Aldi Portable Bandsaw

[Gragson]

The OE blade is a pretty good general one and put a fair bit through it.
A call to Tuff Saws would be good but I got this one and its been fine so far.

Pardon our interruption...

Lots of comments on the poor joint on the Milwaukee ones, they are very poor

 

[Melvyn Best]

Mines been delivered, yet to use it

 

[cr500dom]

Had a look at SWAG offroad who do really neat tables to make these into small vertical bandsaws, but lots of money by the time they are over here.

So I have designed my own, I`ll update when i get it made, Ive kept it so you can still use it in the horizontal stand, certainly for 90 cuts, without swapping tables.

The next thing will be a wall mount to hang it by the handle when in vertical mode

 

[cianh91]

Had a look at SWAG offroad who do really neat tables to make these into small vertical bandsaws, but lots of money by the time they are over here.

So I have designed my own, I`ll update when i get it made, Ive kept it so you can still use it in the horizontal stand, certainly for 90 cuts, without swapping tables.

The next thing will be a wall mount to hang it by the handle when in vertical mode

Iv been meaning to make up one them tables for ages as I don’t use mine anymore and think it be handy have a small vertical bandsaw .

 

[cr500dom]

So I drew up a quick plate in Solidworks and emailed the DXF to my mate Matt round the corner who has a 2x2 CNC extreme plasma table, which got me started.
I had a few bits to trim off and I opened up the holes to 6mm and countersunk them.
Had to open up the blade slot a bit too just to get it assembled.
Next time I won’t be so greedy on table size.

I’ve kept it short on the RH side of the blade so it still fits into the horizontal cutting fixture that came with it.



I had to use the saw to cut some bits out of the table and to cut some more stock too.
I needed a way to hold it so look away now if you are of a nervous disposition



yes that is a Record Imp vice


So I had some 40x40 aluminium extrusion, which I cut on the bandsaw, no mitre gauge but pretty good for marked and freehand cut I thought?

Test fit for position


some m8 weld nuts and m8 CSK from stock


Some holes


And the finished article

works really well, I will cut down the aluminium but I was thinking it’d support another table or a larger table for cutting larger pieces ?
Need to live with it for a bit really and see how big it needs to be.
I’m also going to fit studs and thumb nuts to the 3 holes where it’s attached to the horizontal chop saw cutting fixture, then it becomes quicker to swap from horizontal to vertical too

 

[skotl]

Finally got round to making a vertical stand for mine, too, like cr500dom.

Slightly different approach in that I made a plate to make the table, much as he did (although mine is a fair bit smaller due to only having 120mm plate to hand!).

I then made a bracket up to fit on the three bolt holes that the original swivel joint attached to, fitted each and then joined them together while they were in situ. This is the stand on its own - the top is that bracket:

And this is the saw fitted - seems to work really well!

A few things to note...

1. The spring clamp in the last pic replaces my original idea of zip-tying the switch and fitting an NVR. TBH. the clamp just works so why complicate things?

2. In a similar vein, the square plate at the bottom was going to be attached to the saw's original base. But I've realised that just clamping it to a worktop, like in the pic, works well enough and it means it's much easier to store! So that's the way it'll stay

3. I need to cover up the spinny spinny wheels - it's a bit disconcerting to be feeding the workpiece in with your mitts so close to the angry bits...

Overall, I'm well chuffed with how it turned out and, for me, this will be far more useful than its original configuration.

 

[RichardM]

I use a small cleft stick to push my whatever I'm sawing into the blade when getting close.

 

[pondy]

First issue with my band saw last night. Had been cutting slot of 40x3mm box steel fine till the original blade snapped. Replaced with a milwaukee one and now the cuts all over the place. I'm cutting 45 angles but it's not cutting vertical. Once it's cut throw the metal you cannot raise the handle/blade as it's tucked underneath the metal. Hope that makes sense. Anyone had this issue? Didn't notice till a handful of cuts and came to fitup and found all the gaps!

 

[Bravheart]

First issue with my band saw last night. Had been cutting slot of 40x3mm box steel fine till the original blade snapped. Replaced with a milwaukee one and now the cuts all over the place. I'm cutting 45 angles but it's not cutting vertical. Once it's cut throw the metal you cannot raise the handle/blade as it's tucked underneath the metal. Hope that makes sense. Anyone had this issue? Didn't notice till a handful of cuts and came to fitup and found all the gaps!

There should be a spare blade in the box try it for comparison

 

[RichardM]

Milwaukee blades 0.50 mm thick, Workzone 0.65mm thick. It does make a difference, but I also found on Milwaukee blades I tried none of the joints were straight

 

[pondy]

When I brought the saw it didn't come with a spare blade so I brought the milwaukee ones noted somewhere in this thread. They are cutting around 5mm off vertical on 40mm box so massively out. I did wonder if I fitted the blade the wrong way around. The teeth are pointing I the direction of travel?

 

[Jpwd3]

Are there any recommendations for good replacement blades? The Milwaukee ones do seem to have a few problems.

 

[pondy]

Are there any recommendations for good replacement blades? The Milwaukee ones do seem to have a few problems.

Would also like to know now. I changed to another milwaukee blade and got the same results so have dug my evolution chop saw out till I rectify the band saw. Its Noisy and spits got chips in your face but cuts straight

 

[Jbo2231]

First issue with my band saw last night. Had been cutting slot of 40x3mm box steel fine till the original blade snapped. Replaced with a milwaukee one and now the cuts all over the place. I'm cutting 45 angles but it's not cutting vertical. Once it's cut throw the metal you cannot raise the handle/blade as it's tucked underneath the metal. Hope that makes sense. Anyone had this issue? Didn't notice till a handful of cuts and came to fitup and found all the gaps!

I had this issue out the box. The clamps bed was/is not square to the base that the saw pivots on. Therefore the blade cuts at an angle. I now support the work piece from each end and use a spirit level to level the work piece with the base. It's an annoying work around but easier than trying to shim the clamp up accurately.

 

[Turbo]

Are there any recommendations for good replacement blades? The Milwaukee ones do seem to have a few problems.

Try tuff saws.
https://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/

Worth the extra £ to buy the M42 blades!

 

[Onoff]

So a while back I bought the Sheppach bandsaw from Aldi.

I also got the x4 blade pack off of eBay that @stormin recommended. Not sure on the tpi as the above eBay number doesn't work anymore but I'd guess 24tpi.

Instead of the blades that came with the saw which were stamped M42 13x0.65 10/14, I fitted the "24tpi" eBay one.

Fitted and tensioned and it did a few cuts of 50 & 25mm box a treat. Then tried on some 50x50x6 angle and it's now cutting pi$$ed?

The blade looks / feels sharp still.

Any ideas?

 

[Kram]

Yes, the biggest improvement to mine being off was to clean and tighten up the pivot, I didnt realise how loose it was out of the box. The way mine is now, it will hold itself in the fully up position against its own weight, but will self lower in the middle.
Cuts now are pefectly square one way and just a degree or two out the other way.

 

[Onoff]

Yes, the biggest improvement to mine being off was to clean and tighten up the pivot, I didnt realise how loose it was out of the box. The way mine is now, it will hold itself in the fully up position against its own weight, but will self lower in the middle.
Cuts now are pefectly square one way and just a degree or two out the other way.

You mean the bit at the back with the big dome nut on it? I'll check it...

 

[Onoff]

With the Sheppach one, when assembling I found the x3 M6 cap head screws that the attach saw to stand were thread strippingly tight into the ali saw body. Had to tap those out.

 

[Kram]

Yeah the big dome nut. I cant remember if it came with a thrust bearing or if I added one, I'll have a look later.