Hello everyone - perhaps it's not the done thing for newbs to begin with a denunciation - however, I came across this forum whilst looking for reviews for a replacement, and thought I'd share my experience for make benefit anyone looking for a bandsaw or extractor.
A couple of months ago, I bought the Record 300 bandsaw and the small dust extractor they do to accompany it, and the pair of them have been nothing but trouble. For a start, the extractor, although powerful enough to cope with a 10" thicknesser when working properly, tends to prefer not to work properly. The dust filter is a cardboard cylinder over which you put a paper bag, the whole then being pressed on to the housing of the vacuum motor in the lid. There is no clip, lock, securer of any kind to keep it there, not even a bit of bungee, with the result that the filter regularly falls off and allows chips or sawdust to fountain into the air.
That, however is nothing compared to the bandsaw. Firstly, they sent it without the wheelkit for the stand - when the wheelkit arrived the supporting metal strips do not fit it. There is also no way to secure the swivelling wheels to the stand, unless you clamp the ball race hard enough to bend the housing.
The saw table is not square, and does not secure properly to the mountings, leaving about 5 degrees of play in normal use. The fence is extruded aluminium which fits to a cast iron mounting, which is too low for the table, leaving the end of the fence with a 9 degree elevation into the air, allowing thinner material to slip under it. Drawing the fence back so that it ends level with the blade will partly solve this, but the extrusion then fouls the fence locking knob.
The blade guides are abysmal, and the locking screws on the upper guides shake loose even under no load. The blade wanders wildly with anything thicker than two inch timber, to the extent that I have to allow an extra 5mm planed away just to straighten out the cut (requiring more emptying of the tragic extractor, and a considerable cumulative expense when sawing walnut or similarly priced timber). The final straw came when I was resawing some 6" mahogany, and four grub screws, which had come loose from God knows where, came flying one after the other out of the upper wheel housing. One jammed in the upper blade guide, another ricocheted from the untrue saw table and hit my wife in the face, a third blacked my thumbnail before the fourth went into the cut and bent about half the teeth on the blade.
The only good thing in the while sorry saga is that I got both items from Screwfix, which whilst not very good at sending what you actually ordered, is quick enough (presumably with a skill honed by long experience of being sent back dodgy equipment) to take stuff back, at any rate after five phone calls, three emails, five faxes and a letter from a Barrister.
I shall never buy anything made by Record Power again.
A couple of months ago, I bought the Record 300 bandsaw and the small dust extractor they do to accompany it, and the pair of them have been nothing but trouble. For a start, the extractor, although powerful enough to cope with a 10" thicknesser when working properly, tends to prefer not to work properly. The dust filter is a cardboard cylinder over which you put a paper bag, the whole then being pressed on to the housing of the vacuum motor in the lid. There is no clip, lock, securer of any kind to keep it there, not even a bit of bungee, with the result that the filter regularly falls off and allows chips or sawdust to fountain into the air.
That, however is nothing compared to the bandsaw. Firstly, they sent it without the wheelkit for the stand - when the wheelkit arrived the supporting metal strips do not fit it. There is also no way to secure the swivelling wheels to the stand, unless you clamp the ball race hard enough to bend the housing.
The saw table is not square, and does not secure properly to the mountings, leaving about 5 degrees of play in normal use. The fence is extruded aluminium which fits to a cast iron mounting, which is too low for the table, leaving the end of the fence with a 9 degree elevation into the air, allowing thinner material to slip under it. Drawing the fence back so that it ends level with the blade will partly solve this, but the extrusion then fouls the fence locking knob.
The blade guides are abysmal, and the locking screws on the upper guides shake loose even under no load. The blade wanders wildly with anything thicker than two inch timber, to the extent that I have to allow an extra 5mm planed away just to straighten out the cut (requiring more emptying of the tragic extractor, and a considerable cumulative expense when sawing walnut or similarly priced timber). The final straw came when I was resawing some 6" mahogany, and four grub screws, which had come loose from God knows where, came flying one after the other out of the upper wheel housing. One jammed in the upper blade guide, another ricocheted from the untrue saw table and hit my wife in the face, a third blacked my thumbnail before the fourth went into the cut and bent about half the teeth on the blade.
The only good thing in the while sorry saga is that I got both items from Screwfix, which whilst not very good at sending what you actually ordered, is quick enough (presumably with a skill honed by long experience of being sent back dodgy equipment) to take stuff back, at any rate after five phone calls, three emails, five faxes and a letter from a Barrister.
I shall never buy anything made by Record Power again.
Be thankful; you got yours taken back... :roll:
