Pick me a band saw

[sunnybob]

Axminster scores ten out of ten for service and delivery (with added distinctions). They sent my bandsaw here for 1/4 of the price another company wanted to charge, let alone yandles being afraid to even quote for it. So they are now my "go to" company on that alone.

we've had a very long summer this year, went to 35c in may, reached 42 in august and is still at 30c at midday even now. Had about an hours rain two weeks ago, none before that since early may.

Passed 8 years here now and never regretted a single day. do wish there were more hobby shops though, wont be back in the UK till feb.

 

[heimlaga]

A poor man cannot afford to buy cheap...... that is my motto.

I tend to buy good quality and keep everything going for a long time. When I cannot afford to buy new stuff of good quality i buy secondhand.

My car is 32 years old and I don't even know the age of my mobile phone because I got it for free some 8 years ago from an old woman who was going to throw it away because it was too outdated for her to use. She is dead now but her phone is still going strong.
My bandsaw is made sometimes before 1918...... and it is good for at least another century.

 

[DiscoStu]

I have the Axminster 250N and I love it. I upgraded it with Tuff saw blades and it works brilliantly. I bought it on a whim when it was on offer at around £200 a few years ago. I'd say it gets the most use out of all of my machines. I would actually quite like a much bigger machine but I wouldn't get rid of it. It's ideal for tight curves etc. It's less ideal for resawing but you just have to go slowly. As with all things it depends on what you want to use it for but unless you're going to be constantly cutting very thick stock 4" or more then it's probably fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bodgers]

I had the Axy 250N. It was very limited. An ok intro to what a bandsaw does, but woefully underpowered. A Tuffsaw blade made a bit of a difference, but not a lot.


I now have the 900W Makita lb1200f. Huge step up in terms of power, dust collection and quality of the table and fence etc. price is around £500.

As far as 'poor man can't afford to buy cheap' line goes, whilst I generally agree with this, I've often bought hobby level secondhand gear because I didn't want to commit too much of an outlay, and I've often resold it to either break even or profit, so it isn't a disaster if you dabble with cheap stuff as long as you buy stuff that resells well - the Axy 250 being a good example.

 

[Tortion-Stephen]

I have the 350S and although I have been very impressed with it (especially with Tuffsaw blade) it's probably going to be sold as I need to buy out my ex.

Subjectively though, it's not too heavy to move but has decent heft (about 100kg/220lbs) so you can pick it up unaided.

The tensioning mechanism had an issue on mine and RP replaced it in 24 hours with no hassle- the new rod seems to be uprated. I've re-sawn 6 1/2" oak with no issues with the 3/4" 3TPI skip tooth resaw blade from tuffsaws. Left a very nice finish.

Agree about the drop down wheel kit, I have that and it's much less convenient than you'd think- wonderful at finding small inclines in the workshop floor.

I got mine from Yandles a year or so ago.

 

[MikeJhn]

Agree about every thing said about the drop down wheel kit, no use whatsoever, it going will post what I do and how I fit decent castors that don't fall over sideways and find every raised surface.

And just to add to the discussion my car is 1974 vintage and worth ten times more than I bought it for twenty five years ago.

Mike