Recommend me a bandsaw?

[tombear]

Ho ffolk done of my weird sons wants to blow his remaining birthday money on a bandsaw, or rather go shares on one with me like he did on the electric jigsaw.

Can anyone recommend us, a ideally a UK or western made, band saw for hobby use, ideally with a 6 inch capacity but 4 would do if that's unreasonable. Price range, say £200 to £250 tops.

i can find lots of bandsaws lsted but have no sea which are good and which junk.

ATB

Tom

 

[rorymax]

Any of these that have the depth of cut size you prefer and are within your budget.

Sign up to their mailing list and you will receive vat free offers on the Clarke products (sometimes not only the Clarke Products and nowt wrong with Clarke either), you won't wait long for your Vat free offer to come through your email, I get them every couple of weeks or so.

I would check out at your local branch if any of the brands listed are limited in their blade replacement\tooth size\cost etc. options.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/...shopcategory/page/1?da=1&TC=SRC-AUTO-Bandsaws

 

[dwardo]

I had the same problem when looking for a saw. Some of them are absolutely useless.
Go old and well maintained if you can. Mine is a dw3501 and I was very lucky to pick it up for £240 collection only from ebay.
Just as important is proper setup and tuning along with a very sharp blade.

 

[Jack Bounder]

I have a Record BS300X. I haven't used it that much but when I have I have been pleased with it.

 

[Stew]

Make your own - if I was bandsaw-less now it's what I would do!

http://woodgears.ca/bandsaw/homemade.html

Explore the rest of his site too. Great stuff!

 

[tombear]

Cheers folks! Herself and the lad have just gone halves on a Charnwood job, found a few revues and it will do for me!

http://www.poolewood.co.uk/acatalog/Charnwood-B250-10--Premium-Bandsaw.html

Ill let you know when it arrives if its any good!

ATB

Tom

 

[British Red]

I'd like to hear how you get on Tom, I need one myself and would trust your opinion (similar budget)

 

[tombear]

Will do. This will be my first bandsaw and from reading up on it it seams there is a big differance to be made in correctly setting up and fettling the things when first got. There's some video that is highly recommended about setting them up so ill try and get a copy of that.

All good clean fun and ill have 999 on speed dial.....

atb

tom

 

[tombear]

Excellent service so far, ordered last night (Sunday) and they phoned this AM to see if anyone would be in to accept delivery tomorrow (Tuesday). None of this waiting to get a order before ordering from th supplier who then starts making it palaver!

The question remains, do we now have any money left to buy some wood to cut up!?

The manual is on their site as agile so I've had a read and the assembly doesn't look beyond my limited mechanical skills. Most of it comes pre made, mainly its a case of build the stand section onto it and fit the cast iron flat bed bit.

atb

Tom

 

[British Red]

We'll see how easy it is . One bit of "home assembly" purchases required a plane, rasps, a jigsaw, chisels and iirc a couple of spare bits of wood. Wasn't a big deal but for someone with limited tools it could have been. It was cheap and, as always, you get what you pay for!

 

[Biker]

If I can give you one piece of advice when using this it's: Push sticks.

Just take a small piece of wood 300mm long, cut a birdsmouth notch in the end and use that to hold the waste piece rather than using your fingers. Also try to get into the habit of using the push stick to clear the saw feed area too. Easy habit to get into and if you keep at it you'll be able to impress people by using your fingers count to 10 years after having used this machine.

Looks like a very nice saw too. I have a similar one and it does all I expect of it and more. Have fun mate. Play safely

 

[ateallthepies]

Do you know how to set it up properly? I was forever cutting things wonky until I learnt about the blade drift!!!

 

[Biker]

Do you know how to set it up properly? I was forever cutting things wonky until I learnt about the blade drift!!!

It is a juggle but one thing I did find very useful (for me at least) was to not use the fence. (in fact I have no idea even where it is now) I just draw a straight line on the wood and follow that with the blade. The blade can drift as much as it likes, so long as it stays online with the mark on the wood, happy days. All sorts of variables come into play with this, grain directions, hardness of the wood, ripping or crosscutting. Just don't be afraid to have a play and build up some confidence on what the machine can or can't do.

Ideally have ½" clearance above the wood to the top guides. The less blade showing above the work piece the better.

There are all sorts of top tips on YouTube about setting these up and tweaking them.

 

[tombear]

Cheers! Push sticks I will make in abundence and I'm trying to find a good video instruction thingy for setting them up.

I'm going to be very safety conscious with this one, the potential for losing bits is soooo great. I did once qualify to be a H & S officer, the old full time 12 week NEBOSH course with a proper competative exam at the end. At the end the main things I had learned was I did not want to be a H & S officer and how badly people can mangle themselves.

atb

tom

 

[pentrekeeper]

I have a similar machine, different make, I bought mine second hand and had to set it up properly.

Firstly you need to get the two pulleys correctly aligned so the saw band runs true on both top and bottom wheels.
Then adjust the blade guides so that they only have a small gap and do not touch the teeth of the saw band.
Then adjust the pressure wheel to just clear of the rear of the saw band.
You need to tension the saw band by adjusting the height of the top wheel, and you should not leave the saw in tension when not in use.

After that you should be good to go.

One thing to bear in mind is you will need several blades, a narrow one will allow tight radii to be cut, a wide one is good for straight cutting.

One of the big uses of the band saw is free hand cutting curved items etc and here you tend not to need push sticks as there is usually plenty of wood to hold away from the blade.

Push sticks come in when you want to use the straight fence and need to push the timber past the blade.

Another point is the throat on the table where the blade passes through, ideally you want this as small as possible as wide gaps here can be dangerous as small offcuts can get drawn into it by the moving blade.

If I have any delicate cutting to do I use a false table, just a piece of thin plywood, simply push it through the blade and back it off a couple of mm for clearance.
This results in absolutely minimum clearance below the blade and very small pieces can be cut away safely.

I'm sure you will enjoy using the bandsaw, I certainly do when a job calls for it.

Oh and never force wood into the blade, let the saw cut at it's own speed, if you are cutting thick timber it will be slow, thin timber is much quicker.
Forcing the cut is one way to introduce blade wander, the other is an incorrect set up.

 

[tombear]

Cheers for that.

just crippled the eldest and myself carrying it up to the weaving shed so having a lay down and then putting away all the tools on me bench before opening up the box. Got a free pallet to play with!

Atb

tom

 

[tombear]

Wasn't allowed to rest long, but since he's technically paid for most of it I'm letting him, closely supervised, do most f the assembly...

Atb

Tom

 

[tombear]

Well its assembled and running and so far as I can tell from chopping up various bits of scrap wood its as sweet as a nut. Not tried it on a real workpiece yet but it seams to be cutting square and straight.

Will order a couple of different sized belts when Im next solvent. I'll put a peg high up so i can hang them up out of the way.

ATB

Tom

 

[pentrekeeper]

A word of caution, all band saw blades are not made equal, I have bought some really rubbish ones in the past even from the manufacturer of the saw.

I can thoroughly recommend blades by hamilton beverstock ltd, telephone 01633 838900, I don't have an address as I buy them at woodworking exhibitions.

The blades are sold "rolled up" that is a circle of about ten inches diameter, there is a bit of a knack of twisting the blade to get it into this circle but it is easily done, so you could store them in this fashion, a tie wrap or two would ensure they would not unfurl accidentally.

Pleased it has all gone well for you.

 

[ateallthepies]

A highly recommended band saw blade over on UKWorkshop is the Tuff Saw range. Supposed to transform a saw!