A little over a year ago, a friend of mine was buying a new bandsaw, and gave me his old one from the 70s. I finally got around to building a base for it this weekend and here are some pictures I took.
Here’s a picture of the saw with the case on. It’s made by INCA, which I think started in Switzerland, then moved to France, then restructured, then got renamed (or bought out?) by Injecta, then went out of business. And then a few years ago, some other company bought the name INCA and started making replacement parts. Their story is kind of a mess, but despite all that, they have a good reputation for making quality tools.
Here’s a picture of it with the case off. I had to clean out quite a bit of sawdust, replace a couple bearings, and do some other general maintenance, but I got it up and running well. In this picture the saw itself and the motor are screwed into my workbench top, which is functional, but not practical long term since I want to use the workbench for other things.
I didn’t have any plans for the the base aside from overall dimensions, so I just made things up as I went along (my favorite way to work, though working from a plan is much quicker).
Once I got the basic structure down, I cut a hole for the drive belt and made a shelf for the motor to sit on.
Here’s a shot of the front at the same stage.
Next I cut panels to cover all the openings on the backside, except for the opening for the motor. Also I added wheels so I can move it out of the way when I’m not using it.
This is the front as of right now. I’m planning to build drawers to fill in the openings, two tall drawers on the left side, and two shallower ones on the right above and below the motor.
A bandsaw is useful for making curved cuts, though I need a lot more practice at making smooth cuts.
I mounted the pieces in the previous picture to the side to hold the miter gauge and fence for the bandsaw. I’m not sure I’ll ever use them, but either way I won’t lose them!
I also made a couple of wood brackets to hold the power cord flat against the side. These were very easy to make on the bandsaw.
I used my recently built box joint jig to make the drawers. I was able to cut all 8 of these boards at once in the box joint jig, which is pretty impressive.
Here’s one of the drawers glued up.
I put oak runners on the bottom of the larger drawers so they’d slide easier. I didn’t bother with actual drawer slides.
The fronts I made awhile ago when I was building the bandsaw stand. I made the handles out of some scrap oak on the bandsaw.
Here’s one of the drawers finished up with the front attached.
Finally, here’s a shot of the finished bandsaw stand. I’m still figuring out which things to put in the drawers, but the garage feels more organized already.
