Clarke CBS45MD (4½" x 6") Metal Cutting Bandsaw

[Wallace]

After having read thoroughly the threads on here about this bandsaw, I went ahead and bought one on a Vat free day for £190 after ordering some new blades for it from Trucut on Chunko's recommendation in another post. I thought I would add a post on here and update it with my experiences and modifications I make to the saw.

Out of the box it was exactly what I expected and have experienced with many Clarke products over the years, it is a very cheaply made tool with many flimsy and barely adequate parts. The manual supplied with it is written in Chinglish and has countless mistakes, the first I came across was which way round to assemble the motor & gearbox drive pulleys as if you fit them as per the manual you cannot close the guard cover!

Once assembled I made a few trial cuts to see how well it performed and I was quite impressed at how clean and square they were as the saw was out of the box with no adjustments. After around 8 cuts I was aware of a clicking noise so I inspected the blade expecting it to be breaking at the joint but that was ok, I found it to be one of the guide roller bearings had split due to being overtightened so I will be onto Clarke about a new one. I have re-adjusted all the rollers and it is currently working ok as is but I have a full set of SKF bearings on order to replace the cheap ones as I don't expect much joy with Clarke Customer Service.

The second mistake (apart from the awful spelling!) I found in the "manwell" was concerning the guide rollers, it states that two are fixed and their opposite roller is on an adjustable eccentric, mine has four eccentrics! Not a bad thing as it should allow a little greater adjustment for a squarer cut but could throw a bit of a curve ball thrown at the uninitiated who read the manwell in the hope of guidance.

The power cable is too short to be of much use and is not remotely flexible as you can hold 18" of flex with the plug on the end horizontal! The bracket for the on/off buttons has nice sharp 90° edges sticking out at perfect knee cap height, so these are two items that will be getting attention as time goes on, another being the wheels and handle. The handle vibrates against the stand whilst in operation so I placed a neatly folded rag over it to quieten it down which did the trick (also giving the impression of a tidy operator using the machine!) but then draws your attention to the miriad of other tinwork vibrating. In use to move the machine, the handle feels like it will pull out of the flimsy tinwork it is bending and the wheels are always at the wrong end of the machine depending on where you want to manouvre it to so I can feel another modification coming on there too.

Despite these gripes so far I am pleased with it as it has the potential to be a reasonably good (non-industrial) tool just not straight out of the box!

More to come...Mike

 

[rtbcomp]

Pretty much my experience with Clarke stuff. Once you've taken it out of the box and repaired it it works reasonably well.

 

[Welderpaul]

Once you've taken it out of the box and repaired it it works reasonably well.

I like it. We have an odd couple of clarke bits, bought quite a while ago, still seems crap compared to pro stuff, but better than Clarke stuff available today.

A case of crap gear getting crapper?

 

[Wallace]

Pretty much my experience with Clarke stuff. Once you've taken it out of the box and repaired it it works reasonably well.

I go along with that comment, most of the big Clarke stuff I have needed work before use other than two compressors. I was going to include the high lift trolley jack but I just realised that was in bits recently to improve the sticky release mechanism I have been putting up with for a couple of years! Even the pry bar set I bought years ago needed all the sharp edges taken off the handles.

I went back today for a second Vat free visit and asked about the broken roller and what to do about it; "Bring the saw back for an exchange" was the reply. When I expressed a little dissatisfaction at the thought of doing that for a bearing they produced a sheet to fill in so they could claim under warranty and send me the parts by post. Perhaps the bean counters have cottoned onto this one and realised a little paperwork might save a lot of money.

Mike

 

[JayRS4]

I`ve got one as well, doesnt get used often unless i need to cut a big lump of solid and just want to leave it running. I can`t even remember what modification i`ve done to it, but there have been a few. Next (and probably the best thing i`ll do to it) is make a tray and fit a coolant pump to it, doesnt half make a difference to the blade life.

 

[Wallace]

I`ve got one as well, doesnt get used often unless i need to cut a big lump of solid and just want to leave it running. I can`t even remember what modification i`ve done to it, but there have been a few. Next (and probably the best thing i`ll do to it) is make a tray and fit a coolant pump to it, doesnt half make a difference to the blade life.

A coolant tray and pump are one of the mods I would like to do but that's a long way off, I need to get some hours on it and see how I get on with it first.

Mike

 

[wyn]

I recently lined up everything on mine to cut straight plus sort out a few other dodgy bits.

A few pics.

- The bolt that stops the saw arm from going past 90* was a bit weedy allowing it to go too far...bolted on a bit of angle.

- the motor vibrated due to poor leverage from the original tensioner...lengthen tensioner arm

- Needed spanners to alter vice...made a bush for the front pivot and a hand operated clamp bolt.

 

[chunkolini]

I think I have one of these, same quality tool, just in green.
I use it once in a while for cutting large bits of bar, otherwiseI leave it unmolested in the corner to act as a wild life refuge. I was going to sell it, but once in a while it has it's uses. Just.

Chunko'.;

 

[Wallace]

Brilliant Wyn, those are good simple ideas to incorporate that will make life easier, Thanks.

Chunko', I'm hoping the blades from the company you recommended will make an improvement and as I am not going to give it daily hard service in an industrial environment (which it certainly is not up to) it should serve me well. (or right )

Mike

 

[English Steve]

I have the same saw, also from MM on VAT free but several years ago now (must be 5 or so). It gets used fairly often on 3" box and angle or 1.1/2" round bar - that sort of size. I never had any trouble with vibration in operation, and the handle is OK for moving it around so I guess WPs comment about crap getting crapper is probably true.

I did have to trim the corner off of the cast web of the vice in order to be able to cut at 45 degrees, but I can't remember what size the material was at the time.

All in all, it has served me well - paid for itself on the first job (pair of garage doors) and is still going strong. My lube pump is a washing-up liquid bottle in true Blue Peter style

Edit: From memory, the same saw was available from Screwfix at the time, but with a lower powered motor and a higher price. I think I paid around £140.

 

[Luke]

Rather than suds and a tray, I've had great success with drip oiling, much less oil used/wasted and good results.

I spent half a day true-ing up the slightly rubbish clamp, using cut up drinks can steel for shims, whilst pottering on other jobs.


As an aside, I orginally trialed this setup on my pillar drill, with great results.

 

[brightspark]

Rather than suds and a tray, I've had great success with drip oiling, much less oil used/wasted and good results.

I spent half a day true-ing up the slightly rubbish clamp, using cut up drinks can steel for shims, whilst pottering on other jobs.


As an aside, I orginally trialed this setup on my pillar drill, with great results.

its a good setup i use simlar half gallon can sat on shelf small pipe leading to tap then to magmount flexipipe with nozzle can be moved to lathe drill milling machine and saw. why flood the thing

 

[English Steve]

Scottoiler for a saw - nice one

 

[Wallace]

Scottoiler for a saw - nice one

Hmm..... I might go and rape the Scottoiler off my Triumph later!

 

[Shox Dr]

I too have one of these, it was a hand me down from work. Not sure of its age, but is better made than what is available now. I have to say I'm impressed with how well it cuts, though it is slow. I cut 3 pieces of 3x1 solid ground bar a while back, facing it off in the mill, barely had to touch it with the end mill.

As for coolant, I have tried using it, but find that if you don't use a good flow to wash the cuttings, they stick to the blade and get pulled through the guide wheels and into the casing, causing problems. The same happens with the 3Ph machine at work, so I don't use any at all, on the Clarke Although that may well change once I buy some better blades for it

When I first used it I was frustrated on how slow it was, hanging weights on the handle to put more pressure on the blade, all that did was break blades and make it cut badly, I now program it's use, and just let it get on with the job.

To be fair to MM and Clarke, some of the stuff is not bad, so long as you have a bit of common sense, don't over work ie ask it to do too much in one go, and keep on top of the maintenance and cleaning. I also think if they are to be used by more than one person I find that is when it all goes titsup. As the respect for the machine goes downhill rapidly along with performance, ending up in the machined been blamed for user error

 

[Wallace]

I too have one of these, it was a hand me down from work. Not sure of its age, but is better made than what is available now. I have to say I'm impressed with how well it cuts, though it is slow. I cut 3 pieces of 3x1 solid ground bar a while back, facing it off in the mill, barely had to touch it with the end mill.

As for coolant, I have tried using it, but find that if you don't use a good flow to wash the cuttings, they stick to the blade and get pulled through the guide wheels and into the casing, causing problems. The same happens with the 3Ph machine at work, so I don't use any at all, on the Clarke Although that may well change once I buy some better blades for it

When I first used it I was frustrated on how slow it was, hanging weights on the handle to put more pressure on the blade, all that did was break blades and make it cut badly, I now program it's use, and just let it get on with the job.

To be fair to MM and Clarke, some of the stuff is not bad, so long as you have a bit of common sense, don't over work ie ask it to do too much in one go, and keep on top of the maintenance and cleaning. I also think if they are to be used by more than one person I find that is when it all goes titsup. As the respect for the machine goes downhill rapidly along with performance, ending up in the machined been blamed for user error

Having done a little more cutting with mine now I can agree with all of the above and particularly the last paragraph concerning Carke tools in general.

I tried the vertical attachment yesterday just to see how it performed cutting up a piece of scrap 20mm thick wall square steel tubing I have been falling over for ages. The table is very flimsy as I expected but the cut was good and the table screws soon came loose due to vibration! I did not feel very safe using it with so much of the blade exposed as the guides cannot be brought close enough together and as the table sits too low you would need to add a seat to the vice bed and make it a ride on bandsaw! The on-off switch is not very conveniently placed for safe vertical operation either so I will keep my small old Burgess BBS20 for the majority of vertical work.

The new blades have arrived from Trucut for both bandsaws and I will wait until the Chinese blade is worn out before trying them on the Clarke saw. I have fitted a 3/8" x 24tpi on the Burgess saw and this is the best blade I have used on the machine so far, I had some from Dragon Saws but they did not last very long in use and one of theirs snapped at the weld whilst fitting!

Mike

 

[nightjonboy]

After having read thoroughly the threads on here about this bandsaw, I went ahead and bought one on a Vat free day for £190 after ordering some new blades for it from Trucut on Chunko's recommendation in another post. I thought I would add a post on here and update it with my experiences and modifications I make to the saw.

Out of the box it was exactly what I expected and have experienced with many Clarke products over the years, it is a very cheaply made tool with many flimsy and barely adequate parts. The manual supplied with it is written in Chinglish and has countless mistakes, the first I came across was which way round to assemble the motor & gearbox drive pulleys as if you fit them as per the manual you cannot close the guard cover!

Once assembled I made a few trial cuts to see how well it performed and I was quite impressed at how clean and square they were as the saw was out of the box with no adjustments. After around 8 cuts I was aware of a clicking noise so I inspected the blade expecting it to be breaking at the joint but that was ok, I found it to be one of the guide roller bearings had split due to being overtightened so I will be onto Clarke about a new one. I have re-adjusted all the rollers and it is currently working ok as is but I have a full set of SKF bearings on order to replace the cheap ones as I don't expect much joy with Clarke Customer Service.

The second mistake (apart from the awful spelling!) I found in the "manwell" was concerning the guide rollers, it states that two are fixed and their opposite roller is on an adjustable eccentric, mine has four eccentrics! Not a bad thing as it should allow a little greater adjustment for a squarer cut but could throw a bit of a curve ball thrown at the uninitiated who read the manwell in the hope of guidance.

The power cable is too short to be of much use and is not remotely flexible as you can hold 18" of flex with the plug on the end horizontal! The bracket for the on/off buttons has nice sharp 90° edges sticking out at perfect knee cap height, so these are two items that will be getting attention as time goes on, another being the wheels and handle. The handle vibrates against the stand whilst in operation so I placed a neatly folded rag over it to quieten it down which did the trick (also giving the impression of a tidy operator using the machine!) but then draws your attention to the miriad of other tinwork vibrating. In use to move the machine, the handle feels like it will pull out of the flimsy tinwork it is bending and the wheels are always at the wrong end of the machine depending on where you want to manouvre it to so I can feel another modification coming on there too.

Despite these gripes so far I am pleased with it as it has the potential to be a reasonably good (non-industrial) tool just not straight out of the box!

More to come...Mike

I’m seeing this post some 12 years on... dare I ask is it still alive? I’m looking at one like this or a Sealey SM5 (seems to be from the same factory???).

anyone bought one more recently or can recommend other options for £300-£400?

 

[Windy Miller]

I have this one. Slightly above your budget, but it may be a contender

Axminster Model Engineer Series MCB115SHD Swivel Head Bandsaw

A versatile, medium sized metal cutting bandsaw with several notable features. This machine will be ideal for the smaller fabrication jobs, especially those which require materials accurately cut at various angles. Made predominately of cast iron, this...

www.axminstertools.com

 

[Wallace]

I’m seeing this post some 12 years on... dare I ask is it still alive? I’m looking at one like this or a Sealey SM5 (seems to be from the same factory???).

anyone bought one more recently or can recommend other options for £300-£400?

Still alive and in development!

 

[Wallace]

Here's a link to some mods I made.

Thread 'Clarke CBS45MD 6x4 Metal Cutting Bandsaw Modifications' https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum...x4-metal-cutting-bandsaw-modifications.58019/