Aldi bandsaw fence woes..

[HomeyJay]

Just bought one of these and am pretty surprised that it’s as great as it is, but my fence is wildly out straight from the box!
There seems to be absolutely no instructions on how to straighten it but I seem to remember that you adjust it using the two bolts at the top of the fence.
Does anyone know how to adjust the fence on these things?

 

[Cozzer]

I share your problem!
I splashed out on one a couple of years ago, but as a complete amateur/numbskull, I didn't know how to solve any problems that raised their head. In my ignorance, I assumed everything would be splendid, straight out of the box! (We've all got to start somewhere!)
One problem, as you say, was the fence. I too googled for a solution and, yes, found the answer was to adjust the two bolts...except it doesn't work on all designs, and guess what - ours is one of 'em.
(Can't actually recall why now...)
To help solve drift, I bought a couple of better blades...a good move.
I meant to source better "guide pins" - those annoying little round things that seat in front of the bearings - because I suspect they're very "iffy". I dare say the bearings could do with an upgrade as well, but for the few times I've actually used the bandsaw, well....I'll do it tomorrow!

 

[Rich C]

If possible, you're better off adjusting the table to be square to the blade cut angle (i.e. the drift direction) rather than adjusting the fence. That way the mitre guide will be straight as well. Table should be attached by 4-6 bolts underneath - you can slacken these and adjust the orientation of the table.

 

[HomeyJay]

Ok, just an update. I spent all morning getting the fence parallel and adjusting the saw as Snodgrass (or whatever his name is!) suggested. Everything seems to be running well BUT one problem remains. Whenever I make a cut, the first 2cm seems to contain a slight curve (see pic)! After the curve, everything seems to settle down and the cut seems parallel with the fence.
I’m not exerting abnormal pressure, just a gentle, slow cut at a leisurely pace. The blade is not touching anything either.
Can anyone suggest anything - I’m way out of my depth here!

Ps last cut at the bottom was with the fence on the right of the blade, all others were with fence on left

 

[devonwoody]

I suggest you have belt tension as strong as you can get it, run a rest piece and if happy then cut the work piece.

 

[HomeyJay]

Thanks, I’ve tightened the blade quite a bit but how do I tell if it’s too tight or not tight enough?
I’m a bit scared of damaging the saw or breaking the blade to be honest!

 

[MikeJhn]

Keep tightening the blade until you don't get anymore drift, always assuming the blade is sharp that is.

 

[Ttrees]

I could well be mistaken but from the photos your stock doesn't look to be surfaced on an edge.
You can't really be sure of what is going on without having a flat surface to register off of your fence.

Even with that sorted through, with even a Laguna driftmaster installed I would still regard a machine of that type to be nothing more than a scroll saw.
Tom

 

[HomeyJay]

The top side is flat but the bottom side is a bit iffy, having previously cut it using the saw.
Sheppach just replied to tech support request by sending me a copy of the manual. :roll:
Which, incidentally, is already in the box and contains no info on adjusting the fence at all..

 

[Ttrees]

I meant the edge that is against the fence.
When testing I normally cut slivers off the non surfaced edge from prepared stock, and not to throw your work out the window by ripping the test piece down the middle, as that's about 6 or 7 tests worth of stock, at the very least.
Tom

 

[HomeyJay]

The top side was against the fence. This is where most of the cuts were done. I then just flipped the fence over to the right and cut the last one at the bottom. I knew that side was wonky anyway but I just wanted to see what would happen!

 

[Ttrees]

I'm confused are you saying your top side is surfaced and against the fence?

 

[Simon_M]

In the description it seems to be that the test workpiece (as photographed) has a flat edge (at the top of the photograph) placed against the fence, but the cuts relative to this edge are not straight e.g. bowed. If the bottom of the wood (as photographed) isn't straight and also isn't being placed against the fence, then this shouldn't matter.

I read somewhere that the table is made of a soft metal - so not that stable/flat, the fence isn't particularly rigid and it's difficult to get a reasonable tension with a blade e.g. only the thinnest blades might work. That it works at all is perhaps a minor miracle? However, for some work especially where the fence isn't needed and the work can be guided freehand it's (just about) possible to get a "reasonable" result.

With the fence removed, you could try eliminating some issues, clamping a piece of wood across the table (as a fence) with a clamp at each end (and even putting plywood between the base and the workpiece) to see if the problem is with the fence/table or only with the blade.

My suspicion is that getting sufficient tension and trying to advance the workpiece trigger the bow on anything more than the thinnest materials (as seen).

My experience of Aldi is they are very relaxed about giving refunds on their Workzone products, so giving one of their products a workout is (money wise) almost without risk. Equally, you can waste lots of time reaching that conclusion especially as a bandsaw is not a "plug and play" type device e.g. here it's more "plug and pray". Many of their products have zero spare parts, so the only thing on offer after 60 days (no longer in the shop) is to offer refunds - which they are good at doing.

 

[Rich C]

I have a cheap Scheppach (which is probably the same machine). It's not super sturdy but I can get repeatable straight cuts with it. I have swapped the blade for a tuffsaws one and then just set everything up straight. Seems fine, even on 80mm birch.

Does it give the straightest cut possible? No. But it's a couple of plane swipes from flat which is more than adequate for my use.

 

[HomeyJay]

Grrr.OK, I now give up. I just can’t get this thing to work and last night the blade tension knob fell off and now won’t re-attach. The only way to adjust tension now is with a spanner.
The vacuum attachment has also fallen off and won’t stay in place without some gaffer tape.
Looks like I got a Friday afternoon manufacture time..

 

[MikeJhn]

What blade are you using?

 

[HomeyJay]

Stock blade that came with it.

 

[sunnybob]

Take it back, get a refund. Put that money towards buying a better bandsaw.
I went the cheap route, and regretted it.

 

[HomeyJay]

Thanks Bob, that’s pretty much the route I’ve realised that I have to take.
Looking at the Axminster AC1950B but that’s a LOT more!

 

[sunnybob]

Sadly, thats way with tools nowadays.
But dont think that a LOT more gets you perfection. Oh no oh no oh no, it just means its better construction and the faults actually CAN be fixed. :roll: :roll:

By the time my "better" bandsaw got to me here in Cyprus (from axminster) it was the best part of a grand. It still had to be modified a few times to make it into the very nice tool it is now (1 of the modifications was actually incorporated into the future production runs. Axminster do listen and they do take notice).
Tuffsaws blades also are very big leap forward in the struggle for perfection. =D> =D> =D>