Aldi Ferrex Bandsaw tension varies as it rotates.

[jweaver]

I was going to add this to the Aldi Bandsaw thread, but it hasn't been updated in months, so I hope you don't mind me starting a new thread.

After missing out on the Aldi Bandsaw in Dec/Jan as I was moving, it came up again (And as of today is still in stock).. I ordered one for me and a friend as the shipping was cheaper, but I warned him that we may have problems as I had already read about the problems with damage...

I came home yesterday to find they had been left on the door step... And whilst one box looked fine, the end of the other was crushed.. So I opened the box to take a look and like many others, the base was bent.

So they STILL havn't found a courier who are willing to treat their heavy items with respect..

Anyway, the bent one is going back (and they refunded ALL the shipping, so I am quite happy) and my friend ordered his own... So we are good.

But whilst I had both, I decided to compare mine (the good one) with the bent one.. And to be fair, other than the bent base, there wasn't much wrong with it... But I did find a couple of thing that I didn't like... First of all, one of the guide bearings was jammed solid.. Almost like the bolt it was mounted on was too short and it had been tightened right upto the guide.

So I swapped it out with one on the "bent" saw...

The second problem was that when I turned the wheel/blade, it would spring back... After a bit of playing and 'twanging' the blade so that it made a note, I turned the wheels and found that the pitch changed as the wheels were rotating... Clearly the wheels are not true, and are slightly elongated so as they turn the blades gets more or less tense..

I checked the bent one and it seemed fine.. Perhaps there was a bit of variation, but nothing like the 'good' one. .. So I swapped the wheels over whilst I had a chance.. And it seems a bit better now, but I still get different tensions as the wheels rotate.

Is this going to cause a problem? Is this normal for a small/cheap bandsaw?

Whilst I have the 'bent' one, I could harvest that for spares, so if anyone has any thoughts, I would be grateful..

Jon

 

[Stevebod]

...typical Chinese cheese product variation. Can't undertand in these modern times why they can't simply get the product right. The design is basically sound, just masses of variation in the manufacturing process which is odd given the inherent stability of modern machining processes?
The Japanese realised this thanks to the work of the likes of Demming, but seems to be missing in the Chinese work ethic....

 

[knightrideruk]

I don't think its so much Chinese work ethics, I work very closely with several Chinese companies and a good deal of the problem arises from the early days of Chinese trade were everything was made for a bowl of rice. Western companies still want everything at those prices these days. You don't get good design, materials and QC on what a lot of these big box companies are willing to pay. I believe it is getting that bad that western companies are trying to get the Chinese to absorb the additional carriage charges that are floating about at present.

My take is a lot of Chinese products are a good kit of parts that require some modification and fettling to produce a reasonable to good product for the price paid.

 

[Stevebod]

Assuming the design is "good" there are 2 main things that can go wrong with the process, either it is not capable, or it is not being followed? It is expecting a lot if the wheels are not "round" and the end user is expected to re-turn them true??

 

[Spectric]

Lets be a little realistic here, what do you really expect for £150 !!!! Yes it is a bandsaw and yes it cuts so it does what it is supposed to but double that spend and at least get something like the Record BS250, yes it is another asian clone but much better quality. Even people who spend a lot more end up having to fettle there machines to get the performance they want so for just £150 you get £150's worth of bandsaw and problems like wheels running out of true.

As another example I have the BS400 but wanted a different fence, I brought the one Kreg sells which is the Kreg Kms7200 Kreg Precision Band Saw Fence from Westcountry Machinery 4 Wood and just that cost £120.

I take the view that it is better to buy nothing than something that is just going to be a lot of hassle and raise the blood pressure, plenty of examples can be found on these forums, the most recent being @MikeK 's Holtzman P/T which almost took a swim!

 

[Lard]

I genuinely believe that people will pay an honest price for anything BUT the problem is that the general consensus of ‘everything is made in China’ leads to the thought that someone over here is buying them very cheaply and making a whopping profit by upping the price.