axminster bandsaw awhbs450n

[devonwoody]

The new bandsaw arrived this morning with a really cheerful Axminster driver who asked where the bandsaw was to be placed, "no trouble he said".
I said I had also got a mobile base and could he fit that on before we established its final resting place because of its gross weight. "no trouble he said"

He new what he was doing and it no time at all everything was upright and in position. I didnt have a bead of sweat on me, but he did, thank you Alan.

I have felt very stressful all week, but well done Axminster.

So here are a few pictures.

I had cleared the garage door end of the workshop, (the old record bandsaw left a few minutes after this picture was taken, (to family).

New bandsaw in position and on base.

Ample working space, I will be able to shoot a 7ft board through the blade if needed.

And just to show what weight we had to cope with, 5cwt net, 4cwt in position.

First question, I am requiring help, the drive belt is set to the low speed and I have got to move it over to get to the high speed. The belt is around 20mm square, and very tight.

How would you get it to change pulleys?

 

[9fingers]

The manual should tell you how to do this.

On no account should you lever the belt off the pulleys. There will be a way for slackening off the tension first.

Bob

Edit: use the handwheelshown in figure 13 in the manual - they have left the marking off the diagram showing this as item D

 

[tisdai]

The man who came to deliver my table saw and bandsaw just before xmas done exactly the same for me, nothing was too much trouble for him. He stayed for a bit and we had a cuppa and a chat, I can not recomend them enough for the help they have given to me.

Definatley on my crimbo card list

 

[Tusses]

on my startrite BS there is a cam lever that takes the tension off the belt to change speed.

No idea what your has, but as Bob say's, dont force it !

 

[devonwoody]

The manual should tell you how to do this.

On no account should you lever the belt off the pulleys. There will be a way for slackening off the tension first.

Bob

Edit: use the handwheelshown in figure 13 in the manual - they have left the marking off the diagram showing this as item D

the picture of lower wheel and belt tensioner?

As you can see it has been delivered without any tension, the tensioner is off at the moment. Do you think if I started to apply some tension the belt would then stretch and later when tension is released the belt would then have some slack.
There is no way the belt will come off pulleys at the present time of newness.

 

[9fingers]

I see your problem now DW. Those poly vee belts will not stretch much in use and unlike a single vee belt there is not much scope to wear and drop into the pulley groove and require tensioning.

Given that the picture is needed to explain the problem , I would PM it to Richard@Axminster on this forum rather than contact axi direct.

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks above, I have pm ~Richard at axminster with the link to above post and sent an email as well.

 

[Richard@Axminster]

Good morning,

Message received and replied!

Richard.

 

[9fingers]

Richard,

Whilst I do not need to know any specific arrangement that you might be making with the OP, I would be curious to know what might have happened here for future reference.
TIA
Bob

 

[devonwoody]

here is Richards helpful and prompt reply.


Good morning devonwoody!

I have just been to our store and had a look at one... i must admit it was the first time i had taken a close look at the tension/belt change mech, not the best system i have ever seen!

Its a bit of a faff to change but can be done in a few minutes and once you get use to it should get easier and quicker.

with the belt untensioned i went about changing the top pulley position... on the lefthand just below the top wheel i pushed the belt backwards so it was almost touching the back of the casing... (ideally you would need 3 hands and thumbs of steel for this part) at the same time you need to rotate the bottom bandsaw wheel clockwise. As long as the belt is pushed back enough it will jump to the next pulley... once that is done it is very easy to move the belt over on the bottom pulley as you have more slack to play with...

Give this a try and see how you get on, hope this has helped!

Thanks,

Richard.

_________________
Thank you Richard for your prompt and helpful reply.

Your message posted at 8.05 my server did not deliver until 10.45.

 

[9fingers]

Hmm! So unless the belt is much slacker in the high speed mode, the tensioning mechanism looks to be redundant.

It also looks like most of the arc of travel of the adjuster is unusable. I wonder if the machine was originally equipped with a different combination of pulleys (larger) and a longer belt?

Bob

 

[Tusses]

I'd gather from that, that it's the wrong size belt on the machines. else there is no function for the tensioner to perform !

I wouldn't let this one lie .... see if you can get them to send a slightly larger belt (or even try it in house 1st to confirm). It has got to be good for their customer service if it solves any problems - now and with future sales of this setup !

 

[9fingers]

I was thinking along those lines to start with but unless the adjuster is fitted with a larger idler, it is not going to be able to tension a longer belt.

Bob

 

[Tusses]

but it isn't right to have no tension adjustably. I wonder if the belt could go to the right if the idler ? unconventional I know, but better than nothing ?

Looking at the pic, the idler would 'just' give some tension to the belt as is

 

[9fingers]

It is very unconventional to run an idler on the working face of belt unless it has the full poly vee belt profile and even then unusual to do so.
Washing machines and tumble driers normally run with the large pulley with a smooth face but the domestic appliance industry is no respecter of good practise design!!

However I do agree that some sort of ajustment ought to be provided and fitting a larger idler would get the rotational speed of the tensioner down to sensible speed. As it stands I'd estimate the idler speed to be 10000rpm which is unhealthily fast to me.

Bob

 

[devonwoody]

I am going to run it when I have recovered from the set up for a while at the lower speed and hope it loosens things a bit and then give it a try.

However Richard in the meantime could you tell me what to do with these four little beauties, (I cannot afford four more wives).
They were packed in the tool bag and fence enclosure.

 

[devonwoody]

Saturday morning I was ready for combat on some oak and iroko waste pieces.

I left the machine speed as set at factory which I think is 600 rpm and got the first piece of scrappy oak 75mm deep, knots and much twisted grain and this is the result, so the first cut was successful.

I then went and got out a lump of iroko 150mm and decided to get a 12mm slice.

So this is my verdict of this bandsaw at the second day after delivery, its worth the money and will do the job it says. It is not a sophisticated machine and I would describe as basically constructed but could be compared to a low cost motor car that would get me from Devon to London at the present speed limits the same as a beamer. I think if I was expecting to be occupied with woodwork for many many years I would splash out on a machine costing twice as much perhaps.

Setting the bearings is simple, tracking I got the hang of fairly quickly and when I get some of those blades from Ian I will get plenty of sawdust from this machine. (BTW the blade supplied a 20mm 4tpi cut OK and it remains to be seen how long it lasts)

 

[Richard@Axminster]

I am going to run it when I have recovered from the set up for a while at the lower speed and hope it loosens things a bit and then give it a try.

However Richard in the meantime could you tell me what to do with these four little beauties, (I cannot afford four more wives).
They were packed in the tool bag and fence enclosure.

Hi,

I wasnt quite sure what the parts were for but i found out they areto replace one side bearing on each pair to allow the use of narrow blades.

I hope this has helped.

Richard.

 

[devonwoody]

I am going to run it when I have recovered from the set up for a while at the lower speed and hope it loosens things a bit and then give it a try.

However Richard in the meantime could you tell me what to do with these four little beauties, (I cannot afford four more wives).
They were packed in the tool bag and fence enclosure.

Hi,

I wasnt quite sure what the parts were for but i found out they areto replace one side bearing on each pair to allow the use of narrow blades.

I hope this has helped.

Richard.

Many thanks Richard, (I dont think I would ever have cottoned on to that one)
Your help and customer service is much appreciated by me here and no doubt others.

 

[joemarkey6]

Hi devonwoody, I realise that this is an old post but I just stumbled on it while googling info on the bandsaw that you bought.
I just wondered what your views were on it now that its tried and tested?
and did the tensioner problem ever get resolved?
Does anybody else on here have this bandsaw?
thanks for your feedback
Joe