Thread: Bandsaw buying advice

I would advise the flywheel to be cast and all guides should have bearings at least, and the machine doesn't over vibrate- if the flywheel is alloy it's not a bad thing I suppose it depends what your doing and cutting - I've haven't heard bad things bout woodfast - also centuro make a great bandsaw however the cost might be a little more - good luck Mr Wood

have a look at the best value for money BS available at http://krengineering.felder-gruppe.a...6379aad110de9d

No commercial interest..........

Eco
I've been in the market for a little while and they all much of a muchness but the one I'm going to buy is the Woodfast copy from Timbecon ... cast iron wheels and for about $200 I can't see that value in a table that is only about 2" bigger

Thanks for your replies and advice. Yes, Salty, the Felder and Hammer machines look nice, but are a little pricey for me....and I'm still waiting for more specs on them.
I'm still leaning towards the Woodfast (although not close enough to cut myself!). I'm off to scout around some more and see what deals there are to be had.

Thanks again.

Regards

Eco

Welcome to the forum eco,

I have the woodfast 18" and Harry72 bought the Timbecon version and at the last T&WWW show we caught up and compared our opinions.

I'm very happy with my yellow beast, Harry said the Timbecons table brackets flexed when heavy resawing and we've also noticed the Woodfast has a greater cut height along with door switches.

I haven't done any heavy resawing like Harry, only oregon. But the brackets on mine look different to his.

Have fun, buy the best you can afford and enjoy!

As well as the specs and price check the warranties - especially what is covered and what is not.

Tankstand
I did the visual comparison (admittedly I would have liked to have done it with a decent chunk of old Jarrah) in Timbecon about a month ago. Looks like they have beefed up the new copy. Cast iron wheels, door switches, and couldn't see a difference between table trunions ... in fact the only two differences I could find was the colour and the size of the table

Hi folks,

Thanks again for your advice.

Well, I haven't checked out H&F, but I've had more of an insight into the BAS470 (which has borrowed much of Woodfast's design). Timbecon (Perth) are also no longer stocking Woodfast and promoting their Sherwood stock with appropriate upgrades.

Now....I just can't make up my mind between the the Carbatec 17" SBW-4300CE and the Sherwood 18"BAS-470. The former also has a 5 year warranty and the latter, a 3 year warranty.

Given the upgrades to the BAS 470, does anyone have recent experience with these models?

Regards

Eco