which bandsaw

[neilricketts]

Hi, i am thinking of treating me to a new bandsaw. I primarily make tables and dolls houses so i don;t do much in the way of resawing. the models i have thought of are

http://www.rutlands.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/F28194
and
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axmi ... 580417.htm

I would be interested to know if anyone has got either one of these bandsaws and if so are they any good and which would you recommend.

also do any of you know of any tool places where i can go and have a look at bandsaws that are recommende in the west midlands area.

Cheers Neil

 

[Paul Sellers]

Either of these two bandsaws will more than adequately handle the work you describe and you can further fine tune them over and above the manufacturers set up for perfect cuts. One of the failures to look for is out of balance wheels which results in vibration in the whole of the machine. Turn on the machine to see if it vibrates when the blade is tensioned appropriately. Good blades are critical too. Find a good blade supplier who has good welds without steps and twists around the weld. Make sure there are no kinks in the blade before you install it. I have used 1/4" skip tooth blades with four points per inch for most of my work, I've used them for about twenty years now, but a 1/2" blade gives you a greater welded width which makes for a heavier blade well suited to heavier cuts such as in resawing.
Almost all of my work is completely hand work, but I do own a small low cost bandsaw which I use almost daily for resawing 4" thick oak and curly maple and other awkward-grained hardwoods and softwoods. I make rocking chairs with curved components like this one here:

on a regular basis. All of the components come straight from the bandsaw.
Hope that this helps.

Paul Sellers

 

[Woody Alan]

Paul if fthat's one of yours ..then ... appreciate your efforts.
I have a sort of lesser clone to this http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Axmi ... 364409.htm
by Europac so would say inevitably buy the best you can afford, bearing in mond I paid about £200 less for cast ali wheels and none bearing blade guides...but feel none the less worse off.

Alan

P.S if you want to teach me match planing I am your man