Mike.C
Established Member
Ever since i purchased my Elektra Beckum compound mitre saw i have been looking to upgrade the stand that came with it. This stand is very basic and does not have any side extensions. Well that is not exactly true because Elektra Beckum do supply them as an optional extra if you let them legally mug you of £153.07 for the left hand side and £83.98 for the right.
I was going to build my own which would have been alright if i wanted it to stay in the workshop, but as i do a lot of work around other peoples house's i needed it to be portable as well.
I then came across the Axminster AWSMS10 in their latest catalogue. At £59.95 i was unsure if they would be any good, but after seeing exactly the same stand under the SIP brand name for £126 on the QVC shopping channel i thought that the Axminster one had to be worth a try.
I must say hear that i have since seen the same SIP model for £79.99 in one of the woodworking magazines, which just goes to show that even though SWMBO swears that she is getting a bargain from these shopping channels, it is not always the case.
When it arrived i was surprised at how heavy it was and that except for a couple of parts it was fully assembled .
The stand is constructed of heavy gauge steel box section and when i say heavy gauge i mean heavy.
It consists of a bed which is 920mm high, has a dept of 450mm and it is 1170mm long. This can be extended to 2000mm when you pull out the left and right hand side extensions.
On the end of each of these extensions is a roller stand which can be adjusted to suit the table of the mitre saw that you are using. As well as going up and down you can also adjust the rollers to tip back and forward.
Axminster claim that it is a universal stand which can be adjusted to fit most makes of mitre saw, and i have no reason to doubt this, especially if they can be mounted as easy and as fast as my one was.
The mounting kit consists of 2 alloy extrusions and 4 nuts and bolts and these were attached to my saw as follows. The Elektra Beckum has a rubber foot in each corner and after removing the bolts out of these i replaced them with the longer ones from the kit. The head of these bolts were then slid into the slots on the extrusions and tightened up. The 2 extrusions each have a handle on the front which when turned clamps the saw onto the stand, and it is as easy as that.
When you want to remove your saw all you have to do is turn the handles and lift it off along with the extrusions ,which stay connected to the saw, ready to be mounted again.
All that remained was for me to fit the wheels to 2 of the legs. These make it easy to move the stand around the workshop or site.
I am impressed with the locking mechanism on these legs which shoot a spring loaded bolt into a hole in the top of each leg. When open these stop any movement in the legs what so ever. In fact i am impressed with the quality of all the locking knobs etc.
Although the stand is large and heavy i think that it can still be classed as portable, and as the legs, extensions, roller stands can easily reduced in size, and the saw removed in seconds it would be ideal to shove in the back of a van and take on site.
In use i found the stand and rollers could cope with anything from a small moulding to a roof joist.
This is obviously sold as a mitre saw stand (you don't say), but if room was in short supply in your workshop, and you purchased some more extrusions from the manufacturer, made them yourself, or just used ordinary clamps, this stand could easily be used to mount other tools such as a bench drill, mortiser, dove tail jig and many others. When you have finished with the tool just unclamp it, put it under the bench and mount the next one you are going to use. In fact it is long enough to mount 2 things at once if you want too. Just think of the room you would save if you could lose your other stands and just use this one.
Good idea?, well maybe.
I could have done with it years ago when all i had was a 8x6 shed and any nook and cranny i could find in doors.
All in all this is an excellent stand, so if you are in the market for one you could do a lot worse then this.
Regards
Mike.C
I was going to build my own which would have been alright if i wanted it to stay in the workshop, but as i do a lot of work around other peoples house's i needed it to be portable as well.
I then came across the Axminster AWSMS10 in their latest catalogue. At £59.95 i was unsure if they would be any good, but after seeing exactly the same stand under the SIP brand name for £126 on the QVC shopping channel i thought that the Axminster one had to be worth a try.
I must say hear that i have since seen the same SIP model for £79.99 in one of the woodworking magazines, which just goes to show that even though SWMBO swears that she is getting a bargain from these shopping channels, it is not always the case.
When it arrived i was surprised at how heavy it was and that except for a couple of parts it was fully assembled .
The stand is constructed of heavy gauge steel box section and when i say heavy gauge i mean heavy.
It consists of a bed which is 920mm high, has a dept of 450mm and it is 1170mm long. This can be extended to 2000mm when you pull out the left and right hand side extensions.
On the end of each of these extensions is a roller stand which can be adjusted to suit the table of the mitre saw that you are using. As well as going up and down you can also adjust the rollers to tip back and forward.
Axminster claim that it is a universal stand which can be adjusted to fit most makes of mitre saw, and i have no reason to doubt this, especially if they can be mounted as easy and as fast as my one was.
The mounting kit consists of 2 alloy extrusions and 4 nuts and bolts and these were attached to my saw as follows. The Elektra Beckum has a rubber foot in each corner and after removing the bolts out of these i replaced them with the longer ones from the kit. The head of these bolts were then slid into the slots on the extrusions and tightened up. The 2 extrusions each have a handle on the front which when turned clamps the saw onto the stand, and it is as easy as that.
When you want to remove your saw all you have to do is turn the handles and lift it off along with the extrusions ,which stay connected to the saw, ready to be mounted again.
All that remained was for me to fit the wheels to 2 of the legs. These make it easy to move the stand around the workshop or site.
I am impressed with the locking mechanism on these legs which shoot a spring loaded bolt into a hole in the top of each leg. When open these stop any movement in the legs what so ever. In fact i am impressed with the quality of all the locking knobs etc.
Although the stand is large and heavy i think that it can still be classed as portable, and as the legs, extensions, roller stands can easily reduced in size, and the saw removed in seconds it would be ideal to shove in the back of a van and take on site.
In use i found the stand and rollers could cope with anything from a small moulding to a roof joist.
This is obviously sold as a mitre saw stand (you don't say), but if room was in short supply in your workshop, and you purchased some more extrusions from the manufacturer, made them yourself, or just used ordinary clamps, this stand could easily be used to mount other tools such as a bench drill, mortiser, dove tail jig and many others. When you have finished with the tool just unclamp it, put it under the bench and mount the next one you are going to use. In fact it is long enough to mount 2 things at once if you want too. Just think of the room you would save if you could lose your other stands and just use this one.
Good idea?, well maybe.
I could have done with it years ago when all i had was a 8x6 shed and any nook and cranny i could find in doors.
All in all this is an excellent stand, so if you are in the market for one you could do a lot worse then this.
Regards
Mike.C