Bandsaw decision time!

[Student]

I’ve decided to bite the bullet and upgrade from my Axi 250N bandsaw and it just so happens that there is a Record Power event at Yandles tomorrow where, if rumour is true, it may be possible to get a discount and, possibly, free carriage.

Although cost isn’t a huge problem, I would like one of the new Record Power Sabre 350s, there are a couple of constraints. My workshop is in the basement with only 1.90 metres headroom. Allowing 10 cms for my mobile base plus another 10 cms to be able to get to the tension adjustment knob, the maximum height can be no more than 1.70 metres. What’s more, the saw has to be got down either a comparatively narrow staircase inside the house or down some outside steps that are very steep and somewhat slippery. As such, the weight of the machine is also an issue. These constraints rule out the RP 350N and the new RP Sabre 350. Looking at the RP and Axminster websites gives the following machines that satisfy the height constraint although the Axy 350 might cause a weight problem.

Axminster 310N Axminster 350N Record Power 300N
Height 1.680 1.700 1.690
Weight kg 80.0 95.0 86.0
Motor watts 550 850 750
Cutting depth 180 200 190
Cost £500.00 £700.00 £500.00

On the face of it, the RP 300 looks to be the best bet or am I missing something?

N.B. RP normally charge for carriage but Axy will deliver for free.

P.S. Sorry but I can't work out how to tab across to line up the columns.

 

[MikeG.]

.......P.S. Sorry but I can't work out how to tab across to line up the columns.

Use underscore_______ to separate the columns.

 

[Tasky]

If you go with Axy and tell them your situation, they might be able to get their delivery guy a trolley truck with a stairs mechanism.

Also, the 310N is OK generally but it does seem somewhat gutless, if you've ever used something more powerful. Mine was a birthday present, so I'm stuck with it.

 

[MikeJhn]

The Record Power 350 Sabre sits on top of a box, make your own smaller box at any height you want and use the supplied one as a cabinet,

Mike

 

[Roland]

Why not take a couple of photos of the stairs to the Yandles event, and talk to people their?

 

[MikeJhn]

Or even talk to their people there, apologies Roland I could not resist. #-o

Mike

 

[Ttrees]

Can you take a cold chisel to the floor
I would get a 20" bandsaw 200KG and easily bring it down a staris myself, table dissasembled obviously
and could do so with one arm for the most part
Your not lifting 200 kgs when its only one end,
easy peasy lifting a saw like that, with its table off, once you grab it from the spine and tilt it back onto your shoulder
It only becomes difficult when you go bigger

 

[Roland]

Or even talk to their people there, apologies Roland I could not resist. #-o

Mike

S’alright. I hate bad grammar and poor spelling, but on this occasion I was rushing ....

 

[eribaMotters]

The bandsaw does not normally come assembled. You need to contact the supplier to find out the shipping size.
I bought a new Startrite 352E about 5 years ago. It came crated in a plywood box. It was delivered on a pallet truck into my garage and weighed about 110kg from memory. Two of us carried it through the garage and then another 40m to the workshop at the bottom of the garden. It was hard work but we could have got it up or down a flight of stairs if needed.
As mentioned above make your own base. I did not use the metal cabinet, preferring to re-route the stop button and build a plywood cabinet base with door.

Colin

 

[Student]

Update

For various reasons, I couldn't get down to Yandles last Saturday so the next "local" Record show is at Tewkesbury on 9/10 March. This gives me a bit more time to ponder.

Thanks to everyone for their input. Some suggestions aren't a starter. I can't dig a hole in the floor without destroying the DPC and insulation unless I was to dig out the floor of the whole workshop and redo it (not an option) as doing just a small patch would mean that I couldn't use a mobile base!

It looks as if my concern about weight might be unfounded although I am a weakling when it comes to lifting (the result of spending my working like behind a desk). I'd have to unpack any purchase in the garage, remove all the heavy bits like table, cabinet/stand etc. and just carry the main saw down the stairs with the help of No. 1 son. The idea of taking a photo of the access and taking it to the Record show is a good one so I'll do that.

I've been looking at the idea suggested by several contributors of not using any supplied stand/cabinet and building my own. That's a distinct possibility as I have already done that for my benchtop P/T. It does still leave one problem to be sorted and that's the height from the table to the ceiling allowing space for my hand to operate the blade tensioning knob. I think that I can just get away with it even with the Sabre 350 if I built a cabinet such that the table height was some 6 inches/15 cms below the height that it is normally, i.e. at approx. 85 cms. This would allow me to have even the tallest machine on my list. Any lower than 85 cms would give me a problem.

Two weeks to carry on pondering.

 

[Ttrees]

Have you any space of extra height as to tilt the saw onto its footprint, ie
its horizontal down the stairs and tilted upright on the last step?
I would be looking at the Hammer N440 if you could, looking at thew dimentions now.
or another Italian machine 400 series as these all share components and have spares in places like
ScottandSagreant
You will know an Italian machine, ACM, Meber, Minimax, ect when you see it, if you keep looking.

Tom