Bandsaws and bench sanders.
Turbo Mini Forums

hey folks,

I recently got a cheap bench top belt/disc sander with the intention of using it to square up cut 1" box section and tube ect, but it just seems to have no guts... are they normally this poor?? or do I just have a duffer



Also I'm thinking about getting a horizontal/vertical bandsaw, and am wondering how much wattage I need... ie... Ive seen some in the region of 350W, is this going to be enough to chop say 3" box with 3mm wall, or 2" stainless tube?

Depends on your standards i guess, ive got two clarke ones and they work ok but if you lean on them too hard they stall. Dont even bother with the disc imo, they are too small. The linishing belt part works ok tho.

As for the band saw id get a horizontal and make a plate up so you can use it as a vertical if needs be.

Theres really two types, the ones that use 1" blades are plenty good enough for anything (i have one, 2nd hand about £2-300) The smaller ones work ok too tho just dont have the capacity. We have an old sealey on thats been around years and could probably be sourced for under £100.

I have got the smaller Clarke horizontal, CTS45 rings a bell, it's fine for anything I have wanted to do, it easily cuts tube, the biggest I have asked of it was 40mm solid round bar, or 50x100x5 box, both no problem. Around £180 new but lots second hand as well. Having a quick look it's 370w so probably the same as you are looking at.
Interested in which linisher you have as that's next on my hit list.

Edited by Tom Fenton on 16th Feb, 2015.

Bough a sliding mitre saw purely for wood, but it came with a multipurpose blade, so I tested it on some stainless /aluminium tube. It worded great - clean, perfectly square/angled cuts and ridiculously quick. 2" X 8" is easy enough; If 3" is occasional you could take a cut from both sides and still get nice enough cuts.

I've no experience with any of the other tools, but this might be another option?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage3-...-saw-240v/60839

http://www.screwfix.com/p/evolution-rage3-...-saw-230v/26612

Edited by PhilR on 17th Feb, 2015.

I've used circular saws with carbide tipped blades. Great on ally but stainless would dull the blade after a short while. They work better on section than solid too.

phil what's the difference between those two to warant the 50 quid extra? i have been looking at the rage3 for a while .

oops i spotted it . the clue is in the name lol ,210mm versus 255mm. which is the one you have phil?

Edited by robert on 17th Feb, 2015.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Buy the evolution saw there brilliant I'd also say buy the bigger one of the two I use a 110v one at work cutting unistrut all day long. But stainless does take the edge of the blade!

Buy the evolution saw there brilliant I'd also say buy the bigger one of the two I use a 110v one at work cutting unistrut all day long. But stainless does take the edge of the blade!

cheers for that Tom, I was looking at the Draper version of that saw, good to know it will handle the stuff.

the linisher I got was a shit cheap Rhyas, the more I think about it, the more convinced I am its a shit motor, its rated at 375W but its dificult to NOT stall it, a 250W powerfile is harder to stall....

Good point about cutting stainless steel - I had a quick look and having trouble finding stainless blades. The multipurpose blade cuts mild steel sections with no problems though.

do you get a decent square cut from it? the clark is lloking like a winner for me at the moment, especially If I can pick a 2nd hand one up.

Yes, its all fully adjustable, it will wander off on stuff thats easy to cut, say 2.5" thin alloy pipe, due to it falling through too quickly, easy enough to sort though just by slowly lowering it through the cut by hand.

Re. The linisher. One of mine had a nacked motor bearing and that made it gutless. Couple of quid on some eBay bearings fixed it.

Clarke CBS45 (I think Tom was one letter out).

It goes under two other brand names as well but I can't remember who...

Mine is ten years old now (well the plate says 2005 anyway and I bought it new) and has been faultless. Once you throw away the shitty carbon steel blade and fit a bi-metal one (HSS teeth) it will cut anything - I've done a fair bit of stainless with it since. I bought two bi-metal blades after the original carbon steel one went blunt (after only a few months but as soon as I cut stainless) and the second one is still in the cupboard.

Interestingly mine has a 500W motor so I guess they downsized the motor sometime after 2005.

If you're worried about motor size it might be worth seeing if there is a good secondhand one of my vintage about. There is little to wear on them and the guides that twist the blade are fully adjustable to compensate for any wear.
Having said that, I can't see the slightly lower wattage being an issue, my 500W one has never shown the slightest bit of stress so is well oversized.

EDIT - bit added

Edited by Rod S on 17th Feb, 2015.

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

Keep an eye out here, always a bargain to be had! I got a 110v die grinder for £35

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/evooutlet/m.html...=p2047675.l2562

I have been using mine over the last couple of days so here's some further comments if you do get one.
First is, there is an adjustable back fence for angled cuts, but no graduations on the bed (spoiled by my lathe and mill here I suppose)
So what I did was to set the fence to make good square cuts, did a few test pieces to make sure then scribed a heavy line on the bed so I can easily return it to square after doing angles.
It's then awkward to set it to any measured angle as I cannot get my protractor in there, so for any particular angle I need, I mark out and cut a wedge out of ally or even cardboard will do, I can then set the fence against my scribed line to achieve the angle I want. Usually this is for intercooler pipe lobsterbacks so it ends up being 4x 11.25 deg cuts to make a nice 45 etc.

funnily enough, last friday a machinmart voucher came through... so I got a clarke one,

yeah, pretty impressed with it out of the box, fairly square cuts, but will have a play with the setup to get it better.

I'll mainly be doing straight and 45 deg cuts (probably on a jig), so the protractor isnt an issue.

had a look on youtube and theres quite a lot of vids on tweeking them, (or rather the american harbour freight one which is very similar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8L8StC-As0

next job fix my comressor.

Edited by Joe C on 25th Feb, 2015.