record power planer thicknesser 260 pt

[biggame]

MORNING ALL,

I'm thinking about buying a Record Power planer thicknesser 260 (the blue coloured one) for just under three hundred quid. It's in vg nick according to the pics and I was under the impression that Record Power were machines of the highest repute but reading one or two comments on UKW, I'm having second thoughts.

I'm not really interested in spending a great deal of time messing around setting the planer up - I feel that for that sort of dosh I should be able to virtually plug it in and go for it.

So gentlemen (and ladies), is the 260 blue a good machine or not?

 

[RogerP]

Record used to produce excellent machinery made in the UK but over the years they've imported and rebadged more and more of their catalogue. That's not to say this imported stuff is all bad but it's not the Record quality of old. The P/T you mention is much the same (I can't find a blue one only green) as many other rebadged very similar items and they all come from Asian factories. I have the SIP version and have been very pleased with it. How different is this blue one you have found to the green model?

 

[biggame]

Hi Roger,

Thanks for the reply. This model sits on a cabinet rather than on a leg stand. One was sold on eBay recently for around £350 which has decent pics. Until I see it I can't elaborate further but it apparently weighs in at 92 kgs so it's no lightweight.

cheers

Phil

 

[cambournepete]

I have the green version.
I have nothing to compare it with, but it seems to work pretty well to me.
The weakness is the fence - it's pants, being fairly flimsy and tricky to adjust accurately. I think I've seen articles on the web about improving it though.
Chip extraction isn't great either.

 

[biggame]

Thanks Pete,

I drove over to inspect the Record planer yesterday and actually bought it. It was in A1 condition and had obviously only been used once or twice. The vendor told me that he paid between £800 and £900 for it a couple of years ago.

Just the same as the green one the fence is lightweight crap but that's true of so many these days and it's not a big deal to engineera proper one. The mototr however, sounded sweet as a nut and was nice and quiet which suits my purpose.

I would still be interested to hear from members who know about this machine and can pass on any tips.

Phil

 

[cambournepete]

... he paid between £800 and £900 for it a couple of years ago...

I didn't realise they'd got that expensive... :shock:

 

[Silverbirch]

The blue ones were branded Record Select if I remember correctly. That was a lot longer than a couple of years ago. If the seller paid that much, he was done, IMO. Record Power are offering the current version for £699.
I have the green version and the thicknessing function is good but I find planing accurately a bit of a PITA. I have had to do a lot of shimming and other fiddling about to achieve an accurate result and if you`re not careful, removing the table to access the thicknessing function can upset all your careful adjustments. I too have found the extraction not very effective, though I put that down partly to my extractor`s lack of oomph.

Ian

 

[biggame]

Hi Ian,

Sorry for the delay in replying but have been very busy,

Yes, I thought £800-900 was a little optimistic but with the current price at £699 I suppose that I didn't do too bad at £275.

It does perform adequately although as you say, removing half of the table does kind of upset things.
Thankfully I'm not operating it under exact tolerances but should be able to really.

Thanks a lot for your kind help.

Phil

 

[Clockie]

I have some new record machinery, and the extraction ducts are all 80% closed off. I asked Record and they explained that it was to prevent hands being shoved up the duct onto the moving parts. The band saw BS350S and the Pt260 are no different from all the other rubbish from China. We all complained about British Leyland quality and take it from China with open arms. So it may not be your extraction unit.