Startrite 352 - an overview

[Mike Wingate]

My wooden fence is just a 1" thick piece of polished MDFwith rounded corners bolted to the original fence.

 

[misterfish]

Tom here kindly got me an original brochure on the 352

Any chance of posting images of the whole brochure, it look interesting (well it does to me as a 352 owner)?

Misterfish

 

[condeesteso]

Will do Mister, just need to get the camera out. Also have a 2 pager on the pt260 (planer thicknesser) - there will be a thread along on that soon no doubt :wink:

 

[condeesteso]

Is the market sharpening up on this fine machine? Just seen a nice 1 phase 352 close at £820 about an hour ago.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230868531756? ... 1423.l2649

Mind you, it looked like a very nice one, and is still way less than anything new that could get close in build and performance. Not so upset about my less than mint one at £540 now :wink:

 

[neilyweely]

Yeah - I saw that 352 go for £800 odd. Made me very happy; I was able to point out to SWMBO that ours is worth 10 times what we paid for it a year ago. And ours is exactly the same model, but with upgrades. I'm a very happy bunny.

So, do I need to release belt tension in order to maintain the machine properly? Or is it purely for changing the belt/altering motor position?

I read some time ago about the use of a blade for cutting curves making them poor for cutting straight or deep rip. Is this really the case, and to what extent. I know a new blade would improve cutting performance, but whether it is ready for a change is another thing entirely. If I changed blades on machines every time I felt it would improve performance I would be changing blades every other day. So, I guess the question is - At what point does it become economically viable/sensible to change blades on a bandsaw? And do I need to change blades every time I want to cut a slight curve?

I suppose someone will come along and tell me 'This is fairly basic stuff' but although I have an opinion I still am able to alter my working practice and learn from others. :wink:

Thanks

Neil

 

[Jacob]

Yeah - I saw that 352 go for £800 odd. Made me very happy; I was able to point out to SWMBO that ours is worth 10 times what we paid for it a year ago. And ours is exactly the same model, but with upgrades. I'm a very happy bunny.

I paid 600 ish in 1978 (or thereabouts)!

So, do I need to release belt tension in order to maintain the machine properly? Or is it purely for changing the belt/altering motor position?

The latter. I haven't slackened or changed a belt in years

I read some time ago about the use of a blade for cutting curves making them poor for cutting straight or deep rip. Is this really the case, and to what extent.

Depends on the blade and the curve. If you can alternate the curve direction it could keep things balanced but if you keep cutting the same way, one side of the blade can lose its set.

I know a new blade would improve cutting performance, but whether it is ready for a change is another thing entirely. If I changed blades on machines every time I felt it would improve performance I would be changing blades every other day. So, I guess the question is - At what point does it become economically viable/sensible to change blades on a bandsaw? And do I need to change blades every time I want to cut a slight curve?

Practice practice!

I suppose someone will come along and tell me 'This is fairly basic stuff' ...

This is fairly basic stuff TBH but the more you do the better it gets.

 

[neilyweely]

All this 'fairly basic stuff'

Yay!

You guys kill me! :lol:

Thanks Jacob.

Neil

 

[mediocre toker]

I've just been made happy by reading this thread. I knew that my homework would come in handy. I've just put a hundred quid down as a deposit on one of these machines. Total price £300 including 10 blades ( 3 unused). Thank-you Gumtree. It belonged to a really nice guy in Edinburgh who made dolls houses and accessories so you can imagine the condition of the machine. The guy used it for cutting thin slices of hard wood for dolls house productions. Apparently he's pretty big in the dolls house world and he's now retiring at 79. He's still got a 7 year waiting list to get through first.
The machine is mint and for three hundred quid is a complete steal. There was 4 or guys that hadn't even seen the machine yet offering the asking price. I feel very fortunate.
I'm trying to bulid a workshop for my retirement in 15 years time and this is my latest acquisition.
My list of tools include:
Drill press
Morticer
Tablesaw
Cut off saw
And now a bandsaw
Still needing a thicknesses/planer though
Got plenty of time left though and can now at least bother farmers for their fallen hardwoods and rip them to rough planks to season.
I'm still new at this so any pointers would be welcomed.
This is my first post

 

[Lons]

Mine is identical vintage serial number 96896 and the guys at Startrite suggested it was made late seventies though they couldn't be sure as they apparently lost records when moving premises.
This was the earier model with no table insert and I'm still considering whether to modify mine as even though I've filled the damage caused by the blade catching the table when cutting at an angle (previous owner) I don't like it!

They are prone apparently to shedding the tct tips off the back guide rods and both mine were gone so I modified some rod by using epoxy metal to stick square tct tips and they work perfectly. Made up several and haven't changed any so far.

The motor release lever works perfectly on mine so must have been set up right though I don't change speeds often tbh.

Thanks for the review, makes interesting reading, that saw will last you a very very long time.

Bob

ps: I was selling them to the trade around 1980 and from memory they were going out to the trade for about £750, we rarely needed to discount as they were industry standard with little competition, built like a brick s***house and very little downtime for repairs or maintenance they sold themselves.
£750 in 1980 equates to around £2250 in todays' money :shock:

 

[condeesteso]

Been a while, I am still as big a fan of the 352 as ever. I may hunt out Pete M's info about the rollers... I may give it a go as he sells it so well: "its only a fiver and half and hours time to try them out". If you're watching Pete, remind us where it is please. edit - it's the page before this one!

 

[simonmusgrovewethey]

Hi,
How easy would it be to convert a352 from 3phase to single, say 75kw/1hp motor and would this size motor be sufficient for general diy use.

 

[Ttrees]

Hi,
How easy would it be to convert a352 from 3phase to single, say 75kw/1hp motor and would this size motor be sufficient for general diy use.

Very easy, like wire a plug easy, even if you dont know anything more than this, it will be simple.
I would buy the isacon/askpower drive if I were you as it has auto shutoff technology for the fan
Other VFD's have annoying fans that run all the time like the Huanyang and others.
No need to have a more powerful rated drive/VFD/inverter than you need.
I have the parameters wrote here for my 3HP bandsaw that tell the motor what to do,
so no need to figure this out on your own, might be 20 or 30 quid more though.

I think there's even a video on this saw paired with a VFD on youtube.

Pretty much, the main things that present danger would be ...
Wait for the capacitors to drain before going near any of the input or output terminals.
Make sure all the necessary parameters are set correctly, otherwise you could cook your motor
very easy, running it at factory settings which could be default at warp speed!

Next after VFD purchase you need buttons or a toggle switch, as you can't use original ones.
Cheapest option first ...
Around 3 quid for a simple toggle switch, with no relay required.
or...
A 2 quid red NC stop button of any style you like, mushroom shape would be my choice,
and to start the machine, a green NO button for 2 quid,
I might swap my start button with one with a built in light 8)
this would be inciting for small fingers though !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3WqBFPhdKM

Or a mountable button station for a tennerish maybe more than that.

If you choose individual stop and start buttons you might need a relay for about a fiverish.
The Isacon/askpower drive needs this cheap component.
I am going to buy one for my Isacon/askpower drive as I have a really crappy switch at the moment,
This will allow me to use my previously installed VFD switches again, as I designated the Huanyang with the noisy fan running all the time VFD, to the tablesaw as I use it less often.

A box is needed around the vfd for dust protection, something a bit better than a biscuit tin
as you want to mount switches to it.
I would make it at least as large as an exit sign, or long as you can, because these things need to breath a wee bit

If your machine boggs down dont try silly things, the VFD wont like it, nor the motor
I cooked a previous VFD by trying to cut with a ruined blade through many timbers with putty.
I cant say I was surprised though, as I was being unreasonable.

Plenty of folks to help you, unfortunately not much on parameters here, or on the net about the newer ones which are cheaper, so unless you go Huanyang or Isacon,
or you cough up for a UK manufacturer one like Invertec, or another of the fancy brands
it may take some figuring out.
Tom

 

[simonmusgrovewethey]

Wow, that was pretty extensive and most welcomed. Thank you for taking the time to respond, it is very much appreciated.
Simon

 

[Jacob]

So easy! :lol:
Even easier would be to sell the 3 phase machine and replace it with a single phase machine - there's a lot of them about.
I'd buy the replacement machine first, then do a bit of cannibalising to get the best bits (if any) on to you new machine. then sell the old one.

 

[Trevanion]

We've got one of these in work and it is an absolute trooper of a machine. It gets probably the most use and abuse out of all the rest of the machines other than the panel saw, and when I say use and abuse I properly mean it! It's nice that they're so simple and easy to fix as well as there have been a few times where I've had to fix it and make new parts for it as the old ones wore out completely. Made new Hardened silver steel pins as thrust rods and they work a lot better than the old rods which had about a 5mm groove worked into them from lack of care. It was literally a 20-minute job, cut some 10mm bar, square end them and a small chamfer, harden them without a temper and install!

I don't know why they've shot up in price so much though, it was only a year or so ago you could pick up a very tidy one for £300-500 tops. In the last 3 months, they've doubled in price and I'm not really sure why.I suppose if the dealers are asking for more money for them everyone will ask more money for them.