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Thread: Bs-350
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10th April 2020, 08:02 PM #1
Bs-350
So I have this bandsaw. I bought it about 5 years ago from a deceased estate. I am the second owner. I haven't used it that much and am a little disappointed with it to be honest. However, the bad tradesman blaming his tools etc comes to mind. I'm not sure what brand it is as well. There are no other indications of its manufacturer other than the above number. A google search came up with three possibilities, Axminster, Record or Woodfast. I tend to think it's an Axminster. Or a rebadged Taiwanese device
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The issues so far are blade drift and the guides continually coming loose. Also I can't seem to get the blades to centre on the rubber tyre á la the Snodgrass method because I can't get the top wheel to tilt far enough.
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Now that I have some time on my hands I've decided to do a proper service and have taken it apart as far as I can. The rubber tyres seem to be in good order.
I've taken the top wheel out and checked the mechanisms back there and don't see that anything is either broken or jamming. I have ordered a couple of new blades which will be arriving next week. I have read that older blades lose their set causing the drift. There seem to be many schools of thought around "drift" on YouTube but I'm going to start with the Snodgrass method first and if that doesn't work I'll work my way through the rest.
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Any thoughts on why the wheel won't centre the blade would be appreciated. Also, I can't find a local (Aust) seller for the guide blocks. I've tried the usual suspects, Carbatech, McJings, Timberbits but there is nothing on their sites. The people I've ordered the blades from can't help unless I wanted to buy the blocks in lengths of a meter or more.
TTLearning to make big bits of wood smaller......
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10th April 2020, 08:40 PM #2GOLD MEMBER
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My Method for what it is worth
Assemble with a new blade preferably the widest one that will go on the saw and fully tensioned.
Leave the table securing bolts loose.
Track the blade to the centre of the wheel with all blade guides not on the saw...does it go to centre now? If it does go to the next step.
Place a magnet on the blade just above the table and attach a steel rule to it with the rule above the table so it is free to move. Make sure the magnet is behind the gullet of the blade.
Align the fence parallel with the mitre slot.
Now measuring from the rule to the mitre slot get the mitre slot parallel with the rule and tighten the table bolts. Hopefully the rule is straight to give an accurate measurement at each end. A straight edge while desirable is simply too heavy for the magnet and will slide down and rest on the table.
The above should eliminate any drift and cut parallel to the fence. Somewhere in the past I posted some pics of this but it was quite some time ago.CHRIS
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10th April 2020, 09:34 PM #3GOLD MEMBER
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I gave up trying to source blade guides for my bandsaw, an older 18" Carbatec branded saw with round guides on top and square ones below, and just cut them out of wood now. Something 'greasy' and hard seems to work well, currently using Spotted Gum.
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10th April 2020, 10:26 PM #4GOLD MEMBER
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10th April 2020, 10:37 PM #5
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10th April 2020, 10:40 PM #6
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10th April 2020, 11:50 PM #7
I used to use wood blocks on my old bandsaw that had blocks. An oily wood was what people said was good and lignum vitae was recommended. Seriously where are you going to find that so I had some jarrah. Any hard wood will do . Harder the better. If it has no natural oil in it then a dab of candle wax now and then. I liked the wood blocks better than the metal ones and that saw ran nice and quiet. You do have to square them up as needed when they ware.
Regards
John
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12th April 2020, 04:09 PM #8Intermediate Member
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I use two blocks of HDPE. The bottom bearings died (not really sealed bearings) so in trying to do the right thing and not going out unnecessarily I scrounged around in my "It will be useful someday" bin and found the left overs from another job. Blocks are only slightly thinner than the bearings they replaced. So far they have not visibly worn, use has been pretty light. I have probably only cut 5 or 6 thick veneers from pieces approx 220 (H) x 650 (L).
For info its a BP355 saw sporting a 25mm 3TPI Bi-metal blade. The blade tension is released in the pic.
When the top bearings die I will be cutting more HDPE. At the current rate of wear I probably have enough for the rest of may days.20200412_135633_resized.jpg
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14th April 2020, 08:46 PM #9
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14th April 2020, 09:05 PM #10
Hare & Forbes sold something identical to that machine. I had one until I sold it to a friend. He is still using it.
It was a definite step above the cast iron frame machines of the same vintage but limited by the power available.
There are 1/2" guide blocks with bearings in them available to fit these guides. I've never used them so I cannot comment on how good they are, just that they exist.
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14th April 2020, 11:44 PM #11GOLD MEMBER
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Here is a gadget to align the fence to the blade, it does the same thing as my rule and magnet but looks better and he shows how to do it.
YouTubeCHRIS
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15th April 2020, 09:04 AM #12
Here's an alternative method of removing drift which I use successfully.
Michael Fortune's method - YouTube (taking a lesson from Chris' post about the YT code not carrying over the start time.)
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16th April 2020, 12:27 AM #13GOLD MEMBER
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Lance, that is the 2nd step I mentioned in post 2 though reading it back I was most probably not precise enough with my wording.
CHRIS
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16th April 2020, 12:33 AM #14GOLD MEMBER
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22nd April 2020, 11:48 PM #15Learning to make big bits of wood smaller......