Picked up a Centauro 500 CO - opinions?

[samthedog]

I have a bandsaw made in the 60's by Lini in Sweden. It's a great little saw with 400mm wheels but a little spartan and underpowered at 1HP. It is a 3 phase machine and goes well but I wanted something a bit bigger and more powerful.

I was checking the local classifieds and came across a Centauro 500 CO for $1300;

bandsaw.jpgbandsaw 1.jpg

The owner said it has not been used much as he had a great deal of trouble getting good blades in Norway. Anyway, it comes with a fence and is a 3 HP 3 phase machine with electronic brake. Anyone have any experience with Centauro machines? All I have been able to find indicates that they are good machines but I prefer some feedback from those who have used a Centauro.

Any input is appreciated. I will be picking it up next week.

Paul.

[Albert]

I have a bandsaw made in the 60's by Lini in Sweden. It's a great little saw with 400mm wheels but a little spartan and underpowered at 1HP. It is a 3 phase machine and goes well but I wanted something a bit bigger and more powerful.

I was checking the local classifieds and came across a Centauro 500 CO for $1300;

bandsaw.jpgbandsaw 1.jpg

The owner said it has not been used much as he had a great deal of trouble getting good blades in Norway. Anyway, it comes with a fence and is a 3 HP 3 phase machine with electronic brake. Anyone have any experience with Centauro machines? All I have been able to find indicates that they are good machines but I prefer some feedback from those who have used a Centauro.

Any input is appreciated. I will be picking it up next week.

Paul.

Hi Paul, Centauro, ACM and Agazzani makes the best bandsaws, Minimax is made by Centauro, Griggio and Felder bandsaws are made by ACM, I am not sure about Agazzani, but I have a huge Centauro sticker with machine number and all the details at the back of my 3-4 months young Minimax.

I have used my bandsaw a few times for ripping, once for resaw, this is my first bandsaw, therefoe its hard for me to compare. I am happy with my purchase, there is no complaints from me anyway. the machine is easy to adjust, has plenty of power (single phase 4HP) and looks great in white (saw dust wont show)

[samthedog]

Thanks for the info Albert. I could have purchased a Centauro 800 CO cheaper than the 500 but it's sheer size meant that it would cause issues in my meagre 2 car garage.

What model do you own? Is yours also a 500? I was wondering how suited it is as a general bandsaw with regards to resawing and then general bandsaw duties. Some saws handle resawing very well but fall down in other areas where detail cutting is necessary.

Thanks again for the info.

Paul.

[Albert]

Mine is S400P, Gabbett had the S500P and S400P in store, the S500P was much bigger in all aspect when compared to S400P. S500P is even more of a industrial tool.

One thing to note, the user manual has a few pages of explosive view for all the parts, for lighter duty machines say S45N, S400p, they have newer CAD drawings showing the parts, but from memory for bigger machines, ie S500P upwards(need to check!), the drawing seems to be copies from 1970-80's, which is a good thing I suppose? as no complaints from customers hence never need to update the design? and parts are still available?

I can upload the relevant pages if there is a need for this and if I find the manual.... I placed it somewhere I thought its safe and now I cant remember where.

Not sure about resawing as I've only done it 1-2 times... try sawmillcreek.org, lots of bandsaw users there.

[samthedog]

Thanks again sir. Am I right in the assumption that the CO was replaced by the P suffix? I have read elsewhere that the CO was discontinued or changed in name only while the machine remained the same.

I would appreciate a copy of the manual if you happen across it. Whenever I purchase a new machine I spend some time checking it and attending to any maintenance or small issues I see. I figure that small issues that are ignored result in large and expensive complications later.

Paul.

[Albert]

Paul, I've managed to scan the schematcis of the manual, if you want the word section let me know.The saw is US spec, everything is in imperial. the S400P is SP16. SP500P is SP20, and so on.

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[samthedog]

You're a good man Albert. Very much appreciated and this will help me out a lot. I am going to pick it up tonight so I will read up on this today.

Paul.

[Albert]

You're a good man Albert. Very much appreciated and this will help me out a lot. I am going to pick it up tonight so I will read up on this today.

Paul.

No worries Paul, if you need any other info from the manual let me know, it's like 40 pages and all in English so I only took out the schematics.

[samthedog]

I have picked up the saw and gone over it with a fine toothed comb. I was under the impression that I would add after-market blade guides to the machine so I am not worried about the replacement cost. What I am scratching my head over is the set up of the lower guides (they blocks have been moved away from the blade by me):

bandsaw guides.jpg

These were just blocks of wood and not the traditional euro guides like the upper guides. There is also no thrust bearing on the lower set up. I guess I can remove the bolt seen in the picture and machine a set up with bearings if I need to. I have been thinking of replacing the wood with some other material, like hardened tool steel or bronze to see if this works better than wood which seems to wear out fast.

The guy said that they have used the saw as is and it has worked well - however I was suprised that he was a furniture builder but did not have the saw set up properly. I spent time setting everything up and adjusting the upper guides and it does seem to work well. The blade is a bit dull but I am thinking of getting a carbide toothed blade for it anyway as I will be cutting oak.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

Paul.

[Xanthorrhoeas]

Hi Paul, your saw is quite different to the current Minimax SP 500 US models (I have one) which has the modern style euro guides. The new model has a 500 mm resaw capacity - all their new models the resaw is the same as the model number it seems. The new machines also have a wheel to raise/lower the upper guide to set the cutting height.
Your machine looks to have the important characteristics of a bandsaw though - mass and structural strength to enable good blade tension.
A bandsaw is only as good as its blades. I use Lennox tungsten tipped blades for my machine and have found them excellent. Henry Bros in Sydney supplied mine. I have a 12 mm Trimaster, triple chip grind for small work and curves and a 25 mm Woodmaster for resaw. The latter cuts through even hard eucalypt like it was butter. As long as your tyres are in good condition and the top wheel adjuster works you should be able to run the 12 mm fine, but if in doubt you could get the 19 mm Trimaster, which will really do both resaw and reasonable curves. The blades are expensive as in around $400 for the Trimasters and maybe half that for the Woodmaster. However, they cut so well and last so long that I am sure that you wont be disappointed compared to a carbon steel blade.


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[samthedog]

Hi Paul, your saw is quite different to the current Minimax SP 500 US models (I have one) which has the modern style euro guides. The new model has a 500 mm resaw capacity - all their new models the resaw is the same as the model number it seems. The new machines also have a wheel to raise/lower the upper guide to set the cutting height.
Your machine looks to have the important characteristics of a bandsaw though - mass and structural strength to enable good blade tension.
A bandsaw is only as good as its blades. I use Lennox tungsten tipped blades for my machine and have found them excellent. Henry Bros in Sydney supplied mine. I have a 12 mm Trimaster, triple chip grind for small work and curves and a 25 mm Woodmaster for resaw. The latter cuts through even hard eucalypt like it was butter. As long as your tyres are in good condition and the top wheel adjuster works you should be able to run the 12 mm fine, but if in doubt you could get the 19 mm Trimaster, which will really do both resaw and reasonable curves. The blades are expensive as in around $400 for the Trimasters and maybe half that for the Woodmaster. However, they cut so well and last so long that I am sure that you wont be disappointed compared to a carbon steel blade.


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Thanks for the info. I was considering making some guides for the bottom as I think blocks of wood are a dodgy option. This appears to be an older saw but given it's stability, it should still do ok. I was looking at bandsaw blades direct for my carbide blades. They can do the blade for about $270. I want to get a couple blades, one for oak and the other for the soft woods. I will likely be taking all my machinery with me to Australia in the near future so it makes sense to have blades that can handle the Aussie woods.

I believe that bandsaw bladerect does the trimaster blades. I have dealt with them before and they were excellent. The bloke sent the package through the cheapest alternative he could find to reduce cost.

Paul.