Expectations Too High? Bandsaw

[Mike Chalmers]

I have a Craftex 14" Band Saw I bought from Busy Bee about 8 years ago. I had another version of their saw before that (the cheapest one).
I have never been happy with the way they set up. Guides and thrust bearings not able to line up properly. This one, I tested for co-planar compliance. Top wheel is too far out, and I cannot set it back any further. Bottom wheel does not adjust at all that I can see.
Saw pulses or thumps, not sure how to describe it. Repetition is very consistent.
Quality of cut is, to my mind, quite poor. Blade is 3/16" 10TPI. I use it to cut curves and that is about all.
If I move the upper guard up or down at all, then all guides are out of place and need to be reset.
Am I expecting too much from this saw?

[Richard Coers]

Stock blade from just about every manufacturer should always be thrown away. Well, maybe keep it to cut kindling or something similar. I say you are expecting too much. A Craftex band saw is not at the price point for a precision machine. I am assuming that since I have never heard of Craftex nor Busy Bee.

[Rod Sheridan]

Am I expecting too much from this saw?

No and yes.

I would expect any tool purchased to meet basic performance standards, that said, I owned one of those in the beginning of my wood working career and I scrapped it rather than inflict it on another owner.

Buy a good bandsaw, spend $1K used or a couple of $K new and experience a bandsaw that doesn't drift when blades are changed, cuts in a straight line, resaws properly, and is a go to machine as opposed to an avoid at all costs type.

Laguna, Minimax, ACM, Felder/Hammer etc make good modern welded steel saws, I would avoid cast iron modern saws unless you stumble across a General (Made in Canada, or similar saw that sold for several thousands new).

In addition buy some good blades for the saw, in a variety ot widths and pitches.

Avoid using a blade for staraight cuts that has been used to cut curves.

A saw in the 17 or 18 inch range is the smallest I would reccommend.................Regards, Rod.

(It will also cut curves however I don't do much curve cutting with mine).

[Sal Kurban]

Indeed any no name brand saw is likely to be imprecise and hard to adjust just like my first bandsaw. When I upgraded to a 1950's Delta it was quite an improvement. Not to mention I sold the Delta at a profit when I upgraded. Same thing happened when I purchased a Delta jointer that was made in China. Was very hard to adjust and right after I got it, the switch went bad. I try to stick to good old cast iron or European brands whenever I can because of the headache involved. Just like Richard said, the blade is very important in a bandsaw and I try to use the Timberwolf brand the quality of the cut is much better.
Sal.

[Erik Loza]

Agreed: Start with a new blade and then work out from there.

Best of luck,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[dan sherman]

If your talking about this saw then i think your expecting to much based on the price (I have never used this saw). Everything else of similar size is 40% or more expensive.

http://www.busybeetools.com/products/BAND-SAW-14IN.-DELUXE-CRAFTEX-CX-SERIES-CSA.html

[glenn bradley]

Taking the issues in order (I'm sorry that some of these things are moot since you've had the saw so long):

Guides and thrust bearings not able to line up properly. -and- If I move the upper guard up or down at all, then all guides are out of place and need to be reset.

I would consider this a defect and would have returned the saw


This one, I tested for co-planar compliance. Top wheel is too far out, and I cannot set it back any further. Bottom wheel does not adjust at all that I can see.
The lower wheel may support a washer shimming method of alignment but, with the guide post not tracking, it is not my top priority.


Saw pulses or thumps, not sure how to describe it. Repetition is very consistent.
This sounds like a wonky weld or a bent spot in the blade. A 3/16" blade would be quite easy to bend/kink. You can test this by sticking a piece of tape to the table so that it just touches the side of the blade. Turn the blade by hand and confirm that there is no deviation.


Am I expecting too much from this saw?
Some of the replies here are from folks running big beefy bandsaws which are in an entirely different class of machine. When folks talk about going with a tablesaw free shop, they are probably not using a 14" bandsaw as the replacement. Quite a bit like comparing a mini-pickup to a full sized truck; its not very helpful.

I have a small Delta 10" from the 1970's with plastic/fiber wheels . . . yes, plastic. It tracks and saws fine within its abilities and I am glad to have it in addition to my larger saw. The fact that the guide post sends your guides out of alignment when raised and lowered is a fundamental problem that I would solve before all others. If that can be resolved I would look into getting your wheels co-planer (this is more important on smaller saws with crowned tires than on larger machines with flat wheels). As to how much effort you want to put into the saw, that is for you to judge. Good luck.

[Mike Chalmers]

Thanks for the advice. Seems, you get what you pay for. As I live in rural Nova Scotia, availability of decent used machines is virtually nil. Unless i want to resaw a Douglas Fir or something.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Mike.

I would put a new blade on the saw .. The blade makes the biggest difference to any bandsaw.

If you are going to upgrade, buy your last bandsaw next.. Rod gave some great brand advice.

[johnny means]

Okay, by certain standards the OP may be expecting a bit much. But really, some of our neander brethren are doing these things with hand saws. Surely, even this machine offers more power and precision than some old coot with a bow saw. Get a nice blade and tinker around until you find this babies sweet spot, you'll be able to do the vast majority of what a 24" Euro beast can do. If anything, by the time you deal with all your saws shortcomings, You will have a deep understanding of bandsaw science.

[HANK METZ]

Regular thumping, even with different blades installed suggests a drive belt (if so equipped) needs replacement.
Coplanarity may not be that big a deal according to Alex Snodgrass (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QuAIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwGb ZqWac0jU&ei=b5rIUvjoHMmjsQSsqIHgDQ&usg=AFQjCNE7gh6vG8_tNpsqdcy_3_XfQ-Oidw&sig2=Y21d25cVlmYQutVblzna5g&bvm=bv.58187178,d.cWc):


The adjustable guide rod should have a flat milled on it to maintain alignment when adjusting up or down, is this so?

[Curt Harms]

Hey Mike.

I would put a new blade on the saw .. The blade makes the biggest difference to any bandsaw.

If you are going to upgrade, buy your last bandsaw next.. Rod gave some great brand advice.

New blade properly welded as a first step without question. I think Craftex/Busy Bee machines are similar to Grizzly in the U.S. though I don't know how quality control compares. I recall reading about top guides not tracking when moved though no first hand experience. I believe the fix was to shim where the guide mechanism attached to the saw frame but don't recall details.

[Glenn Bird]

Regular thumping could also be a bad tire. I had this on a new ridgid saw. replacing the tires cured the problem.

[Tai Fu]

My 18" bandsaw had a misaligned guide too, but it's fixable. What I did was loosen the mounting nuts for the guide, and just pushed it back while tightening the bolts. That solved the problem.

[Gus Dundon]

Proper band saw tune up with good quality blade makes the difference.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Assuming the saw that Dan Sherman posted above is the one you purchased, it looks like the guide post design is such that you could shim it or adjust it to be in line with the blade. I don't know if the two bolt holes are slotted, but you could always drill them out a little bit to give you some adjustability in one direction, and in the other direction, you could install shims between the frame and the post mounting bracket at the top or bottom.

I have a 14" cast iron import saw, and there is literally zero adjustability on my guide post. Total pain because it's nowhere close to parallel/coplanar to the blade. But I decided to keep the saw and deal with its quirks rather than buy a $2k+ saw.

Good luck.

[John TenEyck]

I have a 14" cast iron import saw, and there is literally zero adjustability on my guide post. Total pain because it's nowhere close to parallel/coplanar to the blade.


That's probably because your wheels aren't coplaner. My 14" Delta has no adjustability either. When the wheels are coplaner the upper guide rides nice and parallel with the blade. I had to shim out the top wheel on my saw in order to get them coplaner. Don't assume yours are OK; measure it.

John