My thoughts on the Record Power Bandsaw BS300

After seeing discussion about buying a bandsaw on UK Cigar Box Guitars Facebook I thought I'd give you my thoughts on the one I've got. This was the first bandsaw I'd ever bought, and indeed had never used one before. I bought it secondhand off eBay at around half the price of a new one. It had seen hardly any use at all, and indeed one of the drive wheel tyres had perished through age rather than wear. It seemed that most of the new ones within my price range were a bit on the small size, and/or very cheaply built.

Once you get onto this size of machine there are quite few advantages over buying a new cheap one. Apart from the obvious thing of theoretically coping with bigger and thicker pieces of timber, you get a more powerful motor (important for sawing hard timber such as oak or maple), a cast iron table and a decently robust fence. For workshop powertools, a cast iron table is definitely the way to go - they are robust and usually machined to a decent flatness, which is big advantage over a cheaper aluminium or an even cheaper pressed steel table. A rigid and robust fence is also very helpful - this one has a solid steel rail, a machined steel clamp block and an extruded aluminium fence - nothing flimsy, and no plastic parts apart from the adjustment knobs.

The disadvantages are that it is big and heavy - it's not bench mounted and weighs in at a considerable 66 kg. It's also relatively expensive, but buying a lightly used secondhand machine can mean that you get a lot of kit for your money. Maintaining them is relatively straightforward - the wheel and guide bearings are all standard sealed ballbearings, and the only other parts that might need replacing are the drive wheel tyres and the drive belt, but in normal use none of the parts will need replacing often . Of course you will need to replace the blade from time to time, and if you are buying secondhand I recommend putting a new blade in your machine right from day one. Don't worry about getting hold of the right blade for your machine, there are plenty of firms who will custom make one the right size for you. They are not expensive, and you will be able to choose the width and tooth pattern, often from a number of different blade stock manufacturers - this will probably be better than the original one supplied by the manufacturer.

Setting up the saw can be bit fiddly to get a nice straight cut without it "drifting" at an angle on long cuts, but there is plenty of advice on YouTube on how to do this.

Ask yourself if you really need a bandsaw, rather than just wanting one - indeed you might be better off with a table saw if all you want to do is to rip down neck blanks for example.

https://www.chickenbonejohn.com/