Model Engineering In Thailand and South East Asia

Makita 2107F Portable Bandsaw Review

A Review Of The 2107F Makita Bandsaw For The Model Engineer In Thailand

Small bandsaws suitable for the model engineer in Thailand are very hard (impossible?) to find here in Thailand. I knew that Makita made a vertical bandsaw because I saw it in a shop but that was for cutting wood and I wanted one to cut metals, primarily steel. So a quick look through a few Makita catalogues online threw up this portable machine, the Makita BPB 180 Bandsaw. As a  battery powered tool it it didn’t seem up to the job although I didn’t dismiss it out of hand and I was amazed at the quoted capacity of 120 mm or 4-3/4″.

Photo of Makita 2107F Portable Band Saw View 001

Makita 2107F Portable Band Saw View 001

Anyway I went to check at one of our local tool and hardware merchants in Pak Chong so see if they could get one and what the price was. The answer was that in Thailand, the  battery powered Makita BPB 180 bandsaw is not available but a mains powered Makita 2107F Bandsaw is available to order.It is identical to the  Makita BPB 180 bandsaw but is mains powered, not battery powered. At the Peuan Kaiset shop in Pak Chong the Makita 2107F Bandsaw is on abouty 2 days delivery from Bangkok. The price at the Peuan Kaiset shop is 15,500 Thai Baht. That’s about US$ 493 or GB£307. So I paid a deposit and awaited delivery from Bangkok. [flagallery gid=1]

My Makita 2017F Bandsaw

Well, my Makita bandsaw arrived a few days later together with a few spare blades I had ordered. I tried it out on a piece of brass bar about 0.5″ diameter fixed in a bench vice and it cut very well holding the saw by hand.

Direction Of Blade Travel

One thing surprised me though was the direction of cut (blade travel direction).

A normal hacksaw cuts on the forward stroke. The blade on the Makita portable bandsaw travels towards you so that the saw is pulling away from you – the opposite to what I’m used to.

This has repercussions when we come to make the Vertical and Horizontal Holders as described below.

Making Vertical and Horizontal Holders for the 2017F Bandsaw

So now I had a bandsaw that worked and it would be fine to use as a powered hand-held hacksaw. But I wanted more than that. I wanted the bandsaw to be held in some kind of frame (or frames) so that I could use it as a normal horizontal cut-off machine and also to have it held with the blade vertical with a machine table so that I could push metal into the blade. This is a movie showing how to make a fixed table and convert the portable Makita 2107F Bandsaw into a bench-mounted vertical bandsaw:

That’s not me in the movie, by the way. I’ll get round to making one of those frames shortly, but my pressing need is for a horizontal cut-off type holder.

Making A Horizontal Cut-Off Type Holder For The Makita 2107F Band Saw

So I set to and very quickly lashed up a very rough and ready prototype holder for the bandsaw to test the principle of what I wanted to achieve. Here are some photos and a video of it:-

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Video Of The First (Long-Arm) Makita 2107F Bandsaw Frame

Yes, I know it’s a bit flimsy and Heath-Robinson, but it works. The next version will be a bit beefed up with a shorter horizontal arm. The final version will have it’s own stand and vice and not simply be clamped to the bench like this prototype.

Here is version 1A with a shorter rm and cutting a bigger piece of steel:-

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Development Of A Frame To Hold The Makita 2107F Portable Bandsaw For Horizontal Cut-Off Use

I am developing a frame to hold the Makita 2107F portable bandsaw in a horizontal position to allow easy cutting off of bars.

On the Makita 2107F Horizontal Bandsaw Frame Design page you can see the design as it develops and some of the issues that have arisen and how I’m dealing with them.

 

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