Anyone heard of the Siccar brand? I went to a new dealer today that I had
just heard existed. When I walked in they had the usual PC/Delta/Dewalt/Jet
array of things at the front of the store. Then I looked around and
discovered the industrial monsters hiding amongst the tools common folks
use. Let's see there was this Delta band saw that was 2 feet taller than I
am. But the real shocker was the Siccar table saw. It had a sliding table
big enough to hold a 4x8 sheet and have room to spare. It looked like a 14
or 16" blade. The T square fence probably came off an Abrams tank. Most
tools had price tags. This one didn't.
Bob
Hi, Bob.
I have the Sicar (that's the spelling) Top5 bandsaw (500mm bandwheels).
It's an Italian machine with cast iron table, fence and bandwheels, thick
steel frame and it's built like a brick outhouse. It'll chomp through 10"
beech and yet peel < 1/16" veneers off an 8" thick block. The blade guides
are massive and it's one of the few bandsaws I've used that can accurately
rip with the fence (although that's as much to do with the blade as the
saw). I believe they do up to 900mm machines. The cast iron bandwheels are
very heavy and act as flywheels, so it's a very smooth-running machine
It has a brake and numerous interlocks to prevent the machine being started
with the door open. Fine from the safety point of view, but it does mean
that you can't check the blade tracking by spinning the wheels with the
machine switched off, which must make setting the tracking a bit of an
adventure, since the only way you can do it is to make the adjustment then
run it, unless you have the bottle to set the adjustment with the machine
running. I haven't had to do this - it was perfectly set by the factory.
Downsides? It weighs a ton, it doesn't have a mitre fence slot in the top
(I'm thinking of having one milled) and you need a spanner to adjust the
angle of the table. It's not as well fettled as some machines: great lumps
of weld - like bird shit- here and there under the paint. Apart from
these relatively minor bitches, it's a great machine and I wouldn't readily
swop it.
The other downside is that it cost over 1400 GBP and took nearly 6 weeks to
make the journey from Italy. But I'll never have to buy another bandsaw!
Cheers,
Frank
"Bob Davis" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Anyone heard of the Siccar brand? I went to a new dealer today that I had
> just heard existed. When I walked in they had the usual
PC/Delta/Dewalt/Jet
> array of things at the front of the store. Then I looked around and
> discovered the industrial monsters hiding amongst the tools common folks
> use. Let's see there was this Delta band saw that was 2 feet taller than
I
> am. But the real shocker was the Siccar table saw. It had a sliding
table
> big enough to hold a 4x8 sheet and have room to spare. It looked like a
14
> or 16" blade. The T square fence probably came off an Abrams tank. Most
> tools had price tags. This one didn't.
>
> Bob
>
>
A good many industrial woodworking machines are made by
folks most have never heard of outside of the industry.
A few are even built in the USA.
Here is very short list
Weinig (moulders)
Anderson(moulders)
SCM(saw,moulders,etc)
Sunhill
Wood-Mizer
Bridgewood
Diehl
Lobo
Martin
W&H
Onsrud
Holz-Her
Morbidelli
Bob Davis wrote:
> Anyone heard of the Siccar brand? I went to a new dealer today that I had
> just heard existed. When I walked in they had the usual PC/Delta/Dewalt/Jet
> array of things at the front of the store. Then I looked around and
> discovered the industrial monsters hiding amongst the tools common folks
> use. Let's see there was this Delta band saw that was 2 feet taller than I
> am. But the real shocker was the Siccar table saw. It had a sliding table
> big enough to hold a 4x8 sheet and have room to spare. It looked like a 14
> or 16" blade. The T square fence probably came off an Abrams tank. Most
> tools had price tags. This one didn't.
>
> Bob
>
>
Typically if you gotta ask the price, you cannot afford things like
that
John
On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 03:14:24 GMT, "Bob Davis"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Anyone heard of the Siccar brand? I went to a new dealer today that I had
>just heard existed. When I walked in they had the usual PC/Delta/Dewalt/Jet
>array of things at the front of the store. Then I looked around and
>discovered the industrial monsters hiding amongst the tools common folks
>use. Let's see there was this Delta band saw that was 2 feet taller than I
>am. But the real shocker was the Siccar table saw. It had a sliding table
>big enough to hold a 4x8 sheet and have room to spare. It looked like a 14
>or 16" blade. The T square fence probably came off an Abrams tank. Most
>tools had price tags. This one didn't.
>
>Bob
>