Bandsaws (again)

[Saintsman]

I'm looking to replace my small but perfectly formed BAS 250 with something more powerful and with a greater depth of cut for re-sawing.

I'm thinking of the SIP 14" Professional and the Axminster AWEFSBB.

Both are 2hp, both have around 8" depth of cut and (taking delivery charges into account) there ain't that much difference in the price.

All opinions and thoughts gratefully received.

Paul

BTW, the 'Saintsman' moniker is from my masochistic following of Nothampton Saints rugby club. Nobody knows the trouble I seen.........

 

[OPJ]

I can't say I'm familiar with either machine - although SIP do TWO versions of a 14" saw; one better built than the other.

Another important consideration, certainly if you intend to do a lot of deep resawing, is the size and power of the motor - the bigger, the better, obviously.

I think you should be looking for an absolute minimum of 1,500w, 2HP?

I have a £200 12" SIP saw and the 800w motor is bearable for occasional use, but I don't think it could honestly take it on a regular basis.

Always by the best you can seriously afford! You get exactly what you pay for.

Have you looked at the Scheppach Basato 4? I think it cuts 250mm deep, 1500w motor and is only £500 if you're going to the D&M Tools show soon...

 

[carlsberg]

I recently got a SIP 14" Professional Bandsaw.
Not really used it in anger, but I am very pleased with some test cuts I did after setting it up and fine tuning.
The fence seems nice and solid, with the required adjustment screws to set it up.
The only part of it that could be better is the mitre gauge, but I am sure that it can be remedied if I ever need to use it.

I will post some close up pics of it if you like, but it looks very similar to the pictures of the larger charnwood model that were posted here recently by one of the moderators.

BTW it is very heavy, and could do with 2 people to lift the main body onto the cabinet, and thats without the table fitted.

carlsberg

 

[WellsWood]

I'd agree with others, if you can get your budget up around the £500 mark you'll get a heck of a lot better kit. There are some very strong contenders at this price point with far fewer concessions made in regaard to quality vs. price.
The Axminster 14" is a good strong machine along with it's almost identical (but substantially more expensive) cousin the Jet JWBS14, the Record BS350, Scheppach Basato4 (now that it's finally here :roll: ) all share features that set them on the next level from the SIP and all the other similar clones.
Don't forget you can get a lot more machine for your money by buying secondhand. You need to have a little patience and wait for the right machine to come along, but a lot of bandsaws change hands on Ebay and there re some great bargains to be had if you can get over the transport hurdle.
For example:
ebay link1
ebay link2
ebay link3

 

[Anonymous]

Saintsman

Have you seen this (scroll down for details)?

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19551&highlight=bandsaw


I think you live pretty close to me, so you could nip over and 'kick the tyres'. pm if you want to

 

[Saintsman]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Mark: I'm leaning towards a Jet/Axminster, but the Axminster you highlighted (the SBW3501) has 550W motor, 200mm cutting depth and is £477, whereas the one I was considering (the AWEFSBB) is 1500W, 220mm depth of cut and is £339 (+ £45 delivery)

I'm starting to wonder what's wrong with the latter, as it seems pretty good value. Any comments ?

Cheers,

Paul

 

[ivan]

The AWEFSBB caught my eye recently in the Ax showroom, someone had the doors open having a good look. Very substantial cast iron wheels on the one I saw, whole power train looked worthy of a much bigger saw. The frame seemed quite rigid too, but the upper guide post (an ali extrusion) looks as if it's been nicked from a much lighter machine. OK perhaps for very deep cuts, or thin stuff, careful inbetween!

I think the Jet/Ax clone stable have Ali whels but a more substantial guide post. Prices? China v Taiwan, perhaps.

 

[jasonB]

I got the SBW3501 about 6weeks agon when it was on offer and am yery happy with it (I think Byron also got one about the same time)

Not tried it too much but cut some 1.5mm Laburnum veneers and chopped up some 7" hardwood with it and it sailed through. Very substantial and the top adjustable guide is very solid with a nice rack & pinion adjustment. The ability to quick release the blade tension when not in use is a good feature as well.

It says Axminster heavy delivery on the web site but I did not have to pay any so worth checking as it makes quite a difference.

JAson

 

[ByronBlack]

Jason - the thing with the heavy delivery is wrong - as you know. When I bought mine, I actually saw the add on ebay which was offering free delivery, and when I checked the site, it was asking for £45 for the HGV delivery, I queried this with the sales girl and she admitted that it was a mistake - it's unbelieveble that after all this time they still have it on there, I wonder how many potential sales they have lost because of that? I might send them another email.

Anyways, onto the machine; in short it's a cracker and I would buy one again tomorrow - even over the Jet!

I ran a little test today for saintsman to check the re-saw capacity. This was with a brand new super duper dragon blade (which I can confirm is totally awesome!).

Here's some 180mm beech being sliced like it's butter:

And check out the excellent finish:

I don't doubt for a second that this will re-saw at 200mm capacity, there was no binding or slow down cutting this beech at all, I was quite shocked, it totally out performed my Jet even though it's an identical machine, the only thing I can think off is the blade, this is a Dragon, whereas on my Jet I had a dure-edge? Not sure it would make such a huge difference though, but this was amazingly easily to resaw, and this beech as some will know from my headaches working it during my workbench build is tough as nails.

Hope that helps in your decision.

 

[Saintsman]

Many thanks to all of you for the opinions and advice.

Special thanks to BB (this is starting to sound like an Oscars acceptance speech.....) for the report and pics. Very enlightening.

OK, decision made: the order to Axminster will go in today. Looks like they've now removed the 'heavy delivery' tag on this on their website, BTW.

Ta again, guys.

Paul