Bandsaw Axminster, Scheppach or ???

[atemught]

Hi
I am looking into buying my first bandsaw, mainly to make wooden garden furnitures and ornaments as a hobby.
Budget £220/230 max
The following 2 bandsaws have decent reviews:
Axminster Craft AC 1400B
Scheppach HBS261
Does anyone have any experience of these saws or any other recommendations?
Thank you

 

[sunnybob]

Have you realised how small they are?
The axminster has a MAXIMUM depth of cut only 80 mm and a MAXIMUM width of only 200 mm. It most likely will be struggling at those measurements. :roll:
Thats more suited to scale model making, than garden furniture.

I think youre going to get several recommendations to double or even treble your budget for a bigger saw.

I'm on the "double it" side.

 

[Stevedimebag]

hey bud - u can most likely get a decent bandsaw at that price in the second hand market.

Big issue will be getting during the crisis though.

I managed to get an Axminster AWESBS (8 inch cutting height) for £230 last year, on the bay of Es.

 

[Lazurus]

As above go for a used model or you will be making dolls furniture.

 

[atemught]

Thank you all for your replies, I will go with your advice and look for a second hand saw. As you guessed I am new at this, I will be retiring next year and I always fancied making some garden furniture, so the need for a saw and a few night classes in woodwork

 

[Droogs]

There are a lot of threads here in the forum re what BS sizes are regarded as being "right" for a particular job. use the search at the top of the page, but click on advanced search so that way it will search the forum and not the whole tinterweb

 

[atemught]

Thank you Droogs

 

[twodoctors]

Yes, go second hand.

I have own various sizes bandsaw in the past few years, and yes, go biggest you can fit into your workshop or don't bother. The ones you suggested are too small for most things that you may want to dabble into when you eventually retire.

For reference, I paid about £100 for my Kity 613, and £80 for a Scheppach Basa 1.0, £40 for a cheapo bandsaw (Guild/Argos). All pre-loved of course. I eventually paid about £300 for an older version Basa 3, which I'm delighted with. I was very happy with the Kity 613 until the Basa 3 came up for sale here.

Keep an eye on the for sale section here, or Gumtree. Ebay could be a bit dodgy as that's where people flog things that's "broken". With Forum and Gumtree you have the option of walking away.

Good luck!

Adrian

 

[MikeJhn]

I think the last post says it all, spent £220.00 and still paid another £300.00 to get a better one, you get what you pay for.

 

[twodoctors]

I think the last post says it all, spent £220.00 and still paid another £300.00 to get a better one, you get what you pay for.

What I didn't say of course was I sold them all at break even or £20 profit each.

The beauty of buying seconds at a good price. 8)

A

 

[MikeJhn]

But what a lot of hassle, whereas just buying a quality item new would have prevented all of that.

 

[DBT85]

But what a lot of hassle, whereas just buying a quality item new would have prevented all of that.

It does, but you also can get a lot more for the same money if you buy used.

 

[MikeJhn]

And spend an age fiddling and fettling that should be time making what you wanted in the first place, if you want to do mechanical engineering by a vintage/veteran car. LOL

 

[sunnybob]

There are many people who believe the journey is more important than the destination :shock:
Me, not so much. :roll: :roll:
My first bandsaw was cheap because I knew no better and had not discovered forums like this one to ask for help. It cursed my life for a year.
I finaly ousted it and bought a bandsaw that by most folks here opinion is too big for what I do. I love my bandsaw, its my second most used machine after the router table.

 

[MikeJhn]

Too big is fine at least you can work with it, too small and you are not working.

 

[twodoctors]

But what a lot of hassle, whereas just buying a quality item new would have prevented all of that.

I hope that's not a criticism against me / used machines.

I bought the £40 one to do a job. Then I dabbled into bandsaw boxes, which was why I upgraded. Yes I could have looked for a Basa 3 then but I'm not sure how serious I'm into this hobbies, so naturally I don't want to spend £300 on a machine I may not use much after 6 months. My Basa 1, like the others after it, was an opportunistic buy. I was actually quite settled on the Kity 613 as it wasn't massive (for my 1/2 garage workshop) and it does cut deep enough for the bandsaw boxes that I was making. Of course a bigger machine means bigger boxes, but where does it end right?!

So yes, for me this is part of my journey into woodworking as a hobby. I don't see my sequential upgrades as a mistake. Certainly I have not lost any money in the process. People spend what they can spend now to get started, and if they enjoy the hobby they may well upgrade later on.

Back to the original topic please.

 

[DBT85]

And spend an age fiddling and fettling that should be time making what you wanted in the first place, if you want to do mechanical engineering by a vintage/veteran car. LOL

What age? Do new tools come perfectly set up these days? Never needing assembly, tuning, adjustment, learning how each one handles the tasks we put it to?

If you want to buy new then please do go ahead. I prefer new for the most part, but if I can get the same tool for half the price second hand that means I can either go bigger/better or get another tool that might help me do the making thing I'm aiming toward in the first place.

 

[atemught]

Well after all the comments received, I have reviewed my position and increased my budget to around £600. I'll rather buy new than second hand, second hand and I don't get on very well. With so many bandsaw on the market choosing is tricky, even after reading many reviews.
Any recommendations would be appreciated
Thank you

 

[MikeJhn]

Good choice, at least you wont have to start stripping down to replace bearings and motors and anything else that is worn out before you can start using it, now what was the original topic, we have been instructed to get back to.

 

[heimlaga]

My first and so far only bandsaw is a 24" E.V.Beronius which was around 100 years old when I bought it for 300 euros. I gave it a thorough rebuild and made new gouards and new blade guides to bring it up to modern standards. I rekon I spent between 1000 and 1500 euros on it in total and got an industrial bandsaw as good as anything there is on the market.

This may not be the best route for you but I just want to put things into perspective.
There is nothing such as a "one size fits all"......... and absolutely no need for a "first" machine to be set up and ready to go when you put your hands on it. it is all up to what sort of balance between the three limiting factors time-space-money each person has.