a new bandsaw, and when I finally got them to buy a new blade, they thanked me for making them happy with their existing saw.

I do have the riser block on my 14 inch bandsaw, but it was still a lightweight saw and resawing was not assured success. I bought a heavy saw (MM24) and have very good luck resawing dry hardwood with a carbide blade. I kept the 14 inch saw for curved work with a narrow blade.
 
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