Axminster TS250-2 modifications.
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RichardG
If at first you don’t succeed have a cup of tea.
I've found this post incredibly useful and have implemented many of the changes myself so as my first post on ukworkshop I thought I would share my variations in case they help someone else.
The stand is made from 4x2. I made my own dust collector underneath the saw and re-used the included 100mm plastic connector. I found that not removing the side of the blade guard didn't seem to harm the dust extraction so I left it on but removed the hose. I covered the gaps around the table to body using rigid foam and then magnetic sheet to cover any other holes. Note I left the gaps round the height adjuster so there's an air flow through the machine.
For the crown guard I had some 28mm pipe which was a good fit to the supplied hose so used this. I re-used the screw holes in the crown guard so it can be put back to standard if required. I cut down the riven knife so will have to buy a replacement if needed. Works well although the guard isn't deep enough to cover the blade at full height, however the riven knife keeps it away from the blade.
Hopefully the photos cover it all?
Richard
The stand is made from 4x2. I made my own dust collector underneath the saw and re-used the included 100mm plastic connector. I found that not removing the side of the blade guard didn't seem to harm the dust extraction so I left it on but removed the hose. I covered the gaps around the table to body using rigid foam and then magnetic sheet to cover any other holes. Note I left the gaps round the height adjuster so there's an air flow through the machine.
For the crown guard I had some 28mm pipe which was a good fit to the supplied hose so used this. I re-used the screw holes in the crown guard so it can be put back to standard if required. I cut down the riven knife so will have to buy a replacement if needed. Works well although the guard isn't deep enough to cover the blade at full height, however the riven knife keeps it away from the blade.
Hopefully the photos cover it all?
Richard
Attachments
Glad you found the thread useful, sorry about the last few pages (maybe ten), lots of wrong advise given by those who should know better, but seem to want to be on every thread, I think the whole thread could be condensed into the first three pages in truth.
Have fun.
Mike
14651
Have fun.
Mike
14651
Richard
How have you found the efficiency of your modifications, I thought the extract from the crown guard to be a bit small and incorrectly positioned for optimum extraction, how have you found yours works.
Mike
How have you found the efficiency of your modifications, I thought the extract from the crown guard to be a bit small and incorrectly positioned for optimum extraction, how have you found yours works.
Mike
RichardG
If at first you don’t succeed have a cup of tea.
Hi Mike,
It’s the only bit I’m not happy with. There is very little airflow through the smaller pipe so I’m going to try connecting it directly to my Henry to see if increased airflow helps but I suspect I need a bigger pipe and a better guard similar to yours.
Richard
It’s the only bit I’m not happy with. There is very little airflow through the smaller pipe so I’m going to try connecting it directly to my Henry to see if increased airflow helps but I suspect I need a bigger pipe and a better guard similar to yours.
Richard
Hi Richard
There is a slow motion video somewhere that shows most of the dust off the blade is thrown out of the front, hence why I made the crown guard that way, it is very efficient at keeping dust off the table.
Mike
There is a slow motion video somewhere that shows most of the dust off the blade is thrown out of the front, hence why I made the crown guard that way, it is very efficient at keeping dust off the table.
Mike
How are you guys getting on with your TS250-2s?
I was just about to press the "buy" button, when I started reading the reviews on the Axminster website - ouch!
Some people really not getting on with the saw, for a multitude of different reasons.
Probably not the right place to ask, but is there a better alternative [don't hit me
] in the price range?
I was just about to press the "buy" button, when I started reading the reviews on the Axminster website - ouch!
Some people really not getting on with the saw, for a multitude of different reasons.
Probably not the right place to ask, but is there a better alternative [don't hit me
] in the price range?The most damming post is about the belt breaking, but if you read the post he took off the belt guard and exposed the belt to the detritus thrown out by the blade, what did he expect, mine has done everything I have wanted, including cutting 100mm Oak, with the right blade.
Mike
Mike
I bought the Mk1 version about 3 years ago and I'm more than happy with it. Never had any serious problems. The only thing I experienced was that the fence clamp came apart which Axminster swapped immediately. I believe this has been changed for a cam type clamping mechanism on the Mk2 version.
I did modify the dust collection arrangement to make it more effective. I removed part of the dust shroud around the blade and used a large dust collector bell mouth with a 100mm dia hose mounted underneath.
Go for it ljkenny, if you don't like it just send it back to Axminster, they are usually great at resolving issues.
I did modify the dust collection arrangement to make it more effective. I removed part of the dust shroud around the blade and used a large dust collector bell mouth with a 100mm dia hose mounted underneath.
Go for it ljkenny, if you don't like it just send it back to Axminster, they are usually great at resolving issues.
RichardG
If at first you don’t succeed have a cup of tea.
It’s a good solid saw but Axminster could so easily turn it into a great saw with a bit more attention to quality control and a few mods. The fact that the extension table is wider than the main table is not really acceptable, the fact that the left mitre slot is slightly wider than right is very poor quality control and again Axminster should sort this. The crown guard is a joke and could so easily be improved for dust extraction at little or no cost. However, the fence is very good and accurate from my experience. The saw is also rugged and simple which gets my vote every time. At the discount price the whole kit is very good value for money and I’ve found the customer service to be excellent, it’s hard to put a price on that.
I purchased the complete kit but haven’t used the stand or sliding table yet. I would buy again but would also look at the Bosch GTS 10 XC...let us all know what you buy.
Richard
I purchased the complete kit but haven’t used the stand or sliding table yet. I would buy again but would also look at the Bosch GTS 10 XC...let us all know what you buy.
Richard
Travelled up and had a play with it today. It's a very impressive place, luckily I don't live closer or I'd probably end up very poor very quickly.
Unfortunately I wasn't very impressed with the TS250. The miter and controls all seemed very sloppy. The AW10BSB2 however I was amazed by. It's a shame the same level of workmanship didn't go into the TS250 or a would have bought it there and then.
Might have to save a few more pennies and stretch for the AW10BSB2 instead. Decisions!
Unfortunately I wasn't very impressed with the TS250. The miter and controls all seemed very sloppy. The AW10BSB2 however I was amazed by. It's a shame the same level of workmanship didn't go into the TS250 or a would have bought it there and then.
Might have to save a few more pennies and stretch for the AW10BSB2 instead. Decisions!
Thats the problem with the saws on display at any Axminster store they get a lot of people playing around with them, at the cheaper end of the market in this case the TS250-2 a lot more so, when I was looking to buy in the first instance I went into the Sittingbourne store and found the TS250-2 to be very badly set up, the side slide table was out of alignment with the main table and fouled when being moved, the front fence rail was loose so the fence jammed when you tried to move it, the overhead guard and riving knife where out of alignment and fouled the blade, if I had taken this to be the standard of saw off the shelf I would have had second thoughts also.
The AW10BSB2 is £450.00 more than the TS250-2, so in a different league and not really a fair comparison.
Its now a couple of years on since I started this thread and can honestly say that the saw has performed excellently and I have never wanted for anything more capable, I cut Oak mostly and the saw has coped with this without complaint, no breakages or down time, the amount of modifications I carried out to this saw are in the main to improve the dust extraction this is something that all saws in this price bracket up too and including saws three times the cost all need work on, I can see why this is so because the cost of addressing the issue would put any saw into another price bracket, but I don't see why all of them have to be so bad.
Mike
The AW10BSB2 is £450.00 more than the TS250-2, so in a different league and not really a fair comparison.
Its now a couple of years on since I started this thread and can honestly say that the saw has performed excellently and I have never wanted for anything more capable, I cut Oak mostly and the saw has coped with this without complaint, no breakages or down time, the amount of modifications I carried out to this saw are in the main to improve the dust extraction this is something that all saws in this price bracket up too and including saws three times the cost all need work on, I can see why this is so because the cost of addressing the issue would put any saw into another price bracket, but I don't see why all of them have to be so bad.
Mike
andyh747
Member
I've just purchased this saw second hand with all the accessories. I've discovered like many others the poor extraction with the default setup. Thanks to Mike's brilliant advice on this thread I'm in the process of modifying the saw with the large hood. However I also want to change the crown guard and wonder if you can advise how you made this? I know you used clear Perspex but how did you make the aluminium support I can see inside? Any chance you could highlight how you did this?
Many Thanks,
Andy
Many Thanks,
Andy
Hi Andy
Glad you found the thread useful.
By the aluminium support I assume you mean the part that the two arms (both sides) screw into, if so this is just a piece of 10mm aluminium bar drilled and taped to suit, the secret is the 3.5mm spacers used between it and the 3mm perspex sides, off a Ducati mudguard support, once the perspex has been cut the cut surface goes a bit opaque but can be chemically polished, I think I posted a thread on making the guard, but can't seem to find it at the moment.
Mike
Glad you found the thread useful.
By the aluminium support I assume you mean the part that the two arms (both sides) screw into, if so this is just a piece of 10mm aluminium bar drilled and taped to suit, the secret is the 3.5mm spacers used between it and the 3mm perspex sides, off a Ducati mudguard support, once the perspex has been cut the cut surface goes a bit opaque but can be chemically polished, I think I posted a thread on making the guard, but can't seem to find it at the moment.
Mike
andyh747
Member
Thanks Mike,
No I actually thought the inside of the guard was aluminium with Perspex sides. My mistake. It looked like the guard had a curved aluminium frame and the Perspex was screwed onto it.
If you locate the thread that would be great as it looks the perfect design for maximum extraction.
On another related topic, I have a Festool CTL 26E extractor and was hoping to use this for the table saw extraction. Do you think this will be sufficient?
Best Wishes,
Andy
No I actually thought the inside of the guard was aluminium with Perspex sides. My mistake. It looked like the guard had a curved aluminium frame and the Perspex was screwed onto it.
If you locate the thread that would be great as it looks the perfect design for maximum extraction.
On another related topic, I have a Festool CTL 26E extractor and was hoping to use this for the table saw extraction. Do you think this will be sufficient?
Best Wishes,
Andy
The curved perspex guard was formed with a hot air gun and the side perspex screwed into that, machine screws form their own thread with the right size hole, I used to use a Numatic 2400watt extractor, but found the hassle of having two extracts working at the same time tiresome because of the noise, now just use the 2000m3/hr chip eatractor as shown on the thread, works very well.
Mike
Mike
I see the Axi TS200 replacement? is on the site: https://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-c ... saw-104926 advantages over the TS200 as far as I can see are: 19mm wide mitre slots irrelevant if you buy the sliding table kit IMO, maybe better extraction for the crown guard, looks like a larger extract duct, Zero table insert available as an extra, but the main improvement IMO is bringing the electric switch controls forward of the fence line so they can be seen without bending down, overall looks to be an improvement incorporating all the things owners on here have complained about, will be interesting to see if they are going to bring out an version to upgrade the TS250.
19085
19085
Raymond UK
Established Member
I've been following this closely as I'm after a TS250 after Christmas.
I have just received the Axi catalogue through the post yesterday and it does look like the TS250 is not in the lineup no more.
What I can't find out is the width of cut from the fence on the new one in the catalogue. I think the old TS250 has a 760mm max cutting capacity.
I have just received the Axi catalogue through the post yesterday and it does look like the TS250 is not in the lineup no more.
What I can't find out is the width of cut from the fence on the new one in the catalogue. I think the old TS250 has a 760mm max cutting capacity.
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