At the next meeting we'll all want to hear a thorough review of that sander and the bandsaw!
Parkside sanders tend not to have a good reputation. Interested to see if that's changed.
I had one of the earliest cheapo bandsaws, ten years ago (the one's with the old fashioned curvy body shell) and it was rubbish! I could never get it tuned up and none of the nuts stayed tight once tightened. I got a long wavy cut every time. I dismantled it in the end, and used bits for other things.
So, I'm also interested to see if better technology and materials have, over the last ten years, "rolled down hill" (usually only one thing in life rolls down hill, and it ain't money
).
Bandsaw first:
I don’t know how useful this will be as I’ve never owned or used a bandsaw before in my life, but here goes:
The bad
1. It’s flimsy. I’m glad it comes with a 3 year warranty because I’m pretty sure I’ll end up snapping something off eventually.
2. It’s hard to set up because of point 1. I have 0 points of comparison, but adjusting the guide bearings causes the guide pins to shift and the whole thing is hard to gauge cos you can’t really see the blade from most angles. I didn’t manage to improve on the factory settings much, but I’m confident I can do it better, with practice.
3. The fence is awful (see point 1). Really hard to get straight and tight to the table, but it kind of works in the end.
The good
1. It comes pretty much ready to go. I had a good play with it, but I could theoretically have tensioned it up and started cutting straight away.
2. The blade is lovely. I mean I haven’t got a clue what it’s supposed to be like, but a) the cut is super smooth and fine b) only looks burnt in places where I was ‘trying something out’ and c) it didn’t snap -despite being twisted around by an enthusiastic amateur. As you can tell I struggled a bit on circles.. but that’s probably me. Or the wrong blade..?
3. The dust collection is quite good. It’s not really needed as the cut is so fine, but it sucks dust downwards effectively and is easy to connect to a normal vacuum.
4. It’s nice and quiet. So much so that i was reluctant to turn on my vacuum until in-between cuts cos it’s SO loud by comparison.
5. I made some really neat straight cuts with very little (0.4mm) variation over a 40cm cut. That was on my first attempt with any bandsaw ever. So I’m impressed.
6. It’s nice and light. I carried it indoors to the warm so I could have a good play around then back out to the shed again. So I’m not worried about space - it can be shifted easily.
I’m really chuffed with it. I’ve got an actual functioning bandsaw for less than £100. I’ve got a project on right now that is ready for it - just need to practice/fiddle a bit more.
Happy days!
