Posted on my lunch hour.



A tool I've been saving up for over the last year is a Milwaukee portable band saw (I think "portaband" is a trademark of Porter Cable). For my application, I needed a stand. I looked at the aftermarket stands and thought "gee, that's great, but it costs too much." As I have zero capability for TIG/MIG welding, slapping together a stand out of angle iron was out too.

So I applied appropriate engineering technology (also known as the hillbilly fix). I took at section of 2"x12" plank, screwed a floor flange into the plank, screwed a 1" length of pipe into the floor flange and then used zip strips to secure the bandsaw to the stand. There are two zip strips holding the saw to the pipe, two wooden blocks on either side of the foot of the saw (to insure it doesn't slip around) a zip strip going through two holes in the base of the plank that grab the handle of the saw, and a final zip strip holding the trigger switch closed. I then attached a HF foot pedal and then clamped the base to my portable work bench.

Huzzah - now I can do some serious (and safe) metal cutting.

Out of pocket expenses - counting the floor flange and the foot pedal, less than $30.00.

That is a rad jury-rig.

I'd dump the zip ties for some hose clamps. Hows the portable saw do in cutting say 1/2" stock?

The zip tie is rated at 75 pounds, so I'm not too worried. I originally thought I'd use steel hose clamps, but I had the zip ties...

1/2" stock? Piece of cake. It will also slice a railroad spike in half, including the head (lengthwise) at either slow or fast speed. (The Milwaukee 6236 has two speeds).

LOL. That's quite a set up. Love the "Engineering". Be safe and enjoy. Glad it works well for you. :)

i still vote to ditch the zip ties the 75 lB rating if for a strait pull you can get them to fail through twisting at a much lower force level
plus the nice thing about pipe clamps is you can tighten and loosen them as needed say if you want to slip it off the stand to use it to do some cutting as a hand tool
other than that A+ on the macgyver build

Not bad at all. Is that a field expedient to be replaced by something more substantial? It reminds me of zip tieing my Portaband to a fence post to get the job done. The guy I was working with insisted he could freehand the cut. It was his steel so what the hey but I made him pay for the band he ruined.

Sorry for the ramble down memory lane. Are you going to put a platen on it?

Frosty the Lucky.

i just clamp mine in my post vise and add a loop of rope around the trigger to the floor and with the addition of a piece of 5/8 bar stock on the floor and in the loop of rope i can hold down my trigger and cut away. and it comes out easy so i can do freehand if i need.

Not bad at all. Is that a field expedient to be replaced by something more substantial? It reminds me of zip tieing my Portaband to a fence post to get the job done. The guy I was working with insisted he could freehand the cut. It was his steel so what the hey but I made him pay for the band he ruined.

Sorry for the ramble down memory lane. Are you going to put a platen on it?

Frosty the Lucky.

Yes! That's the next project. Many platens have the cut part facing the user, I want a solid platen with the cut part away from the user, so I can put small stock through the blade without having it get caught in the cut. If I do the tolerances right, the blade shouldn't care.

For now, this will meet my needs. I will most likely replace the zip ties with steel hose clamps when I have one (or four) fall into my lap, and if ever I could get a welding friend to slap together a frame, that would be good too, but for now, it's solid and it didn't cost a whole lot of money, being made from materials I had on hand.

Brilliant, in my opinion. I don't see the need for a welded stand as that metal pipe and flange are very strong. The bolts holding the flange to the wood aren't going anywhere, either. I've been wanting to make a stand for my Porter Cable for a while and this looks like something I could actually reproduce.

Thanks for the idea!

Great job I may have to mock this for use at teh conference in a coupel weeks. What's your name Gaithersburg so I can give you credit?

Great job I may have to mock this for use at teh conference in a coupel weeks. What's your name Gaithersburg so I can give you credit?

John - you know, that tall bearded guy who keeps making noise in his back yard - that guy.

All is fair in love, war and blacksmithing...... I clamp mine to a Columbian vise on a stand. The one thing I do for trigger is put a large spring type clamp on the trigger. If something is wrong I can slap the clamp instantly and it pops off,turning the saw off. Aren't those saws the handiest thing since sliced bread?

That is very cool John. Love the "Hillbilly Fix"



Robert - You know, the bearded guy who makes all that awful noise while playing with fire in his garage - that guy.

If it works it works is a philosophy I tend to go with. A wide platen is a good thing and facing the slot away from you shouldn't make any difference to the machine.

Frosty the Lucky.

You have an interesting sense of ingenuity! Be safe with metal cutting!

Thanks for the motivational pictures. Sometimes all I need is another picture that Rube Goldberg would appreciate. I have plate and pipe and clamps. Outstanding engineering my friend. You will be credited.