Features:

  • Rip fence for straight, accurate cuts. 6-TPI band saw blade cuts through a variety of wood materials
  • Articulating LED work light for better view of work piece and cut-line
  • Features a 1-1/2-inch dust port that keeps work area clear of dust
  • Rack and pinion table adjustment for quick angle and height adjustments
  • Motor is 1-speed for wood or metal based materials
Good value

Best price I could find on a small bandsaw. This was bought to replace an old Craftsman band saw I have that gave up the ghost. So far I am quite happy with it. I use it to cut wood up to maybe 3" thick. Seems to do the job just fine. If my opinion changes after many months of use I will update this review, but so far it works quite well for my purposes. Easy to open/ close, easy to clean, and easy to mount and adjust the blades. The motor seems strong enough for light/ medium duty use. I have only been able to stall the motor once so far on a fairly thick block of oak. I needed to slow down and let the blade to the work.

Great saw and features for the money.

Solid saw with good features. The rip fence and miter guide are a definite bonus. To this point, I have cut multiple pen blanks, as well as some smaller (1.5" max thickness) boards. The cut isn't perfectly smooth, so it likely needs further refinement, but it's good enough for my purposes. Adjustments are easy, if a bit tedious. Nothing out of the ordinary for a band saw. I've pushed some rather hard woods through here already. I definitely recommend connecting the dust port to a vacuum. Otherwise you'll spend 10x longer cleaning the saw than using it. This saw has taken the place of my Rockwell BladeRunner as my convenient saw for small objects.

Much better the you would think for the price!

I have a number of better band saws. And they cost anything from 10X as much to 25X as much. This little guy is very much like it’s big brouther. Right down to having a little brush to clean the dust off the tire! The blade is fair quality, but you can get a name brade replacement bald fo not much money. It is handy to have this little guy around the shop and with the name brand replacement blade it will handle much thicker wood then you would think. In fact, I was shocked to find I could resaw 9/4 ash and limbs with it! Mostly I use it do stuff I would do with the scroll saw (with a 1/8” name brand blade) only I do it much faster with this. When I wear this little guy out from doing cuts in too thick wood, I’ll replace it with the same thing. BTW, did a great jobs rough cutting a bunch of pinewood derby cars!

It has been fantastic, but there are some things you need to ...

I purchased the Skil 9" band saw almost 5 months ago and I use it almost daily for small wood crafting projects. It has been fantastic, but there are some things you need to be aware of: Prior to my purchase I had read a negative review stating that this is under powered. It's certainly NOT under powered, BUT after 2 months of regular use I did experience a significant drop in power. After some troubleshooting I found that the drive belt was loose. Once I tightened that drive belt it had more power than it did when I unboxed it. I was able to rip a 2x4 like a hot knife through butter. It comes with a low quality, 4 TPI blade installed. Depending on what you are using this for and how often, you may want to set that one aside and install a better quality blade while you are putting this together. I use a higher tooth count for the cuts I make. The plastic blade guide in the table broke after about 4 months. It had popped out once or twice while cutting some curves and pieces of plastic. The last time it popped out, it went sideways, the blade hit it and it shattered into so many pieces I couldn't even find all of them... SO, when you get yours, you may want to glue that down with some temporary glue or replace it immediately. *Do not permenantly glue it down because you need to remove that part to replace the blade.** Keep it clean. If you use it frequently, vacuum it out often and make sure you clean the rubber on the drive wheel. I noticed that it can get caked with debris in spite of the wheel brush that rides against it. I used some 400 grit sand paper and gently scrubbed off the caked on debris. Mind you, this is after me using this almost daily to cut wood and plastic for 3 months. If you use this THAT often, you may want to clean it more frequently. In summary, I highly recommend the Skil 9" bandsaw. This has been fantastic for me and my daily use, but keep in mind it is a 9" band saw, so it's for smaller wood working projects. It has PLENTY of power for it's intended use. The widest thing you can cut will be 9" wide and I wouldn't try to rip wood thicker than 4 inches. IF yours seems to lose power over time, check the drive belt. A loose drive belt can cause a loss of power. And keep it clean, and make sure you keep your saw sharp and you will have no problems.

This is perfect for cutting home made PCBs with one fixable exception

PCB Board Cutting: This is perfect for cutting home made PCBs with one fixable exception. It comes with a 6 tooth per inch blade. It will make light work of cutting a PCB but it is SUPER loud when it does it. To the point where I need ear protection (and I am 1/2 deaf). HOWEVER, if you use this blade: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004C6ZKXK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It is very much quieter. It does cut slower and may ware out faster, but for me it is a clear winner. Its cutting is almost as quiet as it just running idle. Keep in mind it is still pretty big. You would need to dedicate some table space to it, or just do what I do and set it on the ground next to the table. But it is so much easier to cut PCBs this way. Also if you want to make rounded PCB cuts, I suggest looking for a blade with a high tpi (Tooth per inch) count, as the blade I recommended is quite thick, and is better suited for straight cuts.

Also tested it on some 2x4 scrap I had laying around and it worked like a charm

After getting it set up and adjusted, it cut through the soft pine of a pinewood derby car with no problem. Also tested it on some 2x4 scrap I had laying around and it worked like a charm. The table was solid when adjusted to an angle and the fence stays securely in place. The fence is adjustable on both sides, so it does need to be adjusted to square manually, however with rulers on both sides of the table, that was an easy task to accomplish. This bandsaw is great for the small projects I have around the house and look forward to using it more in the future.

Works great for my hobby

I received this as a gift from my wife as she saw it on my wish list. I recently started restoring vintage straight razors as a hobby and needed a saw to aid in cutting stock for making new scales. My tablesaw is kind of overpowering to be cutting 3/16" slices of horn or wood and my scroll saw just doesn't have the umph to get through some of the larger pieces of horn or most of the hardwoods I work with. Despite quite a few negative reviews I've seen on Amazon for this saw it included a rip fence and a built in light, both of which I wanted on a band saw. I've had pretty decent luck in the past with other Skil products and not wanting a freestanding unit or to be spending big $, this saw fit the bill. Box was intact with no dents or rips when I received it so kudos to Amazon & FedEx on the shipping. Set up on this saw was pretty easy, the only problem I encountered was the bolt holes on the bottom of the table had some excess paint in them so the mounting bolts did not want to start. I chased the threads on the holes with a tap and had no further problems. Table mounts square to the blade and all the guides and everything else had the proper clearances & settings straight from the box. Played around with the saw this evening, and am very happy with it, there is very minimal noise or vibration and it seems to have plenty of power for my needs. I split some buffalo horn in to 3/16" slices and blade went through the horn like butter. My next test was some slices of desert ironwood. Cut right through a 1 1/2" x 6" piece of the ironwood with no problem, I couldn't be happier with it. I would say it's a good saw for the hobbyist or around the house repair jobs. I would recommend you take your time during the setup to check all the adjustments that are in the instruction manual and make sure everything is adjusted and tight before you start using it. I like it, nice saw for the money.

So happy to have this

The seller worked with me and the product arrived perfectly. So happy to have this. The Rip-Fence works perfectly and it is so easy to install different blades. Some bandsaws in this price range don't include the rip fence and have no rulers built in so this product for the price really takes the cake.

Works great!

The SKIL 3386-01 2.5-Amp 9-Inch Band Saw was easy to setup by following the user's manual. It's mostly plastic and a little flimsy, but so are the rest of them in this price category. I read the reviews and there were a lot of complaints about the blade popping off, but I don't need it to cut any wood thicker than 3" or so. The blade did pop off a few times when I first started using it. I tightened it up each time and it hasn't popped off since. With a little tweaking and tightening of the blade, it works great and I'm happy. This band saw has been a great time-saver and I find more uses for it all the time. It's worth the money if you need basic cuts with 2" thick wood or less. If you need to cut thicker wood all the time, step up to a higher price range.

Sweet Little Band Saw!

What a great little saw for home projects! Wife had some crafting projects she wanted cut out of 3/4" Pine , worked great with included blade! I took some time to set up the blade guides properly when I took it out of the box before operating. This is a must do as they are not set up from factory even though the blade is installed. Instructions are in the included manual. Runs smooth with little vibration. Light could be better but I have shop lights to use. Nice for the price!

Full Reviews