Hitachi CB75F 15 Amp 14-1/2-Inch Resaw Woodworking Band Saw with Guide Blocks, 115-Volt 1-Phase

We bought this saw to do some occasional veneer matching when building one-up pieces of furniture. It was often too time consuming to set up our main resaw (A Stenner) for veneer cuts. We had hoped that the reduced setup times would pay back the relatively high price for this saw. The frame of this saw seems strong enough to use a motor that is larger than what it arrived with and it needs it. The saw is under powered to do resaw work on oak, teak or maple. In thinking about it later we decided that when a 3" blade is mounted on these small diameter wheels the sheer power of bending the blade around two tires must take up a large portion of the available horsepower. This is horsepower that is not applied to the cut. Additionally the blades thin kerf tended to bind on all but the dryest of woods. We set the blade wider but then controlling the stock as it was fed was worse and the new set robbed even more power. If the saw had cut better we probably would have...Read more

Underpowered!!

When the machine arrived, we had high hopes given the impressive 3" wide blade, but due to the lack of power, the machine has seen very little use in the past year. In our shop, the Hitachi has trouble resawing anything wider than about 6 inches and hard woods like maple and white oak just compound the problem. Feed rates need to be kept very low in order to keep the motor from stalling. Most of our resawing is still done on an old 18" Oliver bandsaw which runs rings around this thing. The only impressive thing about the Hitachi is its price. For the money, this tool has been a real dissapointment.

I have had the CF75B for several years and have used it for typical curve cutting and resawing up to its 12" maximum.

Here are my observations:
1) Build quality is excellent (and durability - my saw is pushing 10+ years old).

2) Cut quality is very good if the saw is set up properly.

3) Dust collection is adequate.

4) The 3" wide bandsaw blades are pricey and unnecessary. Better performing (and cheaper) bands can be sourced from any number of 3rd party suppliers..just like any other bandsaw.

5) This is not a "tool free" design because the blade guide adjustments and trunnion adjustment requires you to use a crescent wrench.

6) The saw is under-powered given that the saw is marketed as a resaw bandsaw. It is powered by a 15A, 120V universal motor. Hitachi Support has told me the saw can handle a 3HP motor. Frankly, it should ship *with* a 3HP, 240V motor.

The net-net is that at current retail pricing, there are better choices for the money, if only for the...Read more