The band saw arrived in good condition without any damage or missing parts. Assembled in about 15 minutes and did not need any adjusting. It works well, fairly quiet and with enough power to do the job. The laser and LED lights are a nice touch, but not really that useful. The case is plastic, so it may not last for decades, but the unit is well worth $100. This is not a top of the line band saw, but it is better than I expected for the price. Overall, I am happy with the purchase and would recommend to others. Factory-Reconditioned Skil 3385-01-RT 2.5 Amp 9-Inch Band Saw
I was in a hurry to make some band saw cuts and picked up one of these at a local retailer for $114 plus tax. Wish I could have waited a few days for it to be shipped. Although not a high quality tool, this saw performs better than I expected for the money. It does have a bit of that "made in a third world country" feel about it, but after making all the adjustments and doing a couple of test cuts, I'm pretty pleased. It's easy to set up and adjust and the features can't be beat for the price. It even has a laser indicator line and work light. Just be sure to spend a few minutes adjusting all the blade guides as you would with any new saw. This is no replacement for my 18-inch Jet bandsaw, but should be perfect for those quick small cuts when I don't want to wrestle the 300-pound machine.
PROS:
* mostly functional right out of the box (with a few adjustments)
* design looks good,everything seems easy to reach
* base and frame seem adequately solid
* all the adjustments seem to be functional, even if
flimsy or rough-feeling
* gear-driven blade guide arm is a nice touch.
CONS
* basically everything is very light-duty and has a thin,
flexible feel to it, including the table. I had to put
washers under one side of the table and change the mounting
bolts to get the table square to the blade - the fence and
miter gauge also have quite a bit of 'slop'.
* table angle pinion and rack gears feel rough, and it didn't
go far enough to get the table square with the blade (see above)!
* the fence is super cheesy and lightweight. You have to eyeball it
to make it straight (the stripes on the table help), but then
again you could also just clamp a board onto the table!
* wheels seem VERY light duty - not quite true(out of the box the upper one was
scraping slightly on the frame, which went away with a little adjustment).
I can't imagine putting any wider blade on for rip cuts, without things
flexing too much.
* The blade guide surrounds the blade and obscures the cut, unless
you have it mounted at a ridiculous height (eye level!), or bend down to look
I don't really have any comment about the laser, as I don't use it -
however, its pretty wobbly where its attached inside the case, so good luck getting it
to stay in the same position over a long period of time. One more thing that
could be nice with a little modification.
Overall, I think this would probably be OK for very light-duty, craft-type work
on thin material. . .
CONCLUSION:
I would have rated this 3 stars if I hadn't gone to Harbor Freight and seen a
very similar 9" saw that seems much better implemented (single speed, but motor
looks more solid, table and angle mechanism MUCH more solid and smooth. Also has
a toothed belt. No fence, but you could probably make something). Theirs is $119, but you
can find a 20% off coupon in the mailers or online, bringing it down under $100.
In retrospect I would have gone with this (probably with the extended warrantee).
Hope this helps.
I have a older bandsaw but put a 1/2 blade on it and don't like changing blades. to a smaller size so I thought about this skil. I am a skeptic about refurbished but am quite happy with little guy.The only difference I can tell it is a referb is the sticker on it. The only problem is the little plate around the blade was not pushed in tight, not hard to fix. I think I will need to clean the bed as it looks like it has some protective stuff on it. It does have a 1 year warranty. The "powerful 2 1/2 motor?) will handle small projects but resawing might prove difficult. All in all it is worth the money for what you get. It is very small and thin so it won't take up any space. The light and laser are a nice touch. The blade required no ajustment even after shipping so that might say something about the ability to stay in tune. I noticed Ryobi has a referb to with the same specs but cost a fair bit more.
One week early on delivery. Band saw was very easy to assemble. Came with blade on and ready to cut, very little adjustment required.
Saw made very clean cuts and functioned as good as can be expected from a small, lite band saw.Factory-Reconditioned Skil 3385-01-RT 2.5 Amp 9-Inch Band Saw
Don't waste your money on this saw. I am a professional crafts-person, and owned a delta band saw for over 10 years,until it finally died last month. I needed a new saw fast, and went to Lowe's and picked this one up. It is IMPOSSIBLE to change the blade, and if, by chance you have 3 arms and can get the blade on, you cannot set the tension. It is the worst design ever!I wish I had just bought a different saw because I am wasting hours of precious time trying to get the blade on.
I am just getting started in woodworking and didn't want to spend $500 on my first bandsaw. I read a bunch of reviews and picked this one. My saw arrived in great shape and if i didn't know better I would have thought it was a new tool. It was easy to assemble and fired right up with no problems. The first thing I noticed was the laser is useless. I tried adjusting it and it is no where close to where it should be. The fence is also pretty useless on this. The table was warped at the corners and needs to be bent/adjusted. I mainly use this for cutting small curves in .25-.5" soft wood and it works great for that. I think with some adjustments it would be even better.
I think this is a great saw for the price if you are just getting started in wood working. If you are looking for something that is going to be really accurate right out of the box you are going to have to spend a little (or a lot) more. - 2009 Amazon Frustration-fre - Woodworking - Bandsaw - Skil'
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