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Yes I know it sounds silly, but it's always been a struggle to get it to do anything but rough work, although it was pretty useful for that after I'd spent countless hours fiddling. I saw that, thanks. The upper guide assembly is shown but marked as "unavailable".

Thanks all. I can't understand it either. Looking at my email archive it looks like I got the BAS316 in 2001 or 2002. The emails are all between me and Electra Beckum concerning problems with the original BAS315, it doesn't positively date when they swapped it for the BAS316 but it can't have...

Hi, I haven't used my Elektra Beckum BAS316 bandsaw for a while, and when I came to try and use it today I found that the upper guide castings have distorted, apparently of their own accord, to the extent that the saw is unusable. Has anyone else found this sort of thing happening? The...

Hi, have you got a link for that? Thanks.

How does well that work? I don't have a Tormek but I have a cheap water-cooled wheel that I virtually never use. I've occasionally wondered how difficult it would be to make something so it would use Tormek jigs.

Aren't all 4 1/2s wide bodied?

Also the blade flexes making consistent pressure and angle more difficult, and finally it all has to be done on the other side as a mirror image, so any technique needs to be ambidextrous.

All sorts really, which just shows I haven't got it sorted. My pocket knife and my fish knife can be sharpened quite easily on normal bench stones. The latter is a proper commercial utility knife in carbon steel so no special surprise that it's easier to sharpen. I'm not quite sure why I can...

By the way, don't knives count as hand tools?

Hi, I get continually frustrated trying to get decent edges on household knives, kitchen knives in particular. I'm now wondering whether I should splash out on one of the various gadgets, like the Lansky system. Does anyone either use anything similar, or have any home-made equivalent? It...

I find a conventional 6" grinder works for me, with a 100 grit (I think) white wheel. This is for grinding, not sharpening, so I don't grind right to the edge. What the grinding does is to reduce the size of the sharpened bevel so it resharpens quicker. My grinder actually has a slow wet...

I think Mignal was suggesting using a small block to abrade the high points, not for checking overall flatness.

Yes, I like that idea. More conventionally, I found a web site doing pattern compatible batteries, looked like around £20 but I need to check the exact version. The "recell your battery" looks to be around £30. Another idea - use it as a DC powered drill, but I wonder how well it would work...

I think it must all end up as heat though, after all if you switch the light off and then open the cupboard there's no light still bouncing around - it's all gone somewhere. Less heat from an 11W CFL than a 60W incandescent of course, but I think you still get 11W of heat.

Worn bearings? Just wondering if the blade tension might be making the bearings bind on one of the wheels. How does it feel if you turn the wheels by hand with the blade tensioned, compared to with the blade removed? How about with the blade tensioned but the drive belt removed. Seems to...

Cheers. I might try sticking it in the freezer, nothing to lose I think. It's probably not worth replacing individual cells based on my testing. I tested on the battery after charging then using it for a bit, overall voltage was only around 8.5V by then, but some cells reading 1.2V -...

I must admit it never occurred to me to test an appliance other than when it's unplugged! Check for resistance between N and E pins on the plug, should be virtually open circuit.

Hi, The battery for my not too old 1.4V B&D cordless drill is now short. It charges, but runs flat really quickly making it virtually useless. I am not convinced that it's worth paying out £25 for a new battery, but not sure what else to do. It seems a shame to scrap the drill. I had a...

Is it an MCB (what rating?) or an RCD that's tripping? Could be a neutral to earth fault if the latter, you may be able to check that with a multimeter.

I'm not sure if that's a typo or a space warp, here in Aberdeenshire 0.315" = almost exactly 8mm. Anyway I've exhausted my stock of materials to try, and can report that the original rods are 7.90mm - presumably a slightly undersized 5/16". An Elu fence rod @ 7.95mm is a snug fit, so I think...