startrite 301 s

[johnnyb]

i am now the proud owner of a startrite 301s in dark green. brought off ebay for the princely sum of £107! i was amazed but the guy had really mis described it saying it was a record and used a shoddy photo. it is in superb nick but he had been using it to cut carbon sheet for car tuning i think so it was really dirty. any way it doesnt have a fence or a mitre gauge and comes with two bent rods with clamp attachments. anyway my questions.....
1. what would be the best way to attach a fence or could a brought fence be attached.
2. what are the 2 items that came with it.
3. should i resurfce the mehanite guides and how should i set them.
4. what is the blade length and what is currently the best make of blade to buy?
5. what would be a good general tooth pattern for this capacity?
6. is it still made and what does the s stand for?

ps i am so happy to finally have this saw. it is just perfect beautifully made and not to big.
pps it must be my lucky ebay week as the day before i brought a lamello top10 for £100

 

[johnnyb]

a trawl through the forum has answered many of my questions.

 

[beech1948]

Hi,
You asked>>

1)what would be the best way to attach a fence or could a brought fence be attached.

I havea Startrite 352 which came without a fence. I have used a block of beech just clamped to the table. Can be a bit fiddly but works superbly.

I recently bought the Kreg bandsaw fence for £86 from a woodwork show but have not yet had time to fit it.

2. what are the 2 items that came with it.

Need a pic but the Startrite fences used to have a couple of bits of rod which stuck out of the rear of the fence and acted as stops....maybe thats it.

3. should i resurfce the mehanite guides and how should i set them.

Not unless they have significant waer marks. Again a picture might help. I had to resurface mine and I used the Scary Sharp approach but madea jig ( out of oak) to hold the guides square to the sandpaper.

Setting is easy. Take a £10 note and wrap it around the blade. Then close up the metanite guides to just trap the banknote. Tighten the guides up. Remove note and power up. Any paper will do.

4. what is the blade length and what is currently the best make of blade to buy?

Best blades are possibly Duredge. Blade length for a 301 should be on the manual or give Record a phone call.

5. what would be a good general tooth pattern for this capacity?

The best answer is whatever you need. A good start would be say a 1/4 inch blade for curves ( you can get blades down to 1/8 in) and a 1/2 blade for straight cutting or very shallow curves. I would get both at say 3 teeth per inch skip tooth.

Probably best to buy The Bandsaw Book by Lonnie Bird as a good description of a generic Bandsaw.

6. is it still made and what does the s stand for?

A 301 is still made but I am unsure if they are the same.

regards
alan

 

[OLD]

Some pictures of 301b ebay link

 

[BedfordSaw]

Hi,

If it is a Startrite 301s the blade length is 93".

If it a 301SB however the blade length is 102 1/2".

It depends on what you are planning on cutting as to what blade to use.

For strait, rip cutting over 2" deep I would recommend a 5/8 x 4 TPI.

For strait 2" and thinner wood, 1/2 x 4 will work well.

For shallow curve cutting and some strait work 3/8 x 4 or 6 TPI depending on what depth you are cutting.

We make these blades on site in our workshop.

Blade price is £6.71 + VAT (93" x 1/2" Blade)

Hope this helps,

Thanks,

Tom