Record Power BS400 Bandsaw Review

[Random Orbital Bob]

I took delivery late last week after about a month of fairly intensive research. My particular situation is non professional and was upgrading from the RP BS300 which I had found extremely useful over the past nearly 5 years. However, with the addition of wood turning to my woodworking around 18 months ago and the desire to produce my own timber blanks, the capacities for ripping green logs became a limiting factor with the smaller machine. Can't live without features of this saw were that it had to have 12" under the guides and be robust enough to deal with green wood to near that under guide capacity. I wanted to be able to get at least 10" bowl blanks and that was driving the spec. I also wanted a quality saw that would deliver all of the incredibly useful versatility I've come to expect from this most useful machine in terms of resawing, profiles, tenons, veneers etc.

The scope of my research focused on the mid-range trade/serious hobby machines and took in the Hammer N3800, Axy SBW4300B, Startrite 352E and the Jet JWBS 18Q amongst others but they were the shortlist. A combination of build quality, price, delivery timescale, lengthy warranty, capacities and personal positive experience with other RP kit led to the decision on the BS400.

In my research I only found one other review online which was published several years ago by Alan Holtham so I felt it was high time for a customers view that might help others in the decision quandary about which machine to choose.

I took photos of each stage from delivery to the point of testing in use so a new user can get a feel of what they might expect.

This is what arrived

It was palletised and strapped to the delivery van upright. Tail-lifted and pallet trucked right into my workshop. I had hoped for wooden crating and so looked carefully for damage but it had been packed well. with the packaging off front and back. The parts were well wrapped with the wheel kit in a separate carton and the table secured to the front base of the saw.

Record Power are renowned for the copious use of cast iron in their machine tooling and the bandwheels didn't disappoint. They were substantially heavy duty behemoths, these are a massive plus when powering through thick green stock or resawing wide boards. The tyres are thick and wide with capacity for a 1" blade. This has already been tested with a Tuffsaws 1" 1.3tpi "ripper" blade for which I will publish the results later.

The table trunnion and lower blade guards (and over zealous guarding which I have already removed).

The spindle for the handwheel that operates the toolpost (upper blade guard assembly). This just required the wheel to be allen bolted on.

Lower bandwheel and housing

And full frontal with cabinet doors open.

Apart from the table the only parts I needed to fit are shown here which were a small extraction hose and jubilee clips, 2 handwheels (toolpost and V belt tensioner). The rest of the loose items were a free mitre gauge, obligatory push stick and the manual and warranty card + pdi note. I was impressed with this. The fence assembly was already on the table set in the factory which saved me some time. The assembly took less than two hours and though it was a struggle to man-handle the incredibly heavy cast table on my own, it is do-able if you feel confident enough. On balance, I would recommend you get a helper for this step. The table is mounted on the trunnion with 4 sturdy mounting bolts and spring washers to dampen vibration.

Right. This is a WIP and its way past my bed time so......to be continued.

 

[Grahamshed]

That is an impressive looking beast Bob. You should see the bandsaw Graham

 

[gregmcateer]

thankyou for this, Bob.

Come on now - We larks want the rest of this WIP.

Bed at 2.15am - surely you should be back in the 'shop by now? :lol:

Seriously, really helpful to see this sort of real life review.

Greg

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thanks chaps....most kind.

So continuing on with the assembly. The next series of snaps show the unpacked cast iron table and the guide assemblies upper and lower. The table was not attached to the saw but the heavy cast iron fence sliding assembly was attached to the table. It became clear later that either I got lucky or this was pre-set for square at the factory because I didn't need to make a single adjustment. Again that saved time. I was also impressed by the sheer weight of the table and the fact Record Power had bothered to fit in a little pressed steel insert at the frame side to prevent that gap you usually see on 16" throat saws where the cast iron of the table ends and the fence sits idle if not in use. It just neatens it up and stops tools falling down when you're adjusting guide bearings etc.

The anti rust gunk that covered the table wasn't the usually disgusting, almost impossible to clean stuff. This was more oily and removed easily with white spirit. I then treated the cast iron to a good paste wax buffing. All the fixtures and fittings, the cabinet doors, hinges were well built, robust, operated smoothly. No problems. With the dust extraction they've rigged up a little narrow bore hose from the primary 4" port to a secondary one just below the lower guides. This is clearly to trap some of the dust just as it enters the lower wheel house because all bandsaws suffer the windmill effect where the propeller action of the wheels in an enclosed space fans the dust all over the place. I'm assuming they are also trying to keep the dust away from the lower guide assembly. Does it work? From tests thus far I think its safe to say that Record Power haven't come up with any miracle innovations of the perennial bandsaw extraction challenges. After a half hour session there's plenty of dust settling on the table and at the end of the day I always clean out the wheel houses. The upper wheel house didn't have much at all whereas the lower cabinet needed a 20 second burst with the suction hose just to clear the corners where the extraction doesn't get to. Not bad, but not great either.

The guide assemblies with one of my digits for scale. They're chunky, robust, easy to adjust. I was very happy with the beef here. They consist of a rear thrust bearing and two wide surface area side bearing metal wheel arrangements on a long brass rod. The adjustments can be either made on each individual bearing or very usefully on a single shaft that operates all 3 at the same time from the rear (above the table). This allows one 6mm allen bolt to be loosened and all 3 bearings can be withdrawn from the blade for quick setup and blade change. Down below, that holds true for the side bearings but the rear thruster is adjusted with a Bristol knob from the back of the trunion and then locked with an allen bolt. As I mentioned before I removed the over zealous blade guards on assembly as they're absolutely pointless. I'm not one to take stupid risks with health and safety but how any part of me or my clothes is expected to travel 10 inches from the front of the table to the lower exposed blade is just beyond me! They will remain in a plastic bag forever! The black permanent marker numbers I always write on. Its the appropriate mm allen key needed for that particular adjustment and saves setup time. I really like this arrangement of guides, I've become used to them from the 300 and I can adjust the whole lot above and below in
minutes.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Now for the more interesting stuff. Also the stuff that filled me with a little trepidation. Had I shelled out best part of a grand for a decent saw or was it a duck? The table versus fence versus blade versus mitre slot squareness, flatness, trueness etc. All of which need to be precise if its to achieve the holy grail of eliminating drift. Get these fundamentals wrong and it doesn't matter how much of a magician Tuffsaws are, it aint gunna cut straight!

First up methinks....if the table's not flat then its going back so lets check the things I cant adjust before I waste time on things I can.

Only perfect....so I spose it'll have to do

Next up is the table square to the blade, if not deep resaw cuts wont be at right angles to the edge.

The adjustment here is simple enough. Just adjust the Bristol knob on the trunion rack and pinion till its square and then there's a long lock bolt under the table that zero's on the frame when the table is dead square. Simply lock that off and zero the pointer on the angle scale for the trunion. In my case, the pointer was correctly factory set at zero.

Now the table and blade were true, next job is to check the fence is square to the table and parallel to the blade. In order to derive optimum accuracy I installed a 1" blade for this so I had plenty of metal to align the straight edge to.

Quick capacity check (slightly more than the documented specs) and we're close to making some cuts.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Last adjustment once blade installed is the guides. Simplicity itself.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

A word about tension and tracking. To say I was careful in choosing a saw based on its ability to tension is something of an understatement. I paid a good deal of attention to the strength of the frame which ultimately has to withstand the static forces of the tension on the blade and also the spring and tensioning bolt. I was looking for heaviness and robust design. That was one of the key decisions in choosing this saw because with a wide blade (20mm or more) whats needed to rip green timber is beam strength. You cant have beam strength without adequate tension. I personally eyeballed all the saws on the shortlist and the BS400 seemed on visual inspection to have a very robust assembly. It just smacks of robustness, in short I trusted it.

Tensioning is a simple enough affair. The BS400 has a quick tension lever at the back of the upper wheel house which is a convenient way to release tension for a quick blade change. The adjustment for the tension is typical of bandsaws ie the horizontal wheel above the table. The tension meter was better than I expected in that it seemd pretty accurate for 1/2" and 5/8" but when I put the 1" on I went beyond its suggested place on the scale before I felt the blade was stiff enough. These meters are a guide at best and frankly useless at worse so I was quietly impressed as my expectation was that I wouldn't even look at it. I don't tend to faff too much with tracking preferring to simply track the blade exactly in the centre of the tyre. I know on youtube there's an American (Alex Snodgrass) at a US based exhibition who seems to know what he's talking about wrt bandsaws and he says have the gullet bottoms in the centre of the tyre. On the other hand there's Matthias Wandel who says the only purpose of a crowned wheel is to cause non v belt (flat belts) to track centrally (a bandsaw blade is essentially a flat belt pulley made of metal). So if the point of crowning is to run centrally, why not adjust the upper wheel tilt so the band tracks centrally? That's what the manufacturers manual says and when I do that in practice with a sharp blade, it cuts true...you figure whats right and whats not? I'm not here to sell one method of tracking over another, I am here to report what this saw does and what works for me.

With that last setup done. We're ready to cut. Trepidation sets in again....so far so good...but will it actually cut straight even with everything seeming good on paper? To be continued....

 

[gregmcateer]

Ooh, Bob, you big tease!!

How can you resist after all those lovely WIP photos?!?

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

The cutting tests. So far I've done a resaw test, big green logs and mitre guide. I'll publish as I get the time over this weekend. First though I need to correct a mistake in Alan Holtham's review of the BS400. He says its annoying you cant dismount the rip fence without first removing the blade. You can, just need to open the top bandwheel door and that extra 10mm or so allows it to cantilever past the cabinet and straight off its cast iron mount with no undoing of any fixing. Very handy if you want to use the entire 16" throat for something wide/long.

Here's the fence stuck on the lower cabinet

And now shown clearing it due to the opened door. Mr Holtham suggested a mod would be to cut a sliver off the fence (which would also work of course) but not necessary.

Here is a piece of beech being resawn with a 1/2" 6 tpi blade

and the resultant veneer, equally thicknessed throughout and not a bad finish either but would still need planing or sanding for display quality.

Next up a 90 degree test of the mitre gauge.

And the finish, again I was impressed with the quality. Not mitre saw with 80 tooth blade quality but very good for a bandsaw. (Not sure if the camera picks this up)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Ripping green logs.

This is the primary reason for the upgrade in the first place. With the 1" 1.3tpi ripper blade from Tuffsaws I've been staggered with the performance. Thus far the largest under the guides I've cut is 91/2". Here's a couple of snaps. I'm just off out to see if I can find a piece of Ash from the pile that will yield 10" bowl blanks.

My foot for scale

And finally the proof (its yew by the way but then you knew that already)

I'll go and have at the Ash now. Once I've got enough slabs I'll test the radius cutting and do a blade change.

 

[paulm]

An interesting and thorough review Rob, inspiring me to at least think about going out to the workshop and shed and doing some sorting out !

Cheers, Paul

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Thanks Paul. I've just come inside after 2 hours messing about with the Ash. Wait till I upload the pics, I am absolutely flabbergasted at what happened.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Well this morning has yielded deep ripping results so far beyond my expectations that I'm astounded.

This is the problem (opportunity). A present of the valentines night storms - 60 foot of olive ash

I wanted to test the bandsaw to its absolute limit - literally squeeze the biggest log I could get under the guides and see if it could cope. So I selected a log that would yield a foot from when chainsawed into a right angle. The max depth under the guides is a foot! I carefully ripped 2 faces off the log with the chainsaw which happily were very close to right angles which meant I had a reference for the bandsaw table and fence to keep the log stable.

Once on the table note the tiny gap remaining under the guides which are literally wound up to the stop ie absolute max capacity.

I went very very carefully for obvious reasons but I really needn't have worried. Here's the result of the cut.

And if I had any doubts about drift, straight cutting etc...

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Here's the remainder of the log. Once I'd got through that first cut, it kind of broke the ice and I relaxed and just pushed the rest of the log through at normal speed. The slabs are 3" thick and I guess about 16" long. Just under a foot in width ie about a 1/2" below the capacity of the saw. It just didn't even blink. I noticed not one jot of change in the tone of the motor suggesting it was slowing down. I have to be honest, much as I hoped my painstaking research had led me to the right choice, I still had my doubts, its human nature to worry after all right?

That test is in my humble opinion....definitive. This saw is absolutely superb quality. I will confess to having encountered quite a bit of bandsaw snobbery which centres around a sort of status issue of European vs Far Eastern made machines during my journey to make a choice. Part of the reason for doing these tests was to be completely objective and base conclusions on measurable results rather than peoples opinions. I hope this review has helped highlight some of the reality versus myth for this particular saw.

My conclusions are:

Pro's

Very quiet and smooth running.
Very robust construction of all major components, bandwheels, table, fence mount, trunion, frame, guides
Tensioning assembly works to the stated capacity of the manufacturer
Accurate and precise in table, fence, blade setup
power and capacity
only requires 13amp supply
design well thought through with things like the ability to take the rip fence off with no hassle
Results - far exceeded my expectations for capacity, feed speed, accuracy

Con's

Extraction not great
there is a part of the fence mount assembly that is just higher than the table so long pieces are slightly tipped up though it didn't impact performance

Summary
I'm extremely pleased and somewhat relieved that this particular decision has been vindicated because I really didn't want to go back to the market. I can thoroughly recommend this bandsaw, it just works and works well.

 

[paulm]

Result, and some nice timber too =D>

 

[Alexam]

That's a great review Bob. It backs up the fact that you get what you pay for if the product is 'as advertised' and Record seem to put out the facts.

Having only recently started with a bandsaw ans finding that a cutting capacity of 6" is rather limiting what I would like to do to expand my retirement hobby, the RS400 is ticking all the boxes. If I can get a good deal at a show this year, I may well be tempted to upgrade.

Thank you for the information in reviewing this machine.

Alex

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

You're welcome Alex

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Larry - here it is. Enjoy.

 

[woodfarmer]

Having fixed my bandsaw yesterday and used it I hope to have another play tomorrow on a bit of Cherry. If it works tomorrow it will mean I have used it more often than I have repaired it

OOPS, update, the trunnian locking handle has broken, but I can still use it

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Oh Woody.....you will have re-spec'd it in a month at this rate