New cheap (ish) 16” bandsaw

[user 36867]

There is a Starite 352 for sale at Wakefield £150 on Facebook Pity I have just bought a BS400

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I have now received the replacement fence that took just 6 days from purchase. It looks to be the same as the Kreg one so far there are a few things that needed fettling, several threads needing chasing and I need to get a couple of new machine screws and have an extra mounting hole to drill. Also the measuring tape is imperil so I need to get a metric one.




I will add more on the mounting of the as soon as I get more hardware.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Having spent quite a while I now have the fence fixed. I needed to add an extra fitting hole and it is solidly fixed. The clearance for width is 340mm with the current blade and 300mm hight. I haven’t got the TCT blade yet and as that is probably going to be the more permanent one I’ve used an off cut of my measuring tape starting at 50mm instead of zero.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I’ve also got the tyres for the saw though I haven’t fitted them yet.
This is a video of the recommended fitting procedure though I’m not sure it the best, let me know if it doesn’t work for you and I’ll put up a YouTube video

 

[imageel]

I’ve also got the tyres for the saw though I haven’t fitted them yet.
This is a video of the recommended fitting procedure though I’m not sure it the best, let me know if it doesn’t work for you and I’ll put up a YouTube video
View attachment 188319

That's pretty similar in principle to the technique I was referring to, albeit that method used some cord to pull the last bit on, I guess anything that is thin and that doesn't damage the tyre would work and which can be removed once the tyre is fully on.
Putting the tyres in boiling water 1st may help too to aid the elasticity, albeit that I guess is dependent on what the tyre material is.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

@imageel the hot water tip is in the box

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I’ve also got the tyres for the saw though I haven’t fitted them yet.
This is a video of the recommended fitting procedure though I’m not sure it the best, let me know if it doesn’t work for you and I’ll put up a YouTube video
View attachment 188319

There's a whole lot more free play in that one than there is on mine. There was vid. posted here a while back with a bolt of some kind with nuts and a washer that in a power drill that worked for me.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

There's a whole lot more free play in that one than there is on mine. There was vid. posted here a while back with a bolt of some kind with nuts and a washer that in a power drill that worked for me.

Would you like to be more clear or link to the post or give some key words so I can search.

 

[Fergie 307]

Here you go. By far the easiest method I have come across. I used cable ties instead of string.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That's the one. I used cable ties as well.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Here you go. By far the easiest method I have come across. I used cable ties instead of string.

Thanks for that, lt certainly looks to be reasonably easy

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Thanks for that, lt certainly looks to be reasonably easy

I spoke way too soon ;(. Probably with a ½” neoprene belt it’s easy, with a ¾” neoprene belt probably not difficult.
However with a 1” rubber tyre it’s virtually impossible without heat, so I tried 1 minute at 100C, it still laughed at my attempts, so on to 2+ minutes in hot water, it was still snigggering, so I stretched it as much as I could, used several wide cable ties and fought with it for probably 10 to 20 minutes, having sweated probably a pint in that time I was successful using the drill and by weight. So I now have the top tyre on, though I need to change my sweat soaked shorts (language is U.K. English) as they are unpleasantly clingy. WTMI?

So 1 tyre on the top belt for today. I’ll get my brother-in-law to assist with the bottom when he is next here.

 

[Delaney]

I don’t know if there is any interest in what is available in Thailand.

I just took delivery of a 16” bandsaw that cost ฿29,000 or about £650
View attachment 187819
As you can see is a very basic machine and it will blow 13A fuses on starting
View attachment 187818
It doesn’t even have tyres on the wheels so is remarkably noisy, I think, at 80db~90db
I am going to upgrade it & if there is any interest I will post a longer review along with everything I’m going to do.
I already have some items coming, they include a better rip fence (฿4,142), rubber tyres ($20.59) and a TCT blade 2,921mm x 20mm (36.82)

Comments will determine if I should continue posting.

I think Panhans use cork for their wheels. You buy it in a roll, you cut it to length, then glue it on. Of course you can buy the cork from anywhere (i guess).

https://www.panhans.de/products/band-saw-machines/400-2/?lang=en

(go to the bottom of the page for the video)

I suspect you could also then shape a crown if you so wished.

Big Wood looks like rebadged Harvey/Axminster/Itech/ etc.. Likely the same manufacturer in China.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Big Wood looks like rebadged Harvey/Axminster/Itech/ etc.. Likely the same manufacturer in China.

Didn’t you read any of the information on the BigWood site? It’s made locally not in china

 

[sometimewoodworker]

So 1 tyre on the top belt for today. I’ll get my brother-in-law to assist with the bottom when he is next here.

OK my B-i-L assisted with the bottom tyre. With 2 people the install was very much easier, the changes in procedure were to first use a bigger water container, second keep the tyre in the hot water for 2 minutes, then having stretched the tyre both of us proceeded to use the drill idea to put the tyre on, this probably took less than 5 minutes, though when first running the wheel it was clear that I needed to even out the tension on the tyre as it was noticeable that it was narrowed in one area, so I ran the drill round the wheel a few times. This was successful.

Then we refitted the fence with HT bolts and fitted the new (arrived today) 20mm TCT saw blade this required the blade guides to be moved significantly out from the shipping position due to the offset that the tyres give. The kurf of the blade seems to be about 1.8mm though it’s claimed to be 0.9mm. It’s late and I haven’t got the time or materials handy to do more than the first short sample cut so that’s not at all definitive.




Here we have the first piece this face was the supplied blade


The cut face is down so you can see the waves in the cut

then these are 2 partly

sanded faces


And the TCT cut edge



Now I have the TCT blade I’m going to give it more of a workout tomorrow. My initial impression is that it requires less effort.

I may well get a considerably wider blade as the wheel will support a 32mm one.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

The kurf of the blade seems to be about 1.8mm though it’s claimed to be 0.9mm. It’s late and I haven’t got the time or materials handy to do more than the first short sample cut so that’s not at all definitive.

The kerf at 1.8mm was influenced by at least 1 tooth that was bent, it was beside the weld so may have been a manufacturing defect. I have bent it back and am down to 1.5mm.
I don’t know if I should expect the kerf to be 0.9mm as the teeth are, probably not, but input from anyone using a TCT blade that has no offset would be interesting. I haven’t checked carefully but I don’t think that the teeth are supposed to have any offset.

I haven’t done any cuts since I reset the tooth, nor have I investigated the other teeth to see if there is any others that may be of interest. That will come tomorrow.

FWIW I do have another couple of blades on the way from the manufacturer and will be inspecting them closely, one is a spare 20mm the other a 27mm one