Member postings for larry Phelan

I have one of those bandsaws,bought some years ago. I was never happy with it,was very disappointed with it,s performance and never really bothered much with it after that.With hindsight,I think there were better machines around,which I should have looked at. Trying to change the speed was a total pain and the belt did not like staying on the pullys,why they could not have used simple Vee belts,I do not know. So much for the name !

What else would you expect from the French?

Scrap it and buy a new vice,dont waste your time arsing around with it,just get on with the job !

WHY NOT JUST DRILL A BLOCK OF HARDWOOD WITH EACH DRILL AND MARK IT,S SIZE ?

SEEMS SIMPLE ENOUGH TO ME !

Dont think a pillar drill is a good idea for milling. A draw bar seems to be a basic requirement,since milling cutters tend to work loose when cutting. Could end up as a sad story.

Good for you Andrew,happy cutting.

As an aside,you should know that road systems are not intended to make for happy driving,everyone knows that !

OK you pay for them,but what,s that got to do with it ? As the man say,s,give it another 30 years or so,and who knows?

Just reading some of the comments there about the slagging of some of the people who contribute to the forum,is it any wonder that they decide to give it a miss ? I can give it and take it,but there comes a point where you ask yourself "with friends like this,who needs enemy,s? People do their best,none of us can do any better [despite what we like to think ] so, I say,OK, you dont agree with them,but dont insult them,they might still know a lot more than you do. In my case,they do !

I for one hope that this site never closes down,if it does,I might as well put up the shutters since I would be back in High Babes again. The amount of knowledge available,and for free !! is just --------------------! Even after a lifetime working in industry,I am still learning,like many others,I suspect.

Long may it last even though I may have little to contribute.

I can see where this subject is heading !

I never knew bed irons were made from old tram tracks,you learn something new every day.

Stainless steel is something I seldom have to deal with,but I know most drills dont like it,neither do guillotines.

Must look closer at the beds next time I,m at my local hospital,will help to pass the time if nothing else.

I remember trying to drill bed irons many years ago and it nearly broke my heart,not to mention many drills. I thought it would be cheaper than buying angle iron [since there was plenty of it around ] Now I know why it was left around.I found too that the only way to get through it was with a hand brace and plenty of push. Take good advice and stay well away from it,no wonder it ends up in scrapheaps !

What started off as a crib about Vee Blocks,ended up talking about stupid sheep and goats. Not sure how this came about,but to take it a step further,what I want to know is,what has this to do with the price of cabbage in China?,or even more important,is the moon really made of cheese? Why stop here?

I will have to stop and think before I start a thread on any subject,it could end up anywhere !

Keep the pot boiling.

Oh hear ye the words of wisdom from he who calls himself "Silly old duffer",friend Dave ! How right you are.

It,s no secret that the quality of tools has declined over the years,but so has the price. I remember looking in Woolworts stores in the 1950,s [anyone still remember them ? ] A 1/4 " electric drill cost £3,my wages at the time was £2,1&6.,so it was no-go. Young people today have a lot more choice,and at a far more attractive price.The stuff may not be as good,but at least they can get a start and then move up to better quality,if they can find it.

Would I go back to the days of the hacksaw and the hand file and leave aside my good old band saw and my cheap angle grinder,I dont think so ! I,ve been there,done that,bought the tee shirt.

Someone remarked about the chisels and screwdrivers of 30 years ago. I can relate to that ! I still have some chisels which belonged to my father [I,m now 78 ] The steel in those chisels could take an edge like a razor,and hold it. What about the crap on offer today,from well known brand names? The less said about it,the better. You cannot get a sharp edge on them no matter how hard you try. Plane irons are no better,so it,s not all wishful thinking about the old days. Yes,there was some junk,but if you bought a good brand name,you were fairly safe,alas,no longer. Some of the replacement tools I bought with well known names are nothing short of rubbish,I could buy just as good in ALDI for half the price,and have done.

Good products will always have a market but perhaps not big enough to satisfy the makers,so they start making junk,then they go bust.

Someone else remarked on the quality and finish on some of the machines on sale, tell me about it ! The cast iron used in some of these machines is little better than sand [try drilling it ],and the quality of the machine screws used is beond words. I had to replace most of them on my lathe.

Sad to say,that seems to be the way things are going,it seems to be a case of "Buy them,use them,dump them "

Would it not be simpler to just hire one for the job?,one day would do the whole thing including putting the whole machine together again. Dont waste your time fooling around.

Talk about a storm in a teacup !! Like the last man said,"If you want the best,buy the best". That said,the stuff being offered should live up to it,s claim. Fair play to ARC for making it,s position clear.While I dont think they were being singled out,they were being put in the line of fire,unjustly,I think.Let me add that I have never bought anything from ARC,not yet anyway,but who knows?.

For those who want bargain basement vee blocks,do as we do over here. We just chop off two bits of angle iron and weld them onto a lump of flat and away we go.Might not look the part but they,re cheap ! What,s a few mm here or there? Sure with a drop of paint on them,you,d not know the difference,never mind where they came from.

Life is too short to get your knickers in a twist over something like this,just dump them and move on.

PS We are working on a rotary table built around a car wheel,might be better than the one I bought !

When I bought my lathe [many moons ago ] I bought some Dromus oil from Shell,since this was the stuff we used in the machine shop where I worked. I found,to my surprise,that it stained and indeed rusted my machine. I took the matter up with Shell,but got got nowhere,they could not be bothered. I ended up getting another oil elsewhere which had anti rust built in and never had a problem since..I would not worry too much about a little staining,since the machine is intended to be used,not admired. Rust is a different matter,it,s like an unwelcome guest,it,s very difficult to get rid of,and always leaves it,s mark.

Remember,if your machines are always clean and shiny,you are not making much use of them ! Enjoy them .

Hi Bandersnatch,

Dont feel too bad about your vee blocks,perhaps they were intended to be used along with my rotary table. They would get on well together,being so well matched ! Perhaps the errors in one would cancel out the errors in the other. Dont throw out the box they came in,the cardboard might come in handy for packing them up here and there to get them level [just a thought ]

I doubt if they were just two that managed to slip through the net,there are so many posts about this kind of crap that the net would need to have huge holes in it. I believe that sometimes,not often, a good item manages to get through. But,make no mistake,a great deal of rubbish is still "Made in England" ,as I know to my cost.

From reading all the posts here,it seems that most guys prefer the larger size band saw.

I would agree with this view as the bigger machine will do all that the smaller one will,and they do tend to be better finished. If I had to replace my own saw,I think I would go for the next size up,even if they do cost twice as much [or more ] they would still be worth it. You should get years of work from it,and think of the elbow grease you would save !

Even so,I would not part with my cheap one,it owes me nothing,and so what if it does get hot,it keeps my hands warm on a cold morning. I did worry about the heating of the motor in the beginning,but since it never caused any problem,I leave it alone. If it,s going to burn out,I will smell it quick enough,and motors of that size are cheap enough anyway. I often look at some of the bigger machines in showrooms from time to time,then say "No you dont need it" and walk away [not always easy ]

Hi Andrew,

Regarding your search for a bandsaw,allow me to add my tuppence worth. I bought a cheap Taiwan bandsaw about 12/15 years ago [the memory is not great at this stage ] I have cut everything and anything with it,including 4" round and 6"x4" rsj and everything in between,and it does cut square. OK,the stand that came with it was crap,but I replaced that with a proper stand on wheels and later on fitted a coolant system,using a pump from an old washing machine.While I dont do production work,I do use that machine every other day,sometimes for hours at a time.Yes,the motor does get hot,hotter than I would like,but this seems to be quite in order with these motors. Mine has never given any trouble in all that time. It is rated to cut 5" round and 6x4 flat and for the price,I consider it to be one of the best machines I ever bought. A lot depends on the type of work you want to do,hobby or full time production,it,s a case of "Horses for courses" For the average small workshop,I dont think you will go too far with one of these saws. As someone else pointed out,a good blade makes all the difference. Come to think of it,I dont remember buying too many blades over the years,but I do remember cutting up a mountain of metal.

Hopes this helps.

I remember using those items years ago,are they still around? For many jobs they were more suitable than crimp terminals. No idea where to even start looking for them,but RS might be a good start.