The last powertool I got to my workshop was a band saw, in hindsight it should been among the first ones. I got my first hacksaw when I was around 10. After 27 years of "powering thru" I got my self a band saw.
Great review! Even though I like the Vevor brand (their "8KW" diesel heater keeps my shop warm in winter), *I'm not totally convinced by their metal band saw, here is why:* I had three of them (MKI) and had to return all of them - mechanically, they were top notch and I saw them as a great addition to my shop (building product design prototypes), but the electronics had a serious bug: when you cut tougher metals like V2A / V4A or unhardened tool steel, you want to reduce the cutting speed but increase the pressure on your work piece (less work hardening, less wear on the band), However, the MKI could not do that - when cutting with reduced speed, after 30 to 45 seconds, the control circuit would burn out and the machine would switch erratically between various speeds, which made it unusable. After the 3rd machine, the German service center confirmed that the electronics of the machine were "simple" and gave me a full refund. Since 2022 they are selling a MK2 version - could be that those machines are more reliable. Once this is confirmed I'll definitely buy another one!
good review. highly recommend bandsaws for the home workshop. tho i would go with a battery powered portable and use a fixed one in the workshop. the fixed ones can be tweaked to give better accuracy, which makes fabrication and welding a whole lot easier. there is kits around to turn the portables into vertical bandsaws for general hacking.
Thanks for the heads up John. Watched this vid, ordered one, got it, used it, oh joy! No aching shoulders, love it! Sorry I couldn’t get it through your site, had to get it from the US Vevor.
I bought one of these a year ago, and totally agree with you John, they are a fantastic machine. I made a small table for it out of 6mm flat steel, with a bit of angle bolted to it so i can mount it in the vice, great for small jobs. The only drawback is that for every revolution of the blade it gets a half twist and back, leading to eventual fatigue in the blade. My first blade breakage was a clean snap across the blade, i thought the weld might have broken, but examination of the broken blade showed that there were a couple of other spots that had a crack about 60% across the blade. But blades are reasonably cheap and i had done a lot of cutting with it.
I got mine a month ago to make a downpipe for my turbo setup worked great was able to make it work with this and the titanium flux welder not pretty but it's air tight and I wrapped it all with heat wrap anyway
We call them portabands here in the US. Been around for a long long time. My first experience with them was with the welders doing pipe fitting at a Benzene plant in Pascagoula. One thing to note: they cut much faster when going against the thin section of profiles vs. the fat section. There's an ideal number of teeth that should be in contact. I don't know exactly what that is, but when cutting across the fat section, the gullets (which are pretty small) in the back teeth get loaded up before emerging from the cut and really aren't cutting at the end of the kerf. I don't have a Vevor, but have the gold standard (Milwaukee). One thing to look for on the cheaper ones: Make sure they've got bearings, not solid guides. Guides or bearings change the angle of the blade and extert tremendous force (or friction if guides). The guides will heat up the blade with extended use.
With that heavy, solid stuff - (say John's 75 x25) if possible stand up on edge. Less teeth in the cut and less likely to squeal, possibly stall the unit. There's all this info on TPI in cut etc.... but if you are like me and cutting and something different each time, last thing you want to do is constantly change blades. On these smaller units, I would resist the temptation to, spray coolant/ oil onto blade. Fair chance blade will slip. Guessing it will have rubber on outside of wheels.
I bought one of these bandsaws with the dropsaw attachment, and so far it's been awesome. It's a lot cheaper than a carbide cutoff saw, a lot quieter than a carbide or friction saw, and doesn't throw sparks everywhere like a friction saw. The only thing I think is a little lacking is the vice on the base. The cut hangs well over the vice, so there is no reference to where you are cutting, and you need to use the blade to even roughly line it up. I get that you probably want to use the blade anyway for accuracy, but it would nice to be able to get in the ballpark. Plus, as designed, it's hard to line up multiple cuts, as there is no reference. I'm thinking of trying to figure out some kind of stop on it to make repetitious cuts easier. All in all, it was a great alternative to angle grinders, and cuttoff wheels. Cheaper than a carbide saw, a bit dearer than a friction saw, but it's a great tool to have!
An artist here in Florida died using an angle grinder on coquina rock. Blade broke, no sufficient head protection, broken bit of blade impaled in his skull. Ends of story/life.
Good to see it’s AC. Yesterday I threw out a 4Ah AEG 8 rechargeable Li-ion battery. Then my trusty (no longer) rechargeable hair trimmer gave up the ghost. My sons expensive rechargeable shaver (3 round flexible disc/screen type) was also stuffed. IMO it’s either AC or disposable common battery powered devices from now on. Sure all these batteries did give reasonable life, but it’s way too short. Love that band saw, but for the little I will do, an 4” (100mm) angle grinder with the 1mm thin cutting disc is more than enough for me. A skilled and experienced operator using the angle grinder is way better as that tool is massive, no doubt expensive and the ROI (return on investment) for 30 cuts in the next 30 years is not money well spent. Now for people with plenty money, no storage issues, those with poor ability/experience/skill it would be ideal.
I'm going on 8 years with some of my Milwaukee batteries. The rest 5+ and that's in daily use in a truck workshop. More grunt and better convenience than air tools that are subject to good air lines or running lines across a workshop. I bought a Milwaukee bandsaw for my trade and it's definitely better for cutting exhaust pipes etc. Roi is good for me as it's a tool of my trade.
@@Low760 definitely makes sense in your case. I have heard Milwaukee tools are good. To be fair, the AEG was a hand me down and did get plenty use on the battery drill. But with use on the blower and wipper snipper, the battery gets very hot, especially with the blower. As soon as I finish I put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before resting at least a couple of hours then put on the charger.
Great tool. I would not be without it. I made a table form mine, which is great for cutting small parts. I wish Vevor sold the drop saw attachment separately as I should have got one of those.
I have A Sheppach version of the drop saw version which outside of the colour looks almost identical to that Vevor version, and it like you say is great, AM needs to buy himself a saw, hacksaws are so primitive. 👍
With my bandsaw collection, I have a reasonably large floor standing unit, 2 benchtop ones, and a cordless portable unit. 1st thing I suggest is get a spare blade. So yeah, I have made "friends" with my local saw doc. Once u get into cutting harder stuff, I can only get blades made up to suit is for the floor unit, so there is that. Naturally the doc simply buys the blades as a roll and just cuts and joins to suit the required size. No sparks to worry about, so the the cordless is used to cut 12mm bar out on site.
I had a large electric motor shaft come in that needed an amputation because the bearing had run dry and overheated the shaft, and the belt tension resulted in a severely bent shaft. This was a 3 inch diameter. There's really no option but a portable bandsaw to cut this off in a weld prep fashion, being two angular cuts to form a half of a V prep. I used a 4" capacity Milwaukee portable. Made the job easy. You do have to use a hand hacksaw a little bit to appreciate a portable saw. I hate using abrasive wheel saws except when there is no other way. Always use a safety helmet with face shield and ventilate the area. Doesn't do a helluva lot of good to wear a face mask during the cut, only to whip it off the instant you're done the cut. Plus, face masks are mostly useless if you can still smell the dust. It's not the big particulates that are the problem, it's the micron sized particles that hang around forever.
Nice one John.Ive got a milwaukee 18 volt band saw and it's pretty good when I need it.Bang for buck I reckon that Vevor one is probably the smarter deal
I bought one a few months ago and my only regret is that I didn't do it many years ago. My basement workshop isn't very fire proof so I don't dare using an angle grinder indoors. Therefore I have went outdoors to cut things which is inconvenient when it rains or if it's late and I don't want to wake up the neighbors. The band saw is wonderful.
I am in love with my tungsten carbide saw, but it's no good for cutting assembled stuff like the legs off a bench, like you mentioned. Maybe I need a handy band saw to do what my TCT can't, and my angle grinders shouldn't.
Merry Christmas to you, your family, Tiffany and all of the ex wives. I'll have to watch this in a couple of hours. Off to tow a Sportage with no spare. Who knows what happened to it. Not a wise move in the Byron Hinterland, Lismore area.
@@martinlang9615it's got a full size spare, or at least it did. He decided to get his spare tire out but it was gone, even the chain that hangs it was broken off. Sorrento too, not Sportage.
John must enjoy ‘deburring’ Ming Moles with his ‘Power Flute’. I once had a Ming Mole in the Workshop for a resleeve. Insert a leg of Mutton and pull out the bone.
Thx but i'll stick starting with a hacksaw and go from there , that looks like something else taking up space that's going to waste my time trying to get it to work when i could be hacking away thinking of the next project 🙂 if your in business knock yourself out fill a room full of that shit it's tax deductible just keep on top of your workers comp payments 😂
🛑Has anyone ever wondered if this guy ever really uses half of the tools that we see hanging up in his work shop?I don't think I have ever seen them move from one month to the next. Just like this saw. It's clean as a whistle and It looks like this is the first time that it has ever been used. Are these tools just a bunch of expensive props? Come clean John, why do you even bother having half of these tools that you have hanging around?🛑
@@gazza70cr applying Occam's razor to the situation would yield the hypothesis that the tools are always in the same place because he packs up his gear after he uses it, and doesn't abuse them.
We cheapskate’s with less than 150.00 usd from china thruway of Harbor Freight all the Chinese tools you want for today’s 10.00 usd yesterday it use to cost 2.50 but We call it Bidenomics in America Harbor Freight & that bandsaw exactly the same look and just as good!!!
when i look at all your tools , the Chinese rubbish in your work shop makes me laugh, your drill press just as one example is Chinese junk, it would rattle when turned on, would not drill a straight and square hole to table and the spindle run out would be like a Chinese amusement park ride, dude buy a parkin or waldown, Australian made, used are cheap and a precision tool the drills a straight hole and square to table , please dont advise people to buy junk, lots of good machinery used and cheap, 240v or even 3 phase is easy and cheap to convert to 240v , you may know cars but not tools
Without the possibility of exploding zip discs while cutting metal, There is no fun , excitement, or sport. C'mon john... man up a little - zippy shrapnel never killed anyone!!!🦘👉👌🦘👉👌
The last powertool I got to my workshop was a band saw, in hindsight it should been among the first ones. I got my first hacksaw when I was around 10. After 27 years of "powering thru" I got my self a band saw.
Great review! Even though I like the Vevor brand (their "8KW" diesel heater keeps my shop warm in winter), *I'm not totally convinced by their metal band saw, here is why:*
I had three of them (MKI) and had to return all of them - mechanically, they were top notch and I saw them as a great addition to my shop (building product design prototypes), but the electronics had a serious bug: when you cut tougher metals like V2A / V4A or unhardened tool steel, you want to reduce the cutting speed but increase the pressure on your work piece (less work hardening, less wear on the band), However, the MKI could not do that - when cutting with reduced speed, after 30 to 45 seconds, the control circuit would burn out and the machine would switch erratically between various speeds, which made it unusable. After the 3rd machine, the German service center confirmed that the electronics of the machine were "simple" and gave me a full refund. Since 2022 they are selling a MK2 version - could be that those machines are more reliable. Once this is confirmed I'll definitely buy another one!
For disassembly of a welded structure, my go to tool is the plasma cutter. Structure can move around all it wants, but there's no blade to pinch
Or the other old-timey gas axe.
My 2 favorite Vevor products is my ultra sonic cleaner and my pot still for making rum, bourbon.
Nice to see a review that gives decent Chinese stuff a fair appraisal.
good review. highly recommend bandsaws for the home workshop. tho i would go with a battery powered portable and use a fixed one in the workshop. the fixed ones can be tweaked to give better accuracy, which makes fabrication and welding a whole lot easier. there is kits around to turn the portables into vertical bandsaws for general hacking.
Well done John... Thanks for your honesty.... Merry Christmas to you and your family 🎉
Thanks for the heads up John. Watched this vid, ordered one, got it, used it, oh joy! No aching shoulders, love it! Sorry I couldn’t get it through your site, had to get it from the US Vevor.
Thanks for this vid and all others posted over the last year. Have a very happy Christmas! I know Tiffany and I will.
A Merry Xmas And Happy New Year to You and Your Family, John.
Keep these informative posts coming, they are most enjoyable!
I bought one of these a year ago, and totally agree with you John, they are a fantastic machine.
I made a small table for it out of 6mm flat steel, with a bit of angle bolted to it so i can mount it in the vice, great for small jobs.
The only drawback is that for every revolution of the blade it gets a half twist and back, leading to eventual fatigue in the blade. My first blade breakage was a clean snap across the blade, i thought the weld might have broken, but examination of the broken blade showed that there were a couple of other spots that had a crack about 60% across the blade. But blades are reasonably cheap and i had done a lot of cutting with it.
I got mine a month ago to make a downpipe for my turbo setup worked great was able to make it work with this and the titanium flux welder not pretty but it's air tight and I wrapped it all with heat wrap anyway
Dunno what I'd use it for but gotta get me one of those. Excellent review thanks John.
Very timely for me. Thanks so much
Bandsaws are awesome and so fun to use
We used the Milwaukee version to cut large HV cables. It revolutionised the process. When time is money, its a crucial tool.
I once accidentally saw 30mm thick HARDOX 500 on a band saw. Teeth where gone after around 40mm into material.
We call them portabands here in the US. Been around for a long long time. My first experience with them was with the welders doing pipe fitting at a Benzene plant in Pascagoula. One thing to note: they cut much faster when going against the thin section of profiles vs. the fat section. There's an ideal number of teeth that should be in contact. I don't know exactly what that is, but when cutting across the fat section, the gullets (which are pretty small) in the back teeth get loaded up before emerging from the cut and really aren't cutting at the end of the kerf. I don't have a Vevor, but have the gold standard (Milwaukee). One thing to look for on the cheaper ones: Make sure they've got bearings, not solid guides. Guides or bearings change the angle of the blade and extert tremendous force (or friction if guides). The guides will heat up the blade with extended use.
With that heavy, solid stuff - (say John's 75 x25) if possible stand up on edge. Less teeth in the cut and less likely to squeal, possibly stall the unit. There's all this info on TPI in cut etc.... but if you are like me and cutting and something different each time, last thing you want to do is constantly change blades. On these smaller units, I would resist the temptation to, spray coolant/ oil onto blade. Fair chance blade will slip. Guessing it will have rubber on outside of wheels.
I bought one of these bandsaws with the dropsaw attachment, and so far it's been awesome. It's a lot cheaper than a carbide cutoff saw, a lot quieter than a carbide or friction saw, and doesn't throw sparks everywhere like a friction saw.
The only thing I think is a little lacking is the vice on the base. The cut hangs well over the vice, so there is no reference to where you are cutting, and you need to use the blade to even roughly line it up. I get that you probably want to use the blade anyway for accuracy, but it would nice to be able to get in the ballpark.
Plus, as designed, it's hard to line up multiple cuts, as there is no reference. I'm thinking of trying to figure out some kind of stop on it to make repetitious cuts easier.
All in all, it was a great alternative to angle grinders, and cuttoff wheels. Cheaper than a carbide saw, a bit dearer than a friction saw, but it's a great tool to have!
Merry Christmas and thanks for all the work trying to MALS!
An artist here in Florida died using an angle grinder on coquina rock. Blade broke, no sufficient head protection, broken bit of blade impaled in his skull. Ends of story/life.
Good to see it’s AC. Yesterday I threw out a 4Ah AEG 8 rechargeable Li-ion battery.
Then my trusty (no longer) rechargeable hair trimmer gave up the ghost. My sons expensive rechargeable shaver (3 round flexible disc/screen type) was also stuffed.
IMO it’s either AC or disposable common battery powered devices from now on.
Sure all these batteries did give reasonable life, but it’s way too short.
Love that band saw, but for the little I will do, an 4” (100mm) angle grinder with the 1mm thin cutting disc is more than enough for me.
A skilled and experienced operator using the angle grinder is way better as that tool is massive, no doubt expensive and the ROI (return on investment) for 30 cuts in the next 30 years is not money well spent.
Now for people with plenty money, no storage issues, those with poor ability/experience/skill it would be ideal.
I'm going on 8 years with some of my Milwaukee batteries. The rest 5+ and that's in daily use in a truck workshop. More grunt and better convenience than air tools that are subject to good air lines or running lines across a workshop.
I bought a Milwaukee bandsaw for my trade and it's definitely better for cutting exhaust pipes etc. Roi is good for me as it's a tool of my trade.
@@Low760 definitely makes sense in your case. I have heard Milwaukee tools are good. To be fair, the AEG was a hand me down and did get plenty use on the battery drill. But with use on the blower and wipper snipper, the battery gets very hot, especially with the blower.
As soon as I finish I put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before resting at least a couple of hours then put on the charger.
Great review. Just ordered one.
Great tool. I would not be without it. I made a table form mine, which is great for cutting small parts. I wish Vevor sold the drop saw attachment separately as I should have got one of those.
I might just try this saw. I most definitely won’t definitely never use an angle
I have A Sheppach version of the drop saw version which outside of the colour looks almost identical to that Vevor version, and it like you say is great, AM needs to buy himself a saw, hacksaws are so primitive. 👍
With my bandsaw collection, I have a reasonably large floor standing unit, 2 benchtop ones, and a cordless portable unit.
1st thing I suggest is get a spare blade. So yeah, I have made "friends" with my local saw doc.
Once u get into cutting harder stuff, I can only get blades made up to suit is for the floor unit, so there is that. Naturally the doc simply buys the blades as a roll and just cuts and joins to suit the required size.
No sparks to worry about, so the the cordless is used to cut 12mm bar out on site.
Dear John C , I just found out that "JANUS" is the Greek god with two faces responsible for beginnings and transitions . Hard to make this shit up .
Hugh Janus has a very good friend in Rome called Biggus Dickus….
I had a large electric motor shaft come in that needed an amputation because the bearing had run dry and overheated the shaft, and the belt tension resulted in a severely bent shaft. This was a 3 inch diameter. There's really no option but a portable bandsaw to cut this off in a weld prep fashion, being two angular cuts to form a half of a V prep. I used a 4" capacity Milwaukee portable. Made the job easy.
You do have to use a hand hacksaw a little bit to appreciate a portable saw. I hate using abrasive wheel saws except when there is no other way. Always use a safety helmet with face shield and ventilate the area. Doesn't do a helluva lot of good to wear a face mask during the cut, only to whip it off the instant you're done the cut. Plus, face masks are mostly useless if you can still smell the dust. It's not the big particulates that are the problem, it's the micron sized particles that hang around forever.
Thanks john looks like ill have to buy a bandsaw now lol
Nice one John.Ive got a milwaukee 18 volt band saw and it's pretty good when I need it.Bang for buck I reckon that Vevor one is probably the smarter deal
I bought one a few months ago and my only regret is that I didn't do it many years ago. My basement workshop isn't very fire proof so I don't dare using an angle grinder indoors. Therefore I have went outdoors to cut things which is inconvenient when it rains or if it's late and I don't want to wake up the neighbors. The band saw is wonderful.
John, please can you show us how you cut steel but without pants on. Thank you
I am in love with my tungsten carbide saw, but it's no good for cutting assembled stuff like the legs off a bench, like you mentioned. Maybe I need a handy band saw to do what my TCT can't, and my angle grinders shouldn't.
Merry Christmas to you, your family, Tiffany and all of the ex wives. I'll have to watch this in a couple of hours. Off to tow a Sportage with no spare. Who knows what happened to it.
Not a wise move in the Byron Hinterland, Lismore area.
Yeah I HATE those vehicles without a full size spare, in fact I will never buy them for that reason alone.
No issue with my old 07 Prado
@@martinlang9615it's got a full size spare, or at least it did. He decided to get his spare tire out but it was gone, even the chain that hangs it was broken off.
Sorrento too, not Sportage.
It doesn't matter how fancy your handheld bandsaw is, when you're wielding it in your hands whilst making a cut!
THE OLIGHT MINI LED LANTERN LOOKS GOOD, CAN YOU DO A REVIEW ON IT PLEASE?
John's now the ming mole of power tools....
He's changed, agree he is just a Ming Mole now. I notice his sponsors have nothing to do with cars????
@@levelflightvideo But Vevor has everything to do with fabrication.
John must enjoy ‘deburring’ Ming Moles with his ‘Power Flute’.
I once had a Ming Mole in the Workshop for a resleeve. Insert a leg of Mutton and pull out the bone.
Got a recommendation for a bench drill press?
Can't get these any more in the UK :(
When is tour of fat cave engineering coming?
I think I could use one in the kitchen.
What length is the blade? Vevor doesn't seem to sell spare blades?
Yes, angle grinders have their purpose... grinding things on an angle.
How easy is it to take it off the base, I need to know quickly because it's on sale right now on Amazon. Thank you
3 set screws
Could cut a driver out of a burning EV if one had a mind too. The difficulty is their reassembly.
is it noisy like a chopsaw?
Now sold out…. (Portable bandsaw)
Yep. I was going to buy myself one for Christmas, too.
'Fingernails of Satan'. That's one I'm going to steal. Nice one John!
A B&E tool 😮
Nice gay t-shirt!!!
Santa bringing replacement ones tonight?
Thx but i'll stick starting with a hacksaw and go from there , that looks like something else taking up space that's going to waste my time trying to get it to work when i could be hacking away thinking of the next project 🙂 if your in business knock yourself out fill a room full of that shit it's tax deductible just keep on top of your workers comp payments 😂
🛑Has anyone ever wondered if this guy ever really uses half of the tools that we see hanging up in his work shop?I don't think I have ever seen them move from one month to the next. Just like this saw. It's clean as a whistle and It looks like this is the first time that it has ever been used. Are these tools just a bunch of expensive props? Come clean John, why do you even bother having half of these tools that you have hanging around?🛑
The saw has been supplied brand new for the promotional video. How do you even function?
Thanks .@@tomparker5000 Most of the tools that you see in his videos have been there for a long time including this saw but thank you for your input.
@@gazza70cr applying Occam's razor to the situation would yield the hypothesis that the tools are always in the same place because he packs up his gear after he uses it, and doesn't abuse them.
I'm glad you said hypothesis @@tomparker5000 If the 10mm socket is not missing there goes your argument.
@@gazza70cr his 3/8" socket probably has 10mm engraved over the top
We cheapskate’s with less than 150.00 usd from china thruway of Harbor Freight all the Chinese tools you want for today’s 10.00 usd yesterday it use to cost 2.50 but We call it Bidenomics in America Harbor Freight & that bandsaw exactly the same look and just as good!!!
when i look at all your tools , the Chinese rubbish in your work shop makes me laugh, your drill press just as one example is Chinese junk, it would rattle when turned on, would not drill a straight and square hole to table and the spindle run out would be like a Chinese amusement park ride, dude buy a parkin or waldown, Australian made, used are cheap and a precision tool the drills a straight hole and square to table , please dont advise people to buy junk, lots of good machinery used and cheap, 240v or even 3 phase is easy and cheap to convert to 240v , you may know cars but not tools
Without the possibility of exploding zip discs while cutting metal, There is no fun , excitement, or sport. C'mon john... man up a little - zippy shrapnel never killed anyone!!!🦘👉👌🦘👉👌