Bandsaw £700 budget

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giantbeat

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Yorkshire
Guys, some advice please.

one thing i have never had is a good bandsaw, many times i come to projects and problems where i cant help but think a band saw would make life easier, my axminster BS250 i have in my home is not up to much so im thinking of making room at my workshop for something with a bit more grunt & capacity.

whats my best option for £700? i keep searching for used but nothing ever seems to pup up locally to me nr wakefield.

from reading & googling my current fave is the BS350S By Record power, the 5 year guarantee stands out as a massive bonus.

anything else i should look at?
 
I would compare with a second hand startrite.

Greenfields machinery has an example in 240v
 
RobinBHM":fhvwoqay said:
I would compare with a second hand startrite.

Greenfields machinery has an example in 240v

Seconded ! I wouldn't part with my old 352
 
Agreed, get a good used Startrite. Far better than any modern hobby machine you'll likely to get for £700.
 
RobinBHM":3oscx9i8 said:
I would compare with a second hand startrite.

Greenfields machinery has an example in 240v

thanks.... do they deliver? and do you have a link so i can see it?
 
giantbeat":3p5bbwor said:
RobinBHM":3p5bbwor said:
I would compare with a second hand startrite.

Greenfields machinery has an example in 240v

thanks.... do they deliver? and do you have a link so i can see it?

just found it on ebay, thats £800 to my door, dont have a penny over £700
 
+1 for a secondhand, British made Startrite 352. As I always say; it will cover 99% of the jobs 99% of amateur woodworkers are ever likely to need a bandsaw for and not have the flimsy build quality you will be subject to with a new machine at the same price.
 
memzey":osj29rwb said:
+1 for a secondhand, British made Startrite 352. As I always say; it will cover 99% of the jobs 99% of amateur woodworkers are ever likely to need a bandsaw for and not have the flimsy build quality you will be subject to with a new machine at the same price.


will keep my eye out for a 352 though as i said nothing ever seems to pop up near to me, i don't have transport big enough to collect something like this & all the ones listed on ebay are over budget.

in general I'm not fan of buying used, i prefer manufacturer support & a warranty, just read some online reviews & they have said its some what underpowered.
 
Another startrite vote from me. I had to travel to wales for mine (had a lovely day out) but worth it in the end, despite the issues I had setting it up. It came from a school who, despite the protests of the teachers in the department, were hell bent on "upgrading" to new stuff, sourced from china. Make sure if you do get a 352 that it has a cast iron table!

£500 should do it I'd imagine. ebay prices are at the extreme end.
 
There is no need for any support and warranty on a well built stationary woodworking machine.
The electrics can be repaired with standard parts and mechanical repairs are rarely a problem if you are a bit handy and know a local machinist who can turn and mill new parts to fit. What one man can make another man can repair.

700 pounds is roundabout equal to my total cost for a 100 years old 24" E.V.Beronius bandsaw which i bought for little more than scrap value and rebuilt to modern industrial standards and as new condition. I made a motor mount and fitted a secondhand three phase motor instead of the old line shaft setup. Made new wheel guards and blade guards and belt guard. Retyred and reballanced the wheels. Fitted a modern electronic brake. Made new blade guides.
 
heimlaga":2v59tern said:
There is no need for any support and warranty on a well built stationary woodworking machine.
The electrics can be repaired with standard parts and mechanical repairs are rarely a problem if you are a bit handy and know a local machinist who can turn and mill new parts to fit. What one man can make another man can repair.

700 pounds is roundabout equal to my total cost for a 100 years old 24" E.V.Beronius bandsaw which i bought for little more than scrap value and rebuilt to modern industrial standards and as new condition. I made a motor mount and fitted a secondhand three phase motor instead of the old line shaft setup. Made new wheel guards and blade guards and belt guard. Retyred and reballanced the wheels. Fitted a modern electronic brake. Made new blade guides.

good for you, i love the idea of anyone repurposing & re generating old equipment & bringing it back to life to continue to be used.... but i have not asked anyone to recommend me a old machine to do up... i don't have time, fiddling & fixing up old machines is not what i want.... i have spent 12 months doing that with other machines and don't want to deal with it again.

i have £700 a get a working machine i can use, other than the setup I'm not looking at a project, i have been watching ebay for months nothing comes up close enough to me, i can't travel to wales like YorkshireMartin has, i don't have a vehicle big enough to collect machinery (i have a polo).
 
I was chatting to YorkshireMartin he was telling me,
" Startrite 352 with a cast iron table in green paint fro a school not a college. School children aren't allowed to use the machines.£500 is about the right money, ebay is crazy profiteering, I got mine from gumtree. The newer beige 352's are often made in China."
Might be lucky on Gumtree or Preloved be sure to see in person before buy and buyer protection, PayPal.
 
It might be a case of being patient until the right one comes up or if you need one sooner then taking a punt on a Chinese machine. FWIW I got my single phase 352 for under £500 delivered to my door (seller had a van and was only 30 minutes away). It's in perfect condition and came with all the bits including mitre gauge and spanner. I was looking for a few months though on the usual sites and local auctions. There are plenty of them about and always loads coming up for sale but like I say, it's often a case of being patient until the right one comes along if you can afford the time.
 
giantbeat":1zmhf5db said:
heimlaga":1zmhf5db said:
There is no need for any support and warranty on a well built stationary woodworking machine.
The electrics can be repaired with standard parts and mechanical repairs are rarely a problem if you are a bit handy and know a local machinist who can turn and mill new parts to fit. What one man can make another man can repair.

700 pounds is roundabout equal to my total cost for a 100 years old 24" E.V.Beronius bandsaw which i bought for little more than scrap value and rebuilt to modern industrial standards and as new condition. I made a motor mount and fitted a secondhand three phase motor instead of the old line shaft setup. Made new wheel guards and blade guards and belt guard. Retyred and reballanced the wheels. Fitted a modern electronic brake. Made new blade guides.

good for you, i love the idea of anyone repurposing & re generating old equipment & bringing it back to life to continue to be used.... but i have not asked anyone to recommend me a old machine to do up... i don't have time, fiddling & fixing up old machines is not what i want.... i have spent 12 months doing that with other machines and don't want to deal with it again.

i have £700 a get a working machine i can use, other than the setup I'm not looking at a project, i have been watching ebay for months nothing comes up close enough to me, i can't travel to wales like YorkshireMartin has, i don't have a vehicle big enough to collect machinery (i have a polo).

I'm going to stick my neck out and at the risk of teaching grandma to suck eggs or sounding like an arse, I'm going to say it anyway, because I'd hate for anyone to go through the crap I did.

Many people recommending a 352 didn't start by selecting such a machine. They started with a chinese made machine. Virtually anything you can buy under say £3k, comes from China. Decent bandsaws start at about £2k but really decent (EU made) ones are far more expensive. Prohibitive for most of us.

I absolutely understand what you're saying about being new and warranty and so on (I'm the same!), but let me tell you a story in brief.

Not knowing any different, I ordered a brand spanking new planer/thicknesser. I'm not going to name the brand again here but suffice to say it's very well known. It cost me over £800 all told and was rated for professional use. I'm not a professional, so I "over specced", on purpose, or thought I had. I had so many issues with it right from the moment of delivery, that you wouldn't believe. Electrical, mechanical, cosmetic. All of which were down simply to shoddy build quality and lack of quality control. Customer service was first class, but still, it took well over a month before I could return it and by that point I had no desire for a replacement. It left me in an awful quandry, I couldn't prepare any stock. Every alternative in that price bracket was chinese made and I had (I think rightly) no reasonable expectation that they would be any better. I couldn't afford a new machine, as real quality was in excess of £5k.

It's true to say some people have good experiences with Chinese machines, but in all honesty, it's a shot in the dark, as many former owners of such things will testify. Ultimately, it depends on what you're prepared to put up with. There's a moderator on here who has a record power bandsaw and loves it. There are others who've had endless problems. YMMV.

In my moment of frustration and knowing I wouldn't trust Chinese made machines, I realised that I had to make a choice. Either get someone else to plane/thickness my stock or stump up. I stumped up. I bought a 2nd hand Sedgwick. It's 10 years old but from the get-go functioned as if it was brand new once I'd properly commissioned it and sharpened the blades. These old machines just need to be looked after and carefully sourced, thats all. Sedgwick are made in Leeds.

Don't think that by buying new in that price bracket and having a warranty, you'll get a trouble free machine that lasts years. It's very likely you won't.

It's your money so you must choose, but the key point here is, *DONT* assume that a brand new chinese made machine will not turn into a long term project, because its very likely it will. Not only that, but the potential for long term issues is far far higher than if you buy a used english made machine of the old school. If you're unlucky like me, your brand new china made machine won't run at all when first delivered. Mine went through 3 seperate starting capacitors and then it ran for about 5 seconds before blowing up again. Meanwhile, the cam chain had worn a groove in the outer casing. It was just nuts.

As I say, far more experienced people than me recommend old english machinery for a very good reason. Any new machine is a project. These are not plug and play items, all need commissioning, all need maintenance.

There are couriers that can collect for you. If you need help locally unloading, then I'm sure someone from here would help you. I have a pallet truck for example.

There is another very good reason for selecting an older industrial machine. Resale. A genuine industrial machine like a Startrite, Wadkin or Sedgwick will ALWAYS fetch good money if you need or want to sell it on. With anything made in China, you'll take a larger hit, especially if you bought new.

Don't fence yourself in because of practicalities, is all I'm saying. We have all been there :)

PS. Even if you personally hired a van to collect such a machine. If you paid £500 quid or so for a startrite 352 with a cast table and all the accessories and ducting (I had 20 odd new blades thrown in too), you're absolutely quids in vs. a new chinese bandsaw.
 
Good grief!!!! Starting to wish I had never started this thread, it would have been deleted if only I could.

I asked for suggestions on options for bandsaws for a £700 budget, so far have had suggestion. But I didn't expect to be preached at the old wood working machine fan club.

I don't need to know how reliable old machines can be, I run an old wadkin sp12 that I have used for 12 years.

The startrite has been noted thank you! It was noted the first time it was mentioned.

once again I can't collect unless it's immediately local.

so as I tried to indicate in my first post.. 2nd hand is not really my priority as I have been looking for something in that market for months, I'm aware there are pallate companies and delivery people who will handle machinery if paid. Have been down that road before with mixed results.

Mods feel free to delete this thread.
 
Sorry GB. Didn't mean to preach as you put it, just sharing an opinion and my own experience. Although I don't have one, I have read many good things about the Hammer n4400 which appears to be an excellent machine. You might struggle to find one in your budget though, even second hand.

If you will be taking a punt on a new Chinese made machine then, if it were me making that choice, I would pick the manufacturer and supplier that provided the best after sales service. Axminster and Record Power both score well in these respects and have machines within your budget. That's about as much help as I can provide though as I don't have either! I'm a Startrite 352 man as you know!!
 
I had a budget almost exactly the same as yours when I bought my bandsaw last year. Eventually settled on the BS350S. I'm absolutely delighted with it. Got myself a few blades from Tuffsaws and it now does everything I ask of it. Cuts straight with no drift, it's quiet and smooth and easy to move with the mobile base. It spends most of its time with. 3/4 in blade on, which it can tension with no problem.

Hope this helps
Simon
 
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