I have taken delivery of a new bandsaw. My previous bandsaw, A Record, had an 8 inch depth of cut. As I seem to be doing more and more re-sawing (and don't forget-more is more!) a new bandsaw was required. This one features 12 inch depth of cut, heavy duty build quality, oodles of power and a lovely polished cast iron table. The fence is very sturdy and locks off easily and the supplied mitre gauge fits neatly in the mitre slot (a minor miracle?!). The saw arrived by Axminsters' own "heavy goods delivery van" complete with a knowledgeable delivery man. He quickly had the pallet into my garage (after having to cut 3 inches of the top of the pallet to get it through the door). It took about 30 minutes to break down the pallet, get it onto the waiting mobile base, fit the table and fence, de-grease and fire it up for a test run.
The saw features a quick release blade tensioning handle, an easy to use blade tensioning system (with useful window to see the tension setting) rack and pinion on the table tilt and guard raise and an electronic brake on the blade. It is a weighty beast so a mobile base will be necessary if you need to move it around. I had a Jet base spare which fitted perfectly. Lucky me ;)
It came supplied with a 1/2 inch blade which works fine for test cuts. I have some new blades (a 9mm and a 25mm) on their way-when they arrive I can give the saw a proper testing. I report back soon!
Update
I have spent the weekend putting the saw through it's paces. Blade changes are remarkably straightforward (a bonus!) and setting up the guides pretty easy (the instructions are not clear on this). With the 25mm 3 skip blade fitted it chomped its way through anything I could feed it and it left a smooth surface, too. I fitted the 9mm 6 skip blade and cut out a bunch of curves in various materials-again a piece of cake. There are two 4 inch dust extraction ports so I connected both together to a "Y" connector to make life easy (and dust free). The blade tension system id remarkably efficient-you can quickly set the tension you want and when finished the "quick release" arm removes the tension for longer blade life. Nice! I have been cutting veneers (see pictures below) from various timbers. The rip fence is very accurate and allows you to position it for repeat cuts. I made a lot of 2mm thick slices and they will need minimal clean up before they can be used.
Conclusion
I am very happy with my purchase-the saw is built to a high spec, is quiet, powerful and accurate. It has all the features you could ask for in a bandsaw and I expect us to have a long and happy future working together.
click on images to enlarge
