Lidl Portable Bandsaw

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Use the bi-metal type blades. They cost a little more but last a lot longer.

I live in Sydney and have a good supplyer hera but not much use if in teh UK.

Paul

[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

Hi Chris, I use blades from Tuff Saws. I found that the blade supplied with the saw had quite a "bounce" when the joint passed through the guide rollers. A new blade reduced this problem but I ruined it by not checking a piece of steel which appears to be hardened. I have now bought 3 new blades, two fine cutting for small sections and tubes and a course one for solid material. Tried one as they arrived last week and it cut through some solid brass bar in no time.

[TomekParticipant @tomek]

I visited 3 Lidl shops around Wirral yesterday morning and none have them. First I though i came too late and all stock has been sold out but manager told me that they never came, maybe Wednesday I've been told

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Just had a look on the Lidl NI web site and the saw is £10-00 cheaper for some reason

Ian

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Pallet of them in Christchurch this morning.

Rod

[TomekParticipant @tomek]

Looks like they've never made it to local distribution centre. Mate is checking one in Liverpool for me. Has anyone seen them in Cheshire West?

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Stock does the rounds at these discount places, going from shop to shop, so it's worth checking every few days

I sometimes find what I'm after a week after it was meant to be in-store

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

Managed to get one of Lidl's bandsaw offerings with the idea of hacking it to make a compact light duty vertical band saw for fine cuts etc ( already have a CY90 which I have fettled to cut bar very accurately)

Irrespective of the useless vice arrangement and awesomely poor build quality, it was very disappointing – in fact if I was being generous I would describe it as total carp, with a useless uninformative manual included .

I am considering whether to persist and attempt to fettle the product into some sort of usable condition or return from whence it came.

So have the following questions for guidance from those with more experience of the product…

Out of the box, I don't seem to be able to get any real tension on the blade – with the red cam lever is in the fully locked position and the blade correctly located in the guides, the blade set is very flabby with an inch of sideways play and a distinct curve. As a consequence the blade stalls frequently. Surely this cant be right- I would expect to tension to about the musical equivalent of C flat. Does anyone know if there is any other adjustment possible of the jockey wheel to increase the blade tension? If not , do I get blades made up 5mm shorter to mitigate the issue?

Fault two – as set up on the pivot, the blade ends up angled about 5-7 degrees off vertical (as reported by someone else in this thread). Can't see any obvious adjustment to mount or the blade guides – they appear to be a single unit locked into one position – does anyone know any different ? It may be possible to shim these blocks closer to vertical.

The thing can be made to cut metal (just) but only where no real cut accuracy is required. I am doubting if it is of sufficient quality to become a useful tool either as a vertical bandsaw or as a rough cutter.

Thanks.

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

I didn't get a bandsaw but did get a temperature controlled hot air gun. Controlable from 50 to 650 deg C in 10 deg steps. Very nice for electrical heatshrink or softening plastic as well as traditional uses.

Also bought a kit of "dremel" tools wich look quite good even before I realised there were two hidden trays of cutting disks etc.

Robert G8RP.

[TomekParticipant @tomek]

Haha. Don't think I've walked away empty handed. Also got that dremel kit which indeed seems to be very good value and set of quick clamps (around £5 for set of four)

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

I'm sorry to hear the Lidl one is so carp.

My Aldi one certainly sounds worth the extra £50 when I bought it at the beginning of the year, it made short work of a piece of 65mm dia black bar yesterday and it was within 1mm of square. I did have a bit of finger ache from holding the trigger down but not half as much fatigue as I would have had with a hacksaw!

Incidentally, mine lived on a shelf just outside the workshop door when not in use, a real bonus if there is limited workshop space, it is light enough to move around easily.

[IanTParticipant @iant]

I've the Aldi saw too Martin and the blade definitely tensions tightly when you throw the cam lever on mine. I'm not aware of (or looked for) any tension adjustment but I haven't needed one. As a somewhat radical suggestion, if there is some degree of tension being applied, is the actual blade the correct length? You may have a duff blade rather than a duff saw?

However, I'm not getting to wander the 'Middle of Lidl' these days, so I haven't had a good look a the Lidl version of the saw. Aldi are also selling their version currently and I think it's gone up by a few pounds, so I wonder how Lidl have knocked 30% of the Aldi price.

With regard set-up, with a bit of trail and error, I got mine set up pretty well on the horizontal stand but I do agree with someone who posted earlier that it was very fiddly to put it back on (using the three cap screws). I also think the threads in the alloy body might not stand up to repeated use. I've thought about something better/easier in the form of an adaptor plate but it's still on the TUIT list..

Regards,

IanT

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

My Lidl one works fine straight out of the box. Incidently, the blade is marked M42 so is presumably HSS bi-metal.

Trying to work out now which of the infinite variety of vertical stands on YouTube to copy.

Rod

[Clive FosterParticipant @clivefoster55965]

Looks like the usual variable quality issues afflicts these extremely affordable tools.

Having seen Martins post I rushed out and tried mine. First impressions of the blade weren't optimistic as it was seriously bumpy in all planes at the joint. At least I no longer feel so bad about my efforts.

Test cuts on some fairly grotty steel went pretty well. Despite the horrible looking wobble each time the join came round the cuts were clean and as square as you could reasonably expect from a just bolted together without alignment effort device. Certainly within eyed up tolerances, which is maybe a degree or two for me.

Vice on mine holds adequately but the inherent overhang to the blade is way too much. Its mildly annoying that, when so much effort was put into productionising such things so they can be sold at very attractive prices, fairly basic design errors aren't rectified.

Having verified acceptable performance, albeit requiring a re-think of the modifications I intended to make, the fun started. Packing it all back in the box. For the umptyforth I time I forgot to take a picture before doing the Christmas morning tear in. I mean how hard can it be to get it all back in. Famous last words.

The next hour was very much not Yogi "smarter than the average bear" time. More Pooh "a bear of very little brain" time. So I went in for dinner followed by a bit of quality You-tubing to find an unpack and test video with a suitable just opened the lid shot. Gah, obvious when you realise the thing sits offset to one side.

Clive

[Ray LyonsParticipant @raylyons29267]

Not had a chance to see the Lidl saw yet since it falls into the non essential list of goods not available for sale in Wales during the present lock down so I can only comment on the one I bought from Aldi some time ago. I think it must be remembered that most of the tools from the discount food stores are designed for the DIY market but with a 3 year guarantee are good value for the money.

My bandsaw was disappointing when first used but as Clive mentioned above, a new blade fixed that problem and it is now a very useful piece of equipment in the workshop. There are several things which i feel sure will not present much of a challenge to our own inventive model engineers. I found that setting up the material in the vice fiddley since trying to hold the saw with one hand while adjusting the material in the vice needed another pair of hands. This was easily overcome with a loop of cord slipped over a hook in the wall supports the saw. The vice needs little comment except that I have seen better devices for clamping wood together for the glue to dry.

Other improvements would be an auto cut off at the end of the cut as with the well known 6X4 saw.

I look forward to seeing some articles in MEW describing mods which will bring these saws into the professional standards. In the meantime, I find it great even at the £160 price tag and thinking I could have bought another 6 blades with the extra paid compared with the Lidl offer.

[not done it yetParticipant @notdoneityet]

Posted by Ray Lyons on 05/11/2020 08:07:45:

I think it must be remembered that most of the tools from the discount food stores are designed for the DIY market but with a 3 year guarantee are good value for the money.

….

…… Other improvements would be an auto cut off at the end of the cut as with the well known 6X4 saw.

I look forward to seeing some articles in MEW describing mods which will bring these saws into the professional standards. In the meantime, I find it great even at the £160 price tag and thinking I could have bought another 6 blades with the extra paid compared with the Lidl offer.

I don't think it would ever be regarded as a proffessional quality device – whatever anyone might do to it – apart from changing it.🙂

I always staple the store receipt inside the cover of the manual, ready for return if/when it breaks. That said, I still have quite a few lidl and aldi items which still work OK or as designed.

I have a bandsaw that costs multiples of that lidl price – and the vise is not perfect, but the claimed ability is very close to the reality and I expect it to last me out without needing to buy another or even having to mend it.

Looks cheap enough to simply purchase and discard the stand, so use free-hand?

Edited By not done it yet on 05/11/2020 09:09:58

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

Martin, I have the Aldi one (£149.99 delivered last year I think) – the blade tension is fine, I could play a tune on it and the weld is flat and smooth, I'd be taking it straight back before they have none left to exchange it with if I were you! (And hoping its not a crap batch!)

I bought a 3 pack of Milwaukee variable pitch 44.7/8" blades (1140mm) but I'm still on the original M42 blade after over a year (although I recently chipped a tooth manhandling dexion profile, my own fault) – they were very cheap delivered, worked out circa £6-7 a piece or something?

Milwaukee do 10, 14, 18, 24 TPI and 10/14 and 14/18 TPI variable pitch. Not all of those are available in europe in the more economical packs of 3 or more blades, so it takes a bit of looking around on the net. I can't for the life of me find where I got mine from, I'll have to check the bag/box in the garage for clues.

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

Thanks to all for the responses,

I was wondering if anyone with other makes could chip in and say if their models have a mechanism for setting blade tension in addition to the cam mechanism that releases the blade for replacement?

In the Lidl offering I had, there is only the cam adjuster for both blade release and tensioning and when at full lock, there is no other means of blade tension adjustment. For whatever reason, my blade was so loose that it would constantly stall in softer metals because there was insufficient pressure on the rollers for a good grip.

Lidl v good -refunded no questions asked, and no, I didn't want another of the same ilk, ta very much!

I might consider trying again with a better marque, but only if I can determine if there is a proper blade tensioning adjustment mechanism and preferably if blade guide adjustments are possible as well. However, I suspect guide adjustment may be unusual, given this type of bandsaw was originally designed for freehand use.

Older, certainly – wiser? well maybe!

[Russ BParticipant @russb]

I think you may have just got a bad one, my blade tension can't be adjusted by any other means, but it works perfectly fine, so I see no reason why it might need to be changed.

 

Perhaps one defect accoutns for you both your complaints, a stray guide perhaps not holding the blade vertical, and as a result, shortening the correct route of 1140mm in length preventing you from tightening as the blade its literally cutting corners?

Edited By Russ B on 05/11/2020 13:06:58

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Here's a photo of the blade tension lever on my Ferrex (Aldi), hope that helps Martin…

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

Great, Thanks.

I guess these products are all much the same in design but with varying build qualities. The lidl version looked to be extensively 'value engineered' and a Friday afternoon job (drillings off angle, poor threads etc). I did do quite an thorough check and strip down to assess blade run and look for any other means to take up blade slack, to no avail.

Could just have been down to a poorly sized blade, but by that time I had decided it was just not satisfactory as the basis for any project and time to get my money back!

I may pluck up the courage to try an Aldi version for conversion to vertical bandsaw one day, but one bitten… Now considering a small, cheapo upright wood bandsaw frigged with a 10:1 gear reduction on the motor as an alternative route instead.

[Martin of WickParticipant @martinofwick]

duplicate

 

 

Edited By Martin of Wick on 05/11/2020 15:18:05

[Henry BrownParticipant @henrybrown95529]

Posted by Martin of Wick on 05/11/2020 15:17:08:

Now considering a small, cheapo upright wood bandsaw frigged with a 10:1 gear reduction on the motor as an alternative route instead.

Yes, that was my original plan, and there are plenty about, but I really struggle for space as I have an area in the garage partitioned off. To be able to put it on the bench, cut what I have to and then put it away is a big bonus for me, it makes me clean it down when I've finished with it too

[David Hill 5Participant @davidhill5]

I have considered buying the Lidl bandsaw on Monday (when we are released from our lockdown here in Wales) but now I am not so keen. I would rather spend a few, well quite a lot more bucks, and get a tool that I am very happy with rather that have the hassle of taking back the Lidl one. Was considering the Femi 782XL. Are people who have one very please with their decision?

[Ian HewsonParticipant @ianhewson99641]

Bought the Lidl saw on Sunday, worked straight from the box, cut 20mm steel with no trouble.

Yes, it’s not toolroom quality, but it’s also not toolroom price. For £99.00 it’s a bargain.

The blade doe’s jump, but no more than on the other larger bandsaw I used to have d before my move.

The vice is easily modified by any competent engineer, if you want to.

It is compact and fills my needs adequately, with a three year guarantee, would I by again? Yes.

The Femi is a nice saw I believe, but is it better value for another £350.

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