A Homemade Porta-Band Stand

[Bart]

for what ever reason, i had never seen a porta-band saw on a homemade or purchased stand. so it would be like an upright band saw, you just don't have the larger throat & adjustable roller guides.
until I seen the one Papee posted on one of his threads when he was showing how he cuts & fits conduit.
and I remember how much fun i had trying to cut somewhat accurate angles on conduit and small material , while holding it steady with one hand on the table or in a vise, and the other hand trying to keep the angle and cut at the same time. (some times it seemed almost like a circus. someone just need to be standing by, watching, with a bag of popcorn. and they would have got their moneys worth. more often than not.)

so i looked at all the different designs that are sold and what others have made.
the funnest part for this one was, drilling & tapping the hardened portaband shoe or foot. three of the holes were okay, but the forth one was just a little harder, it may have hardened just a little when i smoked 2 drill bits, and broke 4 taps on that one.
i ended up making that blade cut about 1/2" too long.
when i get the cross bracing fitted up, then i will drill and bolt the top plate to the side walls.
i may have went a little longer on the plate size 16" wide, and 12" deep. but that was what was laying around.
now with it mounted, i can draw some lines that are parallel with the blade. then mill a couple of grooves so i can use a miter fence, if needed. (just a thought)

on many of the homemade stands, i seen where some a lot of bracing on the handles and back of the saw, and other just had 1 or 2 bolts that held the shoe to the plate.
the slide on this one, had just a little play, but after attaching it to the table top. it feels pretty solid.

it is just another small improvement, that i think this will save me some time when i start cutting an fitting things up.
a real band saw would be nice, but this should keep me happy for a good while.