Horsepower or Width

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stonebas

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Hello All

Having finally decided I cant justify spending £1200 on an Xcalibur saw I have ordered a SIP at £425 which seems great value for money and I haven’t heard anything too bad about them. Unfortunately SIP have sold out and are waiting for re-supply so I am not sure when it will be delivered.

Now that the table saw has been ordered it’s bandsaw time. I am considering a couple around the £500 mark but I cant figure out what level of horsepower I should go for or whether maximum sawblade width is more important. Or is the brand name the main thing to consider? Initially I plan to resaw some nice Wenga hardwood from my local supplier to use for re-trimming the kitchen.

Any suggestions?

Stonebas
 
What makes of Bandsaw are you looking at? I currently have a record power BS350 that is now brilliant but i have had to do a lot of work to get it there. The motor is 2HP and can power through anything. The new one is about 11/2HP. I would personally look at the Record, jet and startrite bandsaw ranges
 
I have been looking at the Record BS350 and generally the feedback on the forum is good but, like yourself, several people say that it takes some effort to get it working properly. What sort of thing did you have to do to sort it out?

I have also been looking at the Axminster SWB3501 but it's only 0.75 HP and although the Startrite 301E has 1.0 HP the maximum blade width is only 16mm. This seems a bit narrow to me.

The Record seems to be about the best value for money.

Stonebas
 
stonebas":jnzmam0y said:
..snip..
I have also been looking at the Axminster SWB3501 but it's only 0.75 HP ...snip...Stonebas

I too have this on the top of my shortlist at the moment despite the small motor, having taken a good look at the guide bearings and ease of adjustment etc. on several makes at recent shows I am inclined to think that this model is worth the price premium over some of the others, matching the build quality of some of the more commercial orientated models. Depth of cut limit of 200mm is my only reservation but I do not feel inclined to trade cutting depth for built quality.

I am nervous of the Record quality as delivered.
 
My own experiece is to only buy a model which is on display and given a test run by yourself, those that come delivered unseen can these days have some atrocious alignment coc k ups.
 
stonebas":1jiue8v9 said:
I have been looking at the Record BS350 and generally the feedback on the forum is good but, like yourself, several people say that it takes some effort to get it working properly. What sort of thing did you have to do to sort it out?

Stonebas
 
Hi Stonebas,
I am going to post the whole saga of this saw shortly.
Briefly,
If possible, anybody buying this saw should check it before taking delivery.
Check the blade thrust bearing, ensure it spins and is aligned, if not some fettling is required.
Check the blade guide locking mechanism, we had to machine and fit a new 'lid' of heavy gauge steel.
Check the blade guide runs parallel with the blade, we had to fit shims on the gearbox to achieve this.
Make sure the new type of fence is fitted, we are on our third one in less than a year.
Throw away the blade that comes with the unit, we have just ordered some from Dure-edge on recommendation from this site.
The saw is now really superb and excellent value if the above is OK or you are prepared to do a bit of metal work.
Record are very helpful and I hope have sorted the problems listed, I did email a review to them, strangely they didn't post it on their site.
 
I would like comments on this.
What finally persuaded us to buy the Record BS350 was a glowing review in a woodworking magazine by Alan Holtham..... He did not have any problems with the saw he reviewed.
There are only two conclusions I think on this
1: A special saw
2: No I can not contemplate the other conclusion
 
I assume that Record will have ensured that any saw which they send out for evaluation/review by an influential journalist like Mr Holtham will have been inspected and quality controlled to the nth degree. They would be foolish not to do this.

Some years ago I worked in the IT dept of a PLC with several hundred branches and the equipment which we were sent to evaluate was always of considerably higher quality than any which we would eventually order. Components were all the same but the quality of assembly and finish was always considerably better. Dell was probably the worst offender, you would be forgiven for thinking that they got another company to build their evaluation machines.

Simon
 
Stonebas, I can personaly recommend the Jet JWB 14" - I've had mine for about 4 months or so now, and have never been let down, re-saws hardwoods without any trouble. I use the blades from 'Dure-edge' which makes a huge difference.

The Jet machine is very well made and took no-time in setting it up and getting it running, its so accurate that I prefer it to my Table Saw for some ripping operations, gives me nice straight edges every time.

I think it's a little more than £500 but I think it's worth it.

Here's a link to some up-close photo's of the machine as I received it:
http://flickr.com/photos/byronblack/sets/948168/
 
Unlucky Alf":142r4ayv said:
I assume that Record will have ensured that any saw which they send out for evaluation/review by an influential journalist like Mr Holtham will have been inspected and quality controlled to the nth degree. They would be foolish not to do this.

Some years ago I worked in the IT dept of a PLC with several hundred branches and the equipment which we were sent to evaluate was always of considerably higher quality than any which we would eventually order. Components were all the same but the quality of assembly and finish was always considerably better. Dell was probably the worst offender, you would be forgiven for thinking that they got another company to build their evaluation machines.

Simon

Common practice

A few years ago I supervised installation of the final 150m of an automated car assembly line (I developed the control system) and the first 24 cars that left the line were then stripped down to the bare shell and re-assembled by hand.

These were the press test cars!!!!!!
 
Thanks for the input everyone and for the photos Byron – the Jet looks pretty good quality. I guess whatever I buy I will end up tweaking it to a certain extent – I don’t think I have the skill to re-build or re-design it like you’ve had to do with your Record, Omega1!!!.

Jet equipment seems to have an enthusiastic following but there has also a lot of support for Axminster as well. I’m beginning to think it’s a toss up between the JWBS14 and the SBW3501B.

Stonebas
 
stonebas - I was faced with the same dilema, and after speaking to their technical department, I went for the Jet as this is rated more as a 'trade' machine and over time will stand more use, however, if you aren't going to be using the machine all the time and for particular demanding work, the Axminster version is almost a replica of the Jet for a little less money, but just not as oriented to fulltime use.
 
ByronBlack
Visited your host Flick and thought an intersting site. Requesting enlargements was slow winded tho' using my landline connection.
 
DW - thats a common issue with Flickr i'm afraid, it has some amazing features, and is great to use, but i think it was always intended for a broadband connection which is a shame, the otherway of seeing enlargements, would be to use the slideshow feature, not sure how well this would work on your connection though.
 
Hi,

I am new to this site and i am just looking for some bandsaw advice. I am looking at buying the Fox F28 194B, does anyone out there either have this machine or knows how it performs? or would anyone recommend a similar priced bandsaw?

Shane
 

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