Boston all I can tell you is my experience with Craftsman power tools has not been very good. I have some of their older ones that are still going strong. But I have found the newer ones to be underpowered and after a relatively short period of time parts become unavailable. Now let me say I have never owned their bandsaw but if I was in the market I would look around some.
Take a look at Grizzly tool company---their band saws are a good value for money spent---and the customer service is good--they stock parts and even have a machine shop----well run company.
12" is rather small---step up to the 14" --you will be glad you did---
I have one of the Rockwell 14 inch band saws, the older Delta and Porta Cable will fit. The Rockwell is a very sound saw, it was made back when Dewalt was a fine tool unlike today. Not saying Dewalt and Rockwell are the same thing but the older models were solid machines.
Fortunately---most band saws use common bearings---and accept after market blade guides---so,unless a major structural part is missing--they can be rebuilt without using original manufacturer parts.
I have a 12" Grizzly variable speed, they dropped it right after I bought mine. If I ever need them, can't get parts. Grizzly does like a lot of companies, they buy whatever is low bid. Much of their stuff is made in China. I also have a 14" Craftsman. 2 speed. Takes hours to change speeds. If I was still woodworking, I would look for something else.
Replacement tires ? I don't have a source off the top of my head--but someone here will---or go to Woodworking Talk (link at the bottom of the page) and ask there---
I have to say I ran into the the same problems as Rusty did with Grizzly. Mine was with a planer in great shape needed minor repair called was told parts no longer available. And the people I talked to had a pretty sh$$$y attitude about it. My friend had one of their framing nailers was about 6 months old something broke in it, he ordered parts has been 6 weeks and he still hasn't got them. I really don't know what happened but this used to be a really good company. As of now I would not recommend them to anybody.
I forgot about the Grizzly scroll saw I bought (my wife reminded me) .It would not run straight out of the box. I took it to their store in Springfield, Mo. I just wanted a refund. They told me that one of their guys would need to look at it first. In the back they had dozens of the same model in a junk pile. The repairman threw mine on top of the pile and wrote out a refund ticket.
When was looking for a table saw, I almost bought a Grizzly until they explained shipping. They could tell me what day it would arrive but not what time. When the truck arrived at my house, I would have 15 minutes to find enough people to unload a 700 lb saw. The driver would not help me. If I didn't have it off in the 15 minutes, I would have to drive 100 miles to their store to get it.
I bought one at Sears, they loaded it into my old pickup for me, a mile from my house.
I'm glad for you---that is one tool worth the time to tune up----simple and solidly built---
That is a great video that del schisler linked to----I save it----
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