Warco sell bandsaw blades for this machine. It is supplied with a 14 tpi blade.

If it’s “tearing” fit a 24 tpi blade to have more teeth in the cut on thin sections.

10 tpi – Large selection bar stock.
14 tpi – General purpose blade for most bar stock in mild steel, aluminium, brass and plastic.
24 tpi – Light gauge material, for instance light wall tube and extrusions.

https://www.warco.co.uk/replacement-blades/72-universal-bandsaw-blades-64-inch.html

Yes, what Noel say – there’s a thing that look like the handle of a toilet brush to the left of the vice handle – screw this in / clockwise to make the saw blade rest ‘lighter’ on the work – alternatively support the weight of the ‘bow’ at the end of the job by letting the tension knob just rest on your fingers as the cut finishes – DO NOT hold the moving part of the saw anywhere else whilst it’s running.

And yes, run the saw at it’s fastest speed for aluminium.

As Dave says,the blades supplied with these saws are usually not the best.

Change to a Bi metal blade with more teeth for use on Ali and you should have no problem. However, you might still need to support the frame of the saw when getting close to the end of the cut. Just like a hacksaw, it tends to break through the last bit.

I cut mostly steel sections or box and I often find that light/thin sections need to be watched.  Also, as Dave said, check your speed, fast for Ali, Slow for steel.

When cutting thin-walled material I ease the pressure around the narrowest areas, by gently taking some of the weight of the bow. (I am very careful not to put my hands where hands should not be.)

When the cut-off length is long I take its weight by hand or overhead hoist, and control the break-off point.

I do not chnage the blade speed. No need. It stays on the slowest, as I cut mainly steel.

It does not have to be fast for aluminium (or wood) merely because it can be: all that happens is the cutting takes longer.

What would be better for the softer, cloggy materials is a coarser blade but…

a) I have never found any, (perhaps I ought try Tuff Saws!) and

b) on my “Alpine”-badged, Taiwanese clone machine fitting a blade is a right pain, needing all sorts of antics with blocks of wood and clamps, and wearing safety-glasses lest it spring back at me, to do so at all, especially safely. So I do so only to replace a worn or broken blade, or re-fit one that has jumped off the pulleys as they do occasionally.

.

Use industrial hacksawing, circular-sawing and vertical bandsawing machines on a variety of metals, as was my employment for eight years, and you realise high-speed “recommendations” might be relevant professionally but are otherwise specious! The reciprocating and circular saws had two speeds: slow and less slow.

The circular one, Italian-made judging its name I forget, was a lovely tool leaving a square-cut finish akin to horizontal-milling. I used it once to make three small taper gib-&-cotter pairs as a “homer”! I am surprised these saws are not sold by “ours”, but they and their blades are expensive.

I use something similar when cutting an oblique outline, assuming space permits.

Screw the part, aligned appropriately, to a suitable wooden block or board, and grip that.

Stopping the saw as soon as the offcut departs, means the board is still available for other tasks!

This is simpler if the component-to-be already has holes that can be borrowed by the wood-screws, but screws snugged up against the edges with the heads overhanging the part, are effective.

HP, I’ve had the standard (Sheffield-made?) carbon steel blade in mine for about 5 years, it still cuts clean straight and true.

The bi-metal one that the internet at large told me I needed is still hanging in it’s bag on the wall..

Hello Nigel,

I too have an Alpine bandsaw (Rung Fu, Taiwanese make). I thought it rubbish and side lined it for 40 years. Big mistake as it just needed some careful adjustment and decent blades.

I find it not very difficult to change blades, so I am somewhat puzzled by your problems. Could it be that the wheels are not coplanar or there is an angle between the two wheels? I had this problem when I fettled my saw and it did cause difficulties in changing blades and the blade popping off the wheels for no apparent reason.

After putting it on a trolley, I find it to be the best value for money piece of kit, I have ever purchased.

Andrew.

One mistake many make (including me) is being scared of the blade tension knob.  If you don’t have the blade tensioned tight enough, it causes all sorts of bother.

You should be able to pluck the bandsaw blade like the string of a guitar and it should make a clean “twang” noise.

I was bothered by the large overhang of the workpiece on my bandsaw as the blade was a good 25mm past the end of the support plate. I added a short length of RHS which has a foot on the far end and a spigot on the other end that slips into a hole in the support plate with a grubscrew to keep it there. One pass with the saw made a slot in the top which gives the workpiece good support on both sides of the blade and stops the offcut from bending down as the blade nears the end of it’s cut. So far it has survived 18 months of regular use without any problems although the slot is now a bit wider than it was originally due to slight misalignment of replacement blades.

Like Andrew and John I have the Alpine version of this bandsaw. early model purchased by my father whilst my back was turned at a Guildford model engineer exhibition day. Muttering in dad’s hearing that …. something … might be nice was dangerous.

Worked but was always a bit iffy until I got fed up and reworked the guide roller adjustment. New eccentric bearing carriers with more travel, so the blade could be properly pinched, made from decent size hexagon bar so they could be accurately adjusted made a major difference. Also did a bit of re-working to the balance spring abutment and screw to improve head support.

Coupled with better blades it became an OK tool providing it was used sensibly in full understanding of it being a low end tool sacrificing performance for cost. Nowadays mostly retired as a Rapidor power hacksaw and upright Startrite 14″ do virtually all my cutting.

The savage twist applied to the blade between wheels and guide rollers really doesn’t help. Big brother with a more gentle blade twist, more rigid blade and all round improved design has always been much better. At much greater price.

Clive

Putting the blade on is easy

1 screw the tension screw down to give plenty of clearance

2 rough fit blade but ignore the guides

3 the important bit. Use a small G clamp to teach the blade some manners  and keep it in one place

4 fit into guides and tighten the blade

the clamp stops the annoying habit of the blade sequentially jumping off the top then bottom pulls when the other is being fixed!  Originally I kept the bottom in place with my foot, but not that easy these days…….  This way is much better

I keep mine permanently on the middle speed, for blades 30 years ago I bought a 100 ft coil for a very good price, then joint  with a tiny chamfer produced with a wood jig on the inisher. A micro flame silver solders it together.  Got enough left for 5 blades. They do last a long time 

I made up a blade tension measuring device. Must admit it was a total waste of time. For the standard blade, I get the correct tension (extension) when I cannot turn the tensioning handle any further! As for the bimetallic blade, if I remember Jacques article correctly, the tension (extension) needs to be twice as great. No chance with my saw! This may be something to do with my muscle wasting disease, but other people have had the same problem with my saw!

Cannot emphasise enough that the guides need to be adjusted correctly so the blade is vertical, Do not have the rollers too tight as nipping the blade causes problems. The wheels must be coplanar and parallel. When changing blades you need to recheck the guide set up

I do have some spare bimetallic blades, but have never used them as good quality carbon steel blades seem to last forever.

Andrew.