Thread: Carba-Tec Bandsaw 17" SBW-4300CE

Goldy,

I've been checking out bandsaws to buy for some time - this one looks to me like the best value for money available for a new saw especially if you intend doing any resawing of raw logs or wide boards. By the time you add riser blocks, more powerful motors and do mods for good dust extraction to most quality 14" models (Jet and the like) you're not far off (if you haven't exceeded) the price of the 4300 - and you are still limited to a 3/4" blade.

By the way, the 4300 is on the Garry Pye website for $995 - Great deal imho! I presume it is the same as the Carbatec saw.

Cheers

Having learnt a bit about bandsaws by owning a second hand (15 year old) 14" Taiwanese job (bought for $300, sold for $300) , and looking at a few relatively expensive and mainly crappy similar size s/hand machines, I gladly bought one of these when the Wood show was on in Brissy this year ($995!), but only took delivery a few weeks ago. Nothing to do out of the crate but bolt on the table and rip guide and adjust the blade roller guides - the 'handbook' was awful but I figured it out eventually. Oh, and it comes with a 15 amp plug, so I had to change out the nearest power point for a 15 amp one - with the wider earth pin. (I could have chopped off the plug and put on a 10 amp one, but thought better of it in case I have a warranty claim, or an electrical fault.)

It is nice and quiet, and cuts hard stuff like a knife thru butter - 35 mm thick jarrah is a breeze. I have ordered a 1" 3 tpi blade for resawing and cutting wide veneers - the 1/2" 6 tpi standard blade chokes on the sawdust from deep cuts, and makes a bowed cut. THe rip guide is pretty good too - easy to set up and use. My B/saw came with roller bearing guides standard - but I was told when I bought it that they would be an extra $100, which I paid. Then the machine turned up fitted with rollers and an extra pair of rollers...which Carba tec happily took back and refunded my $100.

Only one wee possible problem to date - the way that the top wheel is fitted to allow its vertical movement is by means of a u-shaped bent-metal section running in another u-section. There is about 0.5-0.7 mm gap between the two sections, and when the blade is tensioned the top wheel twists a little (maybe 3 or 4 mm to the left, looking from the front). I don't think it does much harm, as long as it stays where it is when I start cutting, which isn't easy to tell without bypassing the safetys.

Overall I am very happy with it - much better quality & features than the Taiwanese machines of even 2 years ago - wind-down mouth, instant blade tension release, good guarding and dustproofing (lower door leaks a little - I may buy some draught-excluder tape and run it around the door so that my area of my workshop looks as clean as those in FWW!).

Thanks JAG, finally a decent and straight answer and to the point. Exactly what I wanted to know.

Regards Goldy

I have the same basic machine except the earlier version.
Regularly cut 300mm wet wood for making bowl blanks.
I like a 1/2" x 3 for most work.
Haven't had a problem yet. Love it.

I have one of the machines in question & its a nice piece of gear for the price.
Just had a motor failure which I had replaced under waranty. Aparantly they had a few problems with the motors in the earlier batch.
The magnetic switch on these machines is wired a little weird, ( easily fixed ) and does not contain an overload.
In due course I will be replacing the standard switch with a full DOL starter with overload.
I've run the clamp meter on it & the 15 amp plug is probably a good idea as it will pull a fair current when when its loaded up.

Have pushed some 200mm plus dry logs thru it with a 3 tpi blade & it does it reasonably well. Am looking forward to fitting the 22mm pitch (yep thats right) blade on that just arrived & see what it will do.

The basic design of the machine looks great for under $2000. The motor may prove to be a weak point but if you get heavy, replacing it with a localy made motor would be a reasonable thing.
The swith gear on many asian machines could be better, this is one case.
I'd still buy again. The roller guides is a bonus.
The roller guides need some tuning. carefully file or grind the ends of the locking bolts flat so they don't chew up the mating surfaces.
Go to supercheap & buy yourself a set of long hex keys for adjusting the guides.
cheers

Can anyone give me an idea how Carbatec are for providing Spare Parts for Bandsaws.

I purchased a 17" SBW-4300CE from a bloke in my same suburb....it is about 1 month old and I was able to get it for $1000. So I got a trailer and proceeded to move the said Bandsaw form his place to mine. I wanted to remove the table first but he insisted that it should be OK to lay it down for the shift in assembled form. He had experience with bandsaws so I took it as OK.

When I got it home and into the garage I realised that the Trunnion Support Bracket had snapped (it is a Cast Piece), this happened during the shift.


So back to the beginning of my long winded question...how is Carbatec at replacement parts?


Thanks in advance
Cheers
Scott

Scott


I can't answer on all the branches but I know that Carbatec WA has heaps of spares for what they sell. Mates at our club have got trunnions for various bandsaws ( some not their original import either) without any problems from the Perth boys.

Thanks gatiep,
I'll talk to Carbatec on Monday