Proxxon bandsaw MBS 240/E mini review
Cutting can be a problem in the small home workshop. Metal cutting power hacksaws are too large, donky saws are right out. Fret saws aren’t up to anything apart from cutting jigsaws and even manual hacksawing requires a large vice and sturdy workbench. Small rotary saws can be good, but are a bit limited in what they can cut.
That leaves bandsaws. Able to cut sheet, plate and even bar stock the bandsaw is a very flexible tool for the home workshop. One such, and possibly the smallest available bandsaw is the Proxxon MBS 240/E. It is not a cheap little bandsaw, at almost £270 you could certainly by a much larger Chinese one for less, but there are several reasons why you might want to give the proxxon a second look.
First it is small. If you workshop is in an attic room you can barely stand up in that can be a big advantage.
Second it has some surprising features. It has the capability of taking a diamond blade and with the addition of an extra kit (or a bit of imagination and diy) can be water cooled. Though this probably isn’t the first thing you might look for in a saw it does improve the usefulness of the tool ultimately
Thirdly it is actually very well made. The blades run on cast aluminium wheels, which are both fitted with ball bearings. Tension is adjusted by a nice easy knob at the top and can be locked in by tightening some hex bolts.
There is enough power in the motor to cut some surprisingly large bits of metal, I have gone through 1 inch thick brass and aluminium bar with it which takes some patience but is very doable.
It has a rubber attachment to fit a vacuum system to which you can fit a standard vacuum cleaner or presumably the proxxon offering which can be very handy when sawing wood or PCB laminate!
The only slight downside is the blades. Presumably due to the small size of the saw and consequent low number of total teeth on the blade they get blunt quite quickly. I recommend the bimetal blades if you are going to be cutting any metal, yes they are expensive, but they last MUCH longer than the Swiss steel ones and will save you money in the long run.
It does need to be bolted down to a bit of wood before using, since its footprint isn’t large enough to safely operate it free standing. It has quite enough power to remove fingers so deserves the same respect as other power tools.
It is also somewhat noisy when running, though that is to be expected from any power sawing process
Conclusion:
A solid thumbs up to proxxon in this one, They have produced a high quality very useful small tool, which should remain useful even if the owner moves into bigger premises and gets a full sized bandsaw. I use mine often on everything from thin plastic to inch square brass stock and it performs admirably.