Workzone bandsaw questions

iamtony

Hi lads, I got an Aldi bandsaw for father's Day (yay) been busy playing with it today with my 9 year daughter who also loves it(safely uses it under my observation of course).
A few issues I couldn't see answers to on YouTube. The band as it goes around the top wheel seems to go from one side of the wheel to the other as I spin it. It doesn't stay on the same course if you know what I mean. How do I sort that?
The vibrations are pretty bad aswell is this normal with a cheap bandsaw? Possible related to the above?
I've set it up as best I could from watching tutorial but when I do a rip cut the too halfs seem to be a bit jagged. Is that normal or should I expect it to be half smooth? It's worse than rough cut timber. I'm only using soft wood.

chillyspoon

Hi Tony,

As recently as this morning Peter Millard published a video talking about quality control in this end of the market and referenced that specific issue with the newest iteration of the Workzone bandsaw:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5e2s39H1Sc

The recommendation is to take it straight back - if you've followed the instructions for setting the blade on the tyres and it still isn't staying on them, then take it straight back to Aldi for a replacement or money back.

Hope that helps.

iamtony

Hi and thanks. That's the guy who convinced me to go for this saw in the first place

Today the blade guide jammed and I twisted it hard and the plastic hand adjuster split. I glued it back together and disassembled the whole top of the saw and the guide was clogged with sawdust. Not good after 1 days use with clean dry wood.
I took it apart and noticed the top wheel is slightly buckled when I spin it by hand and the tyre doesn't fill the channel fully all the way around. Definitely a quality control issue.
Another issue I had was the micro switch on the bottom door wasn't activating when I locked the door. I had to unscrew the switch and move it forward so the door made better contact with it when I closed it.
It's cutting well now to be fair and I should probably bring it back but the next one could be the same so I'm not sure.
It's a fun tool to have but I don't want to be spending more on a better one to be honest so I might just stick with it for for a while and see how it goes.
First time I've ever had any problems with tools from Lidl or Aldi. I got all the Aldi ferrex stuff so far and its all really good quality so far.

iamtony

Just watched the whole video and it's aimed directly at me ha ha. Talks about people who watched his video from 2 years ago recently and made a purchase like me. Seems the quality is going down.
Mine never threw the blade though. I did notice a cross thread when removing one of the bolts holding on the top wheel and when I first opened the bottom door their was 2 spare 10mm lock nuts which I pretty sure weren't meant to be their. Also the latches that lock the doors are kind of corroded or badly finished.

brane.nikic87

I think you were just unlucky with your bandsaw. I got the same model couple of weeks ago from Aldi and fitted 10mm 4TPI blade from tufsaws.

Anyways I managed to cut down 4x3 stock to 60x60mm and then planned it down to 55x55 square.

I got some problems with table twisting and fence was too weak but I am planning to build proper extended table for this saw.

iamtony

brane.nikic87 wrote: »

I think you were just unlucky with your bandsaw. I got the same model couple of weeks ago from Aldi and fitted 10mm 4TPI blade from tufsaws.

Anyways I managed to cut down 4x3 stock to 60x60mm and then planned it down to 55x55 square.

I got some problems with table twisting and fence was too weak but I am planning to build proper extended table for this saw.

It's not too bad now to be fair. I should of brought it back but I'm lazy ha.
I did rip cuts on wood with the stock blade and your cut has the same marks on it before you plainer it so it's not to bad. Thanks for the pics.

brane.nikic87

Actually I found that stock blade is working very nice for thinner stock and it is much easier to set it up on the wheels then the thicker one.
The blade itself did stop couple of times as it got pinched because of fence and table twist and that's why I got those marks.