record Bandsaw BS350X

[devonwoody]

Spud

I cant understand the bit about 1" lateral play. That sounds very disturbing to me. Are you saying when set up you can push that top wheel from fixed by 1"?

I did have the BS350 for around 3 days once.

 

[Anonymous]

Devonwoody, This is my first bandsaw, so I am obviously not familiar with their makeup, but on my machine it has a bottom hinged door with a large cast wheel inside that the blade runs on. At the top of the machine there is another hinged door with another large cast wheel inside, that picks up the other end of the blade, it is this top cast wheel that I am dubious about.

If I grab hold of it at three o'clock and nine o'clock and rock it back and forth there is at least an inch play to and fro! So I would be grateful if anyone else who has one of these particular machines that is working to tell me whether they have any such lateral play in their top wheel. If they have then I can elimiate it and start looking elsewhere, if not then I have problems.

Thanks.

 

[pooka]

Spud, this amount of play was common to several of the bandsaws that I looked at prior to buying one, but only with no blade fitted. If you get this kind of play when a blade is installed and tensioned, then there is a problem.

 

[Chris Knight]

Spud,
I think you will find that the "play" is just the movement available and necessary for the blade tracking mechanism which on most saws tilts the top wheel back and forth.

 

[Anonymous]

I have started pulling it apart now, taking the top wheel off there are two bearings in the centre housing, the rear one has gone and is rough as rat's, when turning it by hand, although this would not cause the lateral play. This machine must have only been used for maybe a day or two all told since I have had it. For these roller bearing to go this quick is a disgrace! They are both two of China's greatest offerings, the make of them is unrecognisable to me, so tomorrow I will replace them with some 6203Z German NSK bearings.

I think you will find that the "play" is just the movement available and necessary for the blade tracking mechanism which on most saws tilts the top wheel back and forth.

Yes I can understand that, because the wheel tracking is done via a threaded bolt that butt's against the bottom of the tensioner housing, which in turn tilt's the top wheel back and forth from Twelve O'Clock to Six O'Clock by means of a clevis pin that runs right through the housing. The trouble is my play is from Three O'Clock to Nine O'Clock. In the Motorbike world this is known as runout, having this amount on any component of machinery doing more than five revolutions a minute is not to be invited.

Trouble is having now taken it down and seeing how basic it is, there seems very little chance of being able to rectify anything, as the crudeness of it's design leaves very little too play with. One thing of note is my clevis pin which the tracking fulcrums on is tackily held in it's housing via those spring clips, whilst looking at the Record manual it clearly states that the ends of the rolled pin should be threaded with hex nut's pulling it together!

I did have the BS350 for around 3 days once.

Delighted with your purchase?

 

[Jarviser]

Spud, re blade tensioning question, the updated user manual SHOULD be here http://www.recordpower.co.uk/index.pl?s=download&a=prod&p=BS350&o=1 unfortunately that particular one is unavailable today. But even in the new manuals they give only a guideline for blade tensioning. If you push it with your thumb as hard as you comfortably can, it should not move more than 1/4 inch over a 6 inch length.
If the blade is wandering I wonder if you have the blade guides close enough to the blade. They should be behind the teeth gullets and there should be only the thichness of a piece of paper between the guide and the blade. Top and bottom of course, plus the thrust bearing.
Even though the top wheel can swing an inch on the mounting like a pendulum, the blade tension should hold it at its lowest position.
My BS250 has no blade tensioning spring or guide, but there is a little black sliding plate in the upper guide column. With the upper guide fully down you can slide it up and to push the blade to the right and the gap between the blade and the metal is about 1/4 inch. I am guessing that is what it is used for, i.e. you should not be able to push the blade against the inside of the column. That may only be on the latest models. The manuals fail to mention this feature.
Re the bearings I would strongly recommend using rubber sealed bearings, usually has "2RS" after the code number instead of Z. I have written to RecordPower about their shielded bearings possibly not being up to the job of keeping out the dust. I'm currently testing some sealed ones in mine. Check eBay and USA sites for inexpensive replacements.
Re the circlips/hex nuts confusion in the manual - I have told them about that too!
I think for the money they are pretty good. The design is "agricultural" but still quite elegantly simple. Mine seems to cut very nicely.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I have replaced the clevis pin that the tracking arm pivots on with a shouldered M10 bolt, also I have shimmed between the tensioner housing and the housing on the main chassis that the tensioner housing sits in, this has made an incredible difference, there actually exists some rigidity now.

Jarviser, I have now set my blade to have just over 1/4 play to a given six inches of blade run, the record tensioner guide now reads 1/4 inch tension, yet I have a 1/2 inch blade! Never mind, because I was never really keen on relying on that convoluted mechanism within the top door. I also set my blade guides as good as I reasonably can. That sliding plate you talk of, well I also have one but as of yet have not figured out quite what purpose it serves. But I will see tomorrow whether it is some sort of tension defining feature.

I have the new Dure-edge blade installed; it is ½” x 5tpi. So I went to cut a short piece of redwood as a test that was 8”x3” and about a foot long. Well I have to say that if I knew no different and someone had showed me the cutting process, I would have staked my life on the blade being dull, but it’s brand new! It is cutting it now and does it fairly cleanly and pretty true, but what a painful process! I am taking it very slowly and putting very little pressure on, but surely this new blade should go through a piece of softwood like a hot knife through butter? I know it’s 8” and I know care must be taken, but as I said what a long winded process, took about three minutes to go through twelve inches and if you put any pressure on, the motor will start stalling. Surely this cannot be right for a piece of softwood? It is exactly like the blade is blunt. I bought these blades about two months back and had not even had a chance to open them yet, but was banking on them to rejuvenate the machine….What a let down!

I was wondering whether to try and get a ¾”x 3tpi blade and see if that is more suited to ripping this size of stuff. What’s everyone else’s experiences cutting this size of timber on this size of machine?

Thanks.

 

[devonwoody]

I myself with limited experience would want less than 5tpi if cutting 8x3"? At least 3 tpi?

 

[johnb]

Just a thought, but you have got the Dure-edge blade in the right way round (teeth pointing downwards)?

 

[Adam]

Just a thought, but you have got the Dure-edge blade in the right way round (teeth pointing downwards)?

Thats what I thought - classic symptom of uncoiling it back-to-front.

Adam

 

[devonwoody]

I reckon you two correspondents above are asking for a ........

 

[Anonymous]

Just a thought, but you have got the Dure-edge blade in the right way round

I have been known to do such silly things (Haven't we all?) but not this time.

I have now drifted out my old bearing and put some new ones in, that along with my shouldered bolt with nut and shim has made the play in the top wheel almost non existent now...Which is good. You must use a very fine spring washer or serrated washer to hold the nut, you could also use a nyloc nut or even split pin. You cannot do the nut up too tight because obviously the tracking housing still needs to be free to move vertically for tension and pivot for tracking within the chassis housing. You must just tweak the nut up until the slop between the two housings has been eliminated whilst still allowing it to move freely.


After I cut the wood the other night, I opened the middle door on the saw and on the ledge I noticed how fine the sawdust was, I picked some up and it was like talcum powder, incredibly fine. I also noticed that when the piece of wood fell apart the cut faces seemed to have this really fine sawdust compacted along the lenght. There was no burning marks, but I was taking it very slowly.

I rang up Dure-edge and we both thought that the blade was cutting too finely (This is pretty dense and heavy redwood, C26 Structural class) and what seemed to be happening was the blade was not able to clear itself, thus this extremely fine dust was causing the blade to bind and become very tight as it dragged and compacted the sawdust through the cut.

I have ordered some 3/4" 3tpi blades off of Dure-edge that have a special set on the teeth that allows them to create a wider kerf and so let the blade breathe a touch more and allow it to clear itself whilst ripping. So I will take it from there when the blades arrive.

I also spoke to the bloke at Record, told him the tensioner thing in the housing was tacky and basically cr*p! He said the best way to tension the blades is to look at them head on with the machine running and the blade will chatter from side to side, so adjust the tension knob on top of the machine until the chatter disapears and the blade resembles a pencil line.

Finding it a bit fiddly setting up the blade guides as they do not seem to sit parallel to the blade! I can only ever seem to get one extremity near to the blade, rather than the whole face of the guide sitting parallel

So waiting for my new ripping blades now to see what happens.

 

[scratchy]

If you have a new blade from a reputable source like Dure Edge and you are tensioning it OK - have you checked the belt tension? I have a BS350 and it is certainly capable of cutting 8" at a sensible rate. Is it possible that your belt is not tensioned enough - especially as you say you have had it for a while and it has been moved around? If this is not tensioned adequately it will not transfer enough drive to the wheels and the stalling you described could be the belt slipping.

As Jarviser has pointed out Record now have a new manual on the website http://www.recordpower.co.uk/index.pl?s ... =BS350&o=1 and belt tensioning is covered in that.

By the way you say you spoke to them about the blade tensioning - what about the play in the wheel you have described? You should have a 5 year guarantee and if there is a fault on your machine they should sort it out. Obviously it would be better if things did not go wrong in the first place and Record maybe need to brush up their quality control - but I have always had good back up (and replacement bits) from them in the past when I have needed it (after dealing directly with them and forgetting the apathetic dealer). At least if the after sales back up is good it counts for something - but i wish Record and other companies would pay more attention to detail in the first place

Cheers

Scratchy

 

[omega1]

I have the new Dure-edge blade installed; it is ½” x 5tpi. So I went to cut a short piece of redwood as a test that was 8”x3” and about a foot long. Well I have to say that if I knew no different and someone had showed me the cutting process, I would have staked my life on the blade being dull, but it’s brand new! It is cutting it now and does it fairly cleanly and pretty true, but what a painful process! I am taking it very slowly and putting very little pressure on, but surely this new blade should go through a piece of softwood like a hot knife through butter? I know it’s 8” and I know care must be taken, but as I said what a long winded process, took about three minutes to go through twelve inches and if you put any pressure on, the motor will start stalling. Surely this cannot be right for a piece of softwood? It is exactly like the blade is blunt. I bought these blades about two months back and had not even had a chance to open them yet, but was banking on them to rejuvenate the machine….What a let down!


Thanks.

I also own the record BS350 and have ordered blades from Dure-Edge they recommened when cutting 8" elm that a 3/4 by 3tpi blade should be used.