Axminster TS250-2 modifications.

[JamesP7]

Ok so it seems to be working at the moment! - I have had a response from Axminster and it is very similar to what you have said above - "the two nuts lock up against the inside of the casing, they have undone and are no longer keeping that bar under tension hence causing it to flip out the hole and fall out. The bar needs to go back in the hole and tensioned at the lowest point."

I did this but the threaded bar would fall out of the hole before the saw blade could reach the 76mm maximum height, maybe 65mm proud of the table or so. There was a little play/wiggle in the frame of the height mechanism, but by tightening the 2 Phillips head screws/nuts on either side of the frame, this stopped the wiggling happening and then enabled me to raise the blade to its maximum height without the bar falling out of the hole.







I do wonder if the frame of the saw has bent a little making the distance a fraction larger between the plate of the locator hole and the rest of the welded part of the frame, causing the threaded bar to lose its tension :?
I asked if there should be a pin on the end of the threaded bar, Axminster said that although it appears to have one in the manual, the servicing department said they have never seen one there before on this model of table saw. Hopefully this has sorted it for the long term, thanks again.

James

 

[Matted]

Hey all, can anyone shine a light/give me info on the T Track specs on this. It looks to be 14-15mm wide, which means its non-standard.

Basically I'm trying to make some simple jigs but the spec of the T track is confusing me a little. And I don't want to waste money on the wrong thing

 

[MikeJhn]

It is not the American so called standard 3/4", I am not in my workshop so can't measure it for you, but I am sure someone will be on to let you know the size.

 

[JamesP7]

Hi, the slots are odd, they are just a hair over 15mm (2nd image)


I ended up buying some 15mm wide smooth edge Pine strip for the runners on my cross cut jig, although its not hardwood this seems to be working well and hasn't suffered from swelling for just over a year - IIRC I had to shave the width of the strip using a sharp chisel to achieve a nice smooth fit. When gluing the jig up I found that some 5 pence coins were ideal for raising the strips off of the bottom of the slots for smoother movement

 

[MikeJhn]

Ikea kitchen cutting boards are a very hard plastic ideal to make sliders with.

It's a mind set to think that metric is the odd size and that imperial/American is the supposed standard. :roll:

 

[Matted]

thanks all!

 

[MadsDK]

Hi You guys. Im in the market for a new tablesaw and i have Been Reading on the axminister tablesaws.

but, im debating wether i should go for the hobby tb250 or the newer craft ac216 or ac250.
Is the newer versions better than the hobby model? Powerwise there does not Seem to be much difference.

Prices are:
Hobby- 739 GBP
Ac216 - 942 GBP
Ac250- 1047 GBP

this is including the sliding table and extension tables.
What do You guts Think?

 

[MikeJhn]

Hi MadsDK and welcome to the Forum.

On the table saw front, assuming you do actually need a table saw and not a "Panel, Track or Bandsaw" I would suggest it's down to the size of your workshop to how big you can go, the bigger and more powerful the better the saw will cope with everything you throw at it, do you have the time and resources to build a cabinet to put a small saw on? As I did on this thread to enable the saw to move, the stands available are OK if you do not require to move the saw, but it's a lot of wasted space underneath as are the larger saw cabinets.

 

[clogs]

MadsDK.....
ur side of the water why not look a Sheppach or Electra-Beckam.....
just an idea.....had both in my time, great quality....

 

[Superchippy123]

Well 1st time poster on this site but have been reading on here with years with some great info on here. Just purchased a used ts250m but it seems to be missing the dust shroud underneath the saw that keeps the dust away from the motor. Can anyone who owns this model post a picture of it as i may need to make one if axminster dont sell parts as i dont think they'll have it in stock. Many thanks

Stephen

 

[RichardG]

Welcome Stephen,

My ts250 only has a should round the blade which is then connected to the dust port. It doesn’t work very well though....

edit: part 20 in the manual.

https://www.axminstertools.com/media/downloads/508211_manual.pdf

 

[MikeJhn]

Welcome to the Forum Stephen.

The original dust shroud does not work very well to collect dust, but does do a useful job of protecting the motor and drive belt from dust and debris, look on page one for the mods I did to improve dust collection from under the saw table.

Also have a look at page four where it shows the crown guard I made for this saw.

 

[Superchippy123]

Thanks for the replies lads. Im most concerned about dust really getting into the motor like you've mentioned mike. I think the previous owner cut this shroud off. Would port underneath without the shroud do much on its own in your opinion mike. Iv made an overhead attachment allready but the dust underneath is frightening even after only a few cuts.
Thanks
Stephen

 

[Superchippy123]

One more thing lads. Is there parts missing of this piece in your opinions it seems wicked loose whenblade is at full height? As in should there be clamps on the bar holding the threaded rod

 

[MikeJhn]

I am over 500 miles away from my saw at the moment so not able to look, but you should get an idea from the manual posted by RichardG above.

The main problem of not having the guard fitted is belt wear, if you look at the Axminster reviews someone complains about having three belts in quick succession, but reading his previous review he took the shroud off like yours and did not put back a belt guard as shown on page one.

Interesting that your fitted drive belt is a different colour to all the pictures posted on here, and mine, may be indicative that the previous owner had belt problems due to removing the guard?

On the dust extraction, anything that puts a negative pressure inside the saw box will help extraction as would a zero clearance blade insert, concentrating this pressure with the big mouth dust hood did wonders on my saw.

 

[RichardG]

I‘m not in a position to look at my saw until the weekend. I can say though that my saw does get very dusty inside. I ended up removing some of my added cabinet sealing as I found a good airflow through from top to bottom was most effective to remove the dust. I certainly don’t have any noticeable looseness.

 

[MikeJhn]

IMO there is a break even point on airflow where a normal vacuum cleaner needs open airflow/areas to be effective to keep up the movement of air, whereas a purpose designed extractor works best if the airflow is concentrated, hence some use a near completely sealed saw cabinet and a zero clearance insert, and others find that not sealing works best, horse's for course's as they say. I have the equivalent of the Axminster NVD750 twin motor 1800watt vacuum that Numatic tell me has a suction of about 350cuft/min this does ot clear wood chips or large dust well, but is excellent on hand tools, my main upright extractor is 2000cuft/min and clears everything from my larger machines, in fact have to keep small children out of the workshop when its on.

 

[Superchippy123]

Thanks again lads. I have a lidl extractor which im planning to use for the underneath and a scheppach one the blade guard extraction. But i dont know will the lidl one be up to the job. Going to try and build some form of tunnel underneath the saw to force it into the ectractor like has been shown on this thread.

Scheppach extractor here Scheppach dust extraction ha1000

 

[MikeJhn]

Is the lidl unit an extractor i.e. HVLP or a vacuum cleaner LVHP?

 

[Superchippy123]

Vacuum cleaner lvhp. Might have to upgrade im not sure.