As joe mentions, there is going to definitely be a selection bias in the responses you receive.

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MOST people in the US, do not want, or need, a band saw (or power hacksaw). But you will not receive responses from them.

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I would imagine that the market for this sort of saw is really two segments, one is the home hobby machinist / craftsman that likes to make stuff either out of necessity, or a desire to create.? The second ( and I believe smaller) segment is the small business that has an occasional need to cut metal stock, but that can not justify, or doesn’t have the space for, a more “professional grade” machine. They may only need the capability every now and then, but when they do need it, they need it NOW.? There is probably a significant overlap between these two groups.

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I believe this “.io” group, is largely confined to that first market segment, but I know there are a few at least of the second.

The need for this capability however is common to a LOT of hobbies, and because of this all of those hobbies intersect in this newsgroup.

Many of these people do not have the capability to do a complete 3d design process and end up with a finished part drawing,

that could be taken to an outside fabricator, and as a result? we might go through several design iterations.

These are hobbies, often on a shoestring budget, and we couldn’t afford to take to an outside fabricator.

Perhaps equally important, we probably do not want to.

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As to the question you raise hat I paraphrase as? “why People in the US do this, and people in Taiwan don’t”?

I KNOW for a fact that people in Taiwan do tinker with things.

That fact that there is (or was, thanks Covid…) a Taipei Maker fair, indicates that people in Taiwan do this.

It may not be as large a segment of the population there, I do not know.

I think one thing that drives the size of that segment here in the US,? is the space available to do it in.

You are not going to have a workshop if you do not have the space.

A significant portion of the population in the US is suburban or rural.? Most urban dwellers will not have the space.

And while I think of it there is another market segment I forgot, one that addresses the urban dweller, the “Maker Space” type places.

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And to all of these people, a durable, inexpensive (but not cheap) tool that fits many goals, is free of un-needed “bells and whistles” but that is hackable / tinkerable, so that you can add the specific “bell or whistle” you want, is pure gold.

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I purchased mine, some 20+ years ago, USED at a “flea market”, with no stand and without the adjustable stop, but otherwise complete.

Other than adding a (Good) stand and a (for me) ergonomically appropriate height, adding tan adjustable stop, replacing the belt once,

the blade twice, and the motor once, I have done very little to it.

I use it infrequently, but when I do use it I mostly cut 10 or so sections of 1” or 1.25” bar stock, and THAT would be no fun at all with a hacksaw.

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