bandsaw by price

[sunnybob]

Simple question, but I expect the answer will be complicated,

what bandsaw is the best value for around £500?

 

[mseries]

record power bs300e

 

[marcros]

new or used? if you buy used, a startrite 252 would take some beating and is found in many commercial shops. As for new, there are some good saws out there, but the record 5 year guarantee does give them the edge IMHO.

 

[sunnybob]

its a bit complicated but I think it needs to new as it has to be shipped to Cyprus.

I've looked so far at the record 300 and 350, and the Charnwood 300, and the jet at £499.
The record looks very solid by comparison but I don't think much of the record blade guides, why are they sideways to the blade?
The jet and Charnwood have roller guides fitted what I think of as the "right way".

Any other suggestions or recommendations?

 

[Jasper42]

Hi, l just got a draper 1100 watt 350. Spent a lot of time on the net trying to work out what to buy and the draper looked like a lot of the more expensive options. Had it for about 3 weeks now and so far happy with it. A few hours setting it up and even with the supplyed blade Had a go at resawing some 6 inch ply at 2 mm thick just to test the set up and did a fair job. Just got some blades from tuffsaw, these are great, I thought the supplyed blade was ok until I fitted one of these.

Some of the plastic knobs look a bit cheap but if they fail outside of the warranty l'll turn my own.

I paid just over £400 for it, wanted a bandsaw for a while but could not justify spending too much for my shed life, but wanted as much as I could get for my money, looked at second hand but either too expensive or too far away.

 

[sunnybob]

I shall have to look for draper. Havent found one of those yet.
I bought a fox bandsaw over a year ago and have given up trying to make it work properly.
From my experience with this I shall never buy anything with a fox brand again.
I liked the bigger Charnwood, but it is obviously a clone of the fox so am doubtful.
I don't want to waste any more money on a bandsaw that cant cut straight and breaks down every two weeks.
I agree on the tuffsaw blades, excellent!.

 

[woodpig]

I've got a 300E but this looks good, I particularly like the look of the guides on it.

http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ho ... saw-508205

 

[sunnybob]

yes, I went into axminster basingstoke on weds (visiting the grandkids) and that is top of my list at the moment.
I was very pleased with a quote of £90 to ship it for me too.
But I would like some serious comparison before I take the plunge.

 

[user22161]

I recently bought a Record BS300e and am happy with the cutting performance but there are some things I don't like. The mitre fence is very sloppy in the track which is a non-standard size; the blade tension knob is hard work; the rip fence doesn't come off without slackening 2 bolts and it then has to be re-aligned; bearing guards need removing or cutting down to make adjustment easier and lastly, the standard 2 wheel base is hard work if moving regularly. Whether it's better or worse than the Axminster I don't know but the Record 5 year guarantee and backup is reassuring.

 

[Claymore]

I actually bought the Axminster bandsaw mentioned above and yes you do get a nice solid saw for your money but I wouldn't recommend one to anyone unless they are handy at sorting and setting machinery up as they do have a few flaws that tend to spoil it.
1: The guides do look pretty good but I actually had to replace mine with larger diameter bearings so it would enable me to get them close enough to the blade...... the original ones were too small and left a gap of 1-2mm and no way could i get them closer so they work fine now but its sad that they don't check them before shipping (I have heard of others having the same problem so not a one off incident)
2: The dust extraction is CRAP easy as that....... even if you have a powerful dust extractor sucking at the 2 extraction ports it still coats everything with dust as it leaks out all around the 2 doors and even the frame/post I tried everything to sort mine and gave up, I now use a dust mask and vacuum and have my airfilter on full when using the saw.
3: vibration is still bad on mine and have tried everything to cure it but it at the stage where it does the job but isn't a pleasant experience due to vibration (bandsaw boxes? forget it you will never have fun making them on this saw.
4: Some thicko has put a "raised" magnifying glass on the bandsaw fence........its sodding raised so much that the wood is raised up when you are trying to cut it! WHY? if you try and slide a 3ft piece of wood against the fence the rear of the wood is raied up by approx 2/3mm on a rounded plastic bubble so it wobbles......... doooooooooooohhhhh probably designed by the village idiot.
So there you have it, they aren't the most expensive saws but they are also not the cheapest and you would expect saws from Axminster to at least do the job good enough to actually enjoy using the tool but alas not this time which is a shame as I love Axminster and have loads of their kit but next year I will probably flog this saw and buy a Record or similar.
Forgot to say its also had 3 on and off switches which Axminster have replaced free of charge straight away but I have never had a on/off switch break on ANY of my tools even the cheap Parkside stuff seems to be better built.....Chinese crap? maybe

 

[woodpig]

I recently bought a Record BS300e and am happy with the cutting performance but there are some things I don't like. The blade tension knob is hard work.

It's well worth upgrading the blade tension knob to a crank:

record-bs300e-upgrades-t54641.html

 

[user22161]

It's well worth upgrading the blade tension knob to a crank:

record-bs300e-upgrades-t54641.html

Thanks, those mods do look good and I'll most likely try to copy although I guess I'll have to cross someone's palm with silver to mill up the fence block for me when I get back to the UK late February - enjoying some winter sun until then

 

[woodpig]

The Fence block can just as easily be made from wood or plastic, it doesn't need to be anything fancy. The size is not critical either provided you get the holes in the right place.