# making woodworking machinery and beekeeping equipment



## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

I like to make stuff, and I need or would like a bandsaw but my budget doesn't stretch that far, so I plan on making a bandsaw.

I am going to buy a plan from a guy called Matthias Wandel. This guy makes really cool stuff out of wood and sometimes gives away the plans or he sells them online. He also has a video and article about making the bandsaw.
http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/homemade.html

The plans for the bandsaw are very detailed and cost 21 dollars. http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/plans/index.html

He has a jig for doing box joints on a table saw, nothing new there, but this looks fast and accurate with a high level of repeatability, maybe good for making beehives.

Now I just need to get of this computer and get productive this winter.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

Stephenpbird... Make your own jig and save the money. 

If you plan to keep making boxes, buy a cheap saw off Craigslist, mount a dado set, and leave it set up. Push it in the corner when not using it. You don't need an expensive, fancy saw to make box joints. Most any Sears Craftsman's will do the job. Just make sure the shaft will accommodate a dado set.

Search "box joint" and lots of good instructional plans and videos will come up. Check out the sites for cabinet makers. Then use the one you like best.

A sled for cutting box joints is easy to make, and will insure a very nice box joint on boxes and outer covers.

Just curious... What do you plan to use the band saw for, in making bee equipment. I make hundreds of pieces of bee equipment each year, and have never used a band saw for anything having to do with bee equipment.

cchoganjr


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## NewJoe (Jul 1, 2012)

I have a wooden one that I picked up at an auction for $2.00. I love it and it works great. The one I have has aluminum wheels and adjustable metal guides. I don't know where all the parts come from, but it is quite old....But it works as well as a factory one!


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

Cleo C. Hogan Jr said:


> Stephenpbird... Make your own jig and save the money.
> 
> If you plan to keep making boxes, buy a cheap saw off Craigslist, mount a dado set, and leave it set up. Push it in the corner when not using it. You don't need an expensive, fancy saw to make box joints. Most any Sears Craftsman's will do the job. Just make sure the shaft will accommodate a dado set.
> cchoganjr


We don't have craigslist so I use ebay and Dado sets are illegal here . Like I said I like making stuff so I would use a jig like that on other projects as well.

I cut my own fire wood and sometimes get nice trees I can use for other purposes. Last year I cut up a lovely cherry tree for fire wood! I plan on using the chain saw to mill the logs. At Least I could re saw some wood down to manageable sizes on a band saw. I have tried making my own frames on my table saw which was ok but produced a ton of sawdust. I think the bandsaw would help reduce that. There a a couple of Linden trees I have my eye on that would make a load of lovely frames.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Stephenpbird said:


> and Dado sets are illegal here


What?!


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

Stephenpbird... Sorry, did not notice you are in Germany. Did not know that dado sets are illegal there.

Good Luck.

cchoganjr


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

> We don't have craigslist ....

Hmmm. 

I find that there is a Craigslist for the Bremen, Germany area:

http://bremen.de.craigslist.de/
that seems to be close to the Baden location in your profile. There are other Craigslists for more than a dozen other areas of Germany.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

Rader Sidetrack said:


> > We don't have craigslist ....
> 
> Hmmm.
> 
> ...


Learn something everyday, Frankfurt or Stuttgart are closest, 2 hour drive both ways but there is only one listing for tools.

The powers that be say those Dado sets are way to dangerous to use. You can't find one for sale, (Can you Graham)? I have heard that you can gang up some skil saw blades with a slight offset to get the same effect, but I'll give that idea a miss.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I would gang some of the same size blades together. Put some thin shim stock between each blade. A table saw will be a lot more friendly for what you want to do. Than a band saw. 
David


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

I think I'll try ganging blades up in the new year. At the moment I've got to keep the Mrs sweet and make a built in wardrobe.


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Stephenpbird said:


> I think I'll try ganging blades up in the new year. At the moment I've got to keep the Mrs sweet and make a built in wardrobe.


I have ganged up blades to cut dadoes. Make sure you buy the bunch of blades all the same brand and number of teeth so you can have slight overlap without tooth interference. I made a set of shims from milk jugs to reduce overlap. You can take out or add a few for fine tuning for kerf width. 

Some saws may not have long enough arbor shaft.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

A good dado blade is likely to be far safer than stacked blades and makeshift shims....the results will be better as well.

I would find someone who can buy one and mail it to you (perhaps in pieces if the authorities are looking for a "dado stack" to arrive by mail).

The other thought would to buy a used table saw and retrofit it with a permanant cutter for your boxjoint width...or buy/build a hauncher (there is a thread with a good photo of a hauncher, but I can't find it).


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

crofter said:


> Some saws may not have long enough arbor shaft.


Thanks for the heads up, I wonder if it would be easier just to put my router in a table and use that. I looking a making about 50 hive bodies plus frames for them this year.


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## merince (Jul 19, 2011)

A router mounted in a table will act pretty much like a dado - you need a straight bit. :thumbsup:

Then you can use the jig for box joints: http://beesource.com/files/boxjoint.pdf


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

For the frames the router would handily do the notch cuts as there is not a lot of material to pulverize. For the boxes I personally would choose single blade cut rabbets; much less wood to chew up and less critical fitting needed than with box joints. 

Here is a picture of both types of construction. I just use as band sawn rough lumber here so they are not fancy but functional.

The frame dadoes were done with the multi ganged rip blades with a mitre groove sled as Cleo Hogan mentions and the same idea could be used with a router.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

did a search for a hauncher as I had no idea what one was, found a you tube link to Justin Cheesman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Sti5hf0Uc

Wow that thing is fast, I don't need that many hive bodies to justify building one.

As for the Dado set, some of the guys on ebay will ship .


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

I had not seen that pdf Thanks.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

Thanks for the pics Crofter. Buying a good new router here in germany will cost me much less than buying a dado blade on ebay and shipping to Germany. In the new year I'll do some test with the table saw and ganged blades as well as tests with my router. Looks like I need to invest some time in this to see what will work for me.

I bought the plans for the bandsaw all ready, now its just down to priorities. If most of my bee survive winter I'll be short on hive bodies.


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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

You could rent a wood workshop for some days instead of buying all the tools yourself. ?it is nice to have access to professional tools. A lot of machinery can be rented, too. For use at home. Just an idea. I do rent a lot. It is much cheaper and the machinery is well cared for.


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

We have two dado sets from this company in the UK, they also ship worldwide, not far to Germany.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CARBIDE...5141371?pt=UK_HG_DIY_Saws&hash=item258204c7fb


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

beekuk said:


> We have two dado sets from this company in the UK, they also ship worldwide, not far to Germany.
> 
> http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8-CARBIDE...5141371?pt=UK_HG_DIY_Saws&hash=item258204c7fb


No its not far but at $972 before shipping I think I will give that a BIG miss.


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

Stephepbird... There has to be some mistake there. You should be able to get a good dado set for just over or just under $100.00.

There are lots of them sold on E-bay, and some of them mention shipping worldwide.

Good Luck.

cchoganjr


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## DPBsbees (Apr 14, 2011)

Stephepbird... I agree with Mr. Hogan. I see this dado set "Freud SD208 8" Pro Dado Carbide-Tipped Saw Blade Set" for $124.25 on Ebay and it says they ship world wide. This would be more than a fine enough set for making beekeeping equipment. Dan


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## Cleo C. Hogan Jr (Feb 27, 2010)

DPBsbees... That Freud SD208 8 inch set is a very good set for making bee boxes. Excellent flat bottoms on the valleys, little to no blowout on back side, until extremely worn, ( and that is several hundred boxes). Very good dado set for bee boxes.

cchoganjr


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