Been looking for a new to me bandsaw for a while now and gradually managed to up my budget to around £450, did look at the new Axminster range but not yet available then on Sunday I found a Startrite 352 Les than 20 minutes away from me, only problem seller wanted £400 for it which I thought was a little high, anyway after arguing with myself and my good wife yesterday I decided to take a chance that I wouldn't need to spend to much on it and get it, oops argued to long someone else beat me to it !! Ahh well back to the drawing board, we've not long moved to a rural area in Wales and you don't find many bandsaws for sale around here, they all seem to be where we moved from lol. Are these older machines genuinely better than the modern counterparts or is nostalgia a big part of it, I did find 2 saws at very good prices new a Scheppach basa 3 Vario at £399 and a Charnwood W730 at £439 another oops just rechecked price and it's gone up to £489 since Sunday, both these have good passage heights of over 200mm. Still using my scruffy ELU atm which with Tuff blades does quite well but I think I need to decide which of these 2 saws to buy, config of both is quite similar, the 730 has a bigger motor but I've not heard to much about them compared to the Basa which is favourite at the moment, anybody here using either of these and willing to offer advice on them please. I'm not normally so slow deciding what tools to purchase so what's my problem with ******* bandsaws (hammer)
Finding new bandsaw grrr
- Thread starter Tervueren
- Start date
Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:
you have a working bandsaw, youre not sure which one to buy, but you dont list a reason WHY you need (want) a new bandsaw.
Bandsaw replacement (upgrading) should be done once you have a clear and definite reason to do so. What are you planning to do with your new toy? (oops, tool)
Bandsaw replacement (upgrading) should be done once you have a clear and definite reason to do so. What are you planning to do with your new toy? (oops, tool)
sunnybob":36rzn0lk said:
Lol toy, I'm refurbishing my boat at the moment but will be making boxes later when the extra passage height will be handy also I'm basically lazy and it will save changing blades so often :mrgreen: I bought the ELU as a stop gap a few months ago and along with some new Tuff blades had to replace the bearings and guides to get it working properly, whoever had it before me obviously didn't know how to adjust it because the back of the blade had almost cut right through the rear bearings and I'm guessing because the 4 guides were all chipped that it had suffered a few snapped blades
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Tervueren":3ev99foy said:
Don't want much, do you?
phil.p":2sz5t4te said:Tervueren":2sz5t4te said:
Don't want much, do you?
Only going on others priced around £100 less but a long way from me, im also into photography using oldmanual focus legacy glass and lenses that you could buy for a few pounds 5 years ago now fetch a few hundred because of various forum posts extolling their properties, out of curiosity I wonder how much the 352 sold for 5 years ago ?
For me, i like the large table best of the features on mine.
I have an axminster 350, admittedly over your budget, but once I got past the chinese quality control problems I am extremely happy with it and cant see me ever getting another toy (oops, done it again... tool)
I have an axminster 350, admittedly over your budget, but once I got past the chinese quality control problems I am extremely happy with it and cant see me ever getting another toy (oops, done it again... tool)
I was looking at that Charnwood a while back. Some of the more experienced users on here suggested it had a few gimmicky features and I might be better off with a less flashy but heavier older machine.
I picked up a Kity 513 on ebay for £200 about 6 months ago. It's basic but I'm delighted with it, built like a tank, for it's size it's reassuringly heavy and a much more wife-friendly price!
Good luck!
I picked up a Kity 513 on ebay for £200 about 6 months ago. It's basic but I'm delighted with it, built like a tank, for it's size it's reassuringly heavy and a much more wife-friendly price!
Good luck!
Ask your missus how much she spends at the hairdressers in a year. Then whatever number she gives you, treble it. Your bandsaw will last a lot longer than the equivalent number of blond rinses. =D> =D> =D> (hammer)
Trevanion
Greatest Of All Time
We're not far off in the same area of the country and also saw the Startrite on the marketplace last night. I thought the price was about right, to be honest. The prices of them on eBay has crept up quite a lot in the last year or so and 352s that were selling for £300 last year are selling for £500 this year. They're nowhere near worth the £750 some are asking for them as they're as bare bones of a machine as they get, I've always called them "The Landrover of Bandsaws" because of how rugged and simple they are.
You're in West Wales now! Get used to not seeing any machines for sale in a 150-mile radius.
You're in West Wales now! Get used to not seeing any machines for sale in a 150-mile radius.
MikeG.
Established Member
Tervueren":1790384l said:
They can be better, because you get a chance to compare apples with pears. let me explain.....
Most of the hobby bandsaws kicking around for the last couple of decades are a pressed metal box, without a solid frame. You can add all the whistles and bells to that that you like, but this will still always mean two compromises: firstly the table bears onto a relatively flexible structure, and thus can move about (and actually be really difficult to get adjusted true); secondly, and more importantly, you simply can't get enough tension through the machine to pull blades tight. You will never be able to correctly tension the larger blades.
Make no mistake, tension is the fundamental difference between commercial machines and hobby machines. There will be issues around guides, and the power of the motor, and so on, but the fundamental difference is tension. The only way you can achieve great tension is to have a strong frame, and .......now we come to the crunch.........the only way you can find a machine with a frame at your sort of budget is to buy an old one.
An old machine, maybe with lots of cast iron, robust and simple, is great in theory, but it will almost certainly be 3 phase, and almost certainly have been abused and need some work. You'll probably need to swap the motor and rewire it, then clean it up, check bearings, maybe replace tyres and so on. It'll be a pig to transport and shift into position in your workshop. Is it worth it to you?
I've got a pressed metal jobbie. When I see the right cast iron machine, I'll be swapping. It is such a disappointment to have a second best machine, which struggles with anything difficult, and doesn't have enough tension to cut reliable veneers, or resaw anything other than balsa. They're brilliant bits of kit, and you come to rely on them for all sorts of stuff when you've got one, so ask yourself if your budget is enough, or are you prepared to do some work to get a real asset into your workshop.
MikeG.
Established Member
Here's the sort of thingI'd suggest looking at. How close are you to Llandudno?
Thanks for taking the time to comment Mike, I fully understand what you're saying, basically what I've been reading in Mark Duginske's band saw book, my problem which I guess I should've mentioned because it makes a difference, besides being disabled I'm not exactly in the flush of youth lol so don't really want to lug a ton of bandsaw around my workshop and to be honest I don't think I'll be doing anything heavy enough to tax a reasonably good 12" that said if another older saw becomes available near to me before I pull the trigger on the Basa 3 I'll certainly give it a look-see.
I did see the one in Llandudno but it's a little to far for me but thanks very much for the heads up.
I did see the one in Llandudno but it's a little to far for me but thanks very much for the heads up.
