Dunno how I forgot this one...

So, a few weeks ago, we got a new-to-us big bandsaw... a Yates American Y-36. The wheels on this thing are 36" in diamter. It's huge... something like 9.5' tall. We had to take the upper wheel and guard off of the thing to get it into the building, and still had to take the door off of the freight elevator to get it through.

It's an enormous thing of beauty, and it runs almost silently, which is a real testament to the way they used to make things back in the old days. My 2 year old powermatic screeches on startup, and rattles in use. It works, but not as well as the Y-36 does.

According to Mike, the guy who sold it to us, the saw used to belong to the Pratt and Whitney pattern shop, but since then, it's had a few owners. Mike is a professional rigger, and moves large and heavy objects like this saw, so he's been the one who went to get it every time a shop closed, and sold it to the next guy. Hopefully this isn't a bad omen for our shop... but in any event, I'm glad to have it around.