Record BS250 - great, but watch the bearings!

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Jarviser

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Shoot'n in sheds, Luton in Beds.
The Record BS250 which I have used for 12 months for hobby work is an excellent benchtop bandsaw at an unbelievable price. It will resaw hardwood at the full 120mm depth accurately with a skip 4 blade, and there were improvements to the fence support and blade guard that are not mentioned in the user manual. It did take a couple of hours to set up as every setting including the table support needed adjusting. Since then not much has needed to be altered and the blade runs very well on the wheels without any need to fine tune tracking in use. I replaced the cam lever on the fence with a knob - this is its only weakness, apart from the following. Unfortunately after 6 months I had a screaming machine and jammed bearings :cry: . I assumed the bearings were trashed. Record's suggestion was that if you let the bearings touch the blade they will go round too fast and damage them (!! :? I thought that is what bearings were designed for). By taking one of the old bearings apart I found absolutely no metallurgical damage but a solid pack of sawdust. In my zeal to keep it clean between tasks I had brushed the sawblade thrust and guide bearings (3 above and 3 below) with an old dry paintbrush. I should have only used a vacuum nozzle because I thereby packed the bearings with sawdust which got past the shields. Unfortunately one downside of the price is that bearings like sawblades and belts are "consumables" and are not covered in the Record warranty (especially of you take the balls out!) At £6 EACH, a set of 6 makes up 25% of the original cost. However I did find, via eBay, www.vxb.com in the States which suplied me with 10 number 626-ZZ bearings for 10 dollars plus 10 dollars P&P. That is less than a quid each and they have run nicely for 6 months. I now see that they are advertising 20 of them for 15 dollars. So take care not to brush dirt into the shields like I did, and never WD40 them!.
 
Interesting - did you contact any UK suppliers of ball bearings? I needed some recently (I was repairing some really fancy bicycle pedals for my dad) for and looked up a bearing supplier in Yellow Pages and they were amazingly cheap compared to buying from the "manufacturer".
 
You could try the 2RS rubber seal bearings rather than the 2Z metal seals. The rubber seal bearings will help to keep the dust out much longer than the 2Z as the latter are not 100% sealed but just provide dirt protection.
The code would be 626-2RS which you should be able to get for under £3 a shot.

Hope this helps.

Philip
 
I am no longer in the engineering trade, and all retail suppliers I tried in UK were around the £4 - 5 mark. When I get through my stash of ZZs I will try RS on the lower bearings - thanks. Maybe Record Power should try them...
 
Jarviser":jd5qctmu said:
....and they have run nicely for 6 months. ...

Well deary me, I spoke too soon! The two replacement lower blade guide bearings just clogged with dust again. The thrust bearing is still OK. All I did was hoover them every usage, having also fitted an extractor right under the table to try and take the dust away from them. Still they lasted a bit longer this time.
Strangely :? the blade seems to be happily rubbing against the jammed bearing outer rings, so maybe it's not so important if they don't go round. Thinking about it, it's probably the cheapest way to have a smooth glass hard bearing surface presented to the blade.
I wonder if those bits of brass rod on my old BK3 were a better idea after all though.
 
Latest installment in the BS250 saga... Tell me if you get bored...
I have obtained and fitted a set of 626-2RS rubber sealed bearings in place of the original six bearing guide rollers.
I also notice the start of some contamination in the lower bandwheel bearing, so got some 6001-2RS to replace them also. The dust had crept between the shield and the inner race, although the grease was still clean. They tapped out nicely with a drift just like the manual said.
All bearings running smoothly now. Lets see what another 6 months does to them...
The 626-2RS were USD 12.95 for ten :) , and 6001-2RS were USD 4.70 for ten :D , plus shipping 10 bucks each order, from this guy in USA from his eBay shop. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BEARING-BARGAINS_W0QQsspagenameZL2QQtZkm
 
This doesn't look very good for Record. I've got an older Record bandsaw (when they were still blue). I had to replace one of the bearings on the lower wheel; it had completely seized up. It was a while ago now, but I don't think the saw was more than 12 months old at the time.
Would be a shame to think they are using naff bearings. Hey ho. I got some replacements from a company in Scotland as Record said they weren't covered under the warrenty.
Andy
 
I cant understand why they regard bearings as consumables. In a router or a drill you might expect the brushes to be consumable, but the bearings should be fitted for life. Record describe the bandwheel bearings as "sealed for life" which is an optimistic description of metal shielded races. Maybe the Chinese for "shield" is more impressive than in English. They are grease filled for life which is not the same thing.
If you still have the old bearing, perhaps you could lever off the shield with a spike and take a look if it is full of dust. Record will be genuinely interested - they were with me.
BS250 review
 
It's now several years since you posted an account of your problems with the Bearings.

Please let us know what has happened since 2006

Have you had to renew the bearings every six months?

I'm interested as I've just been given a BS250 for my birthday!

With best wishes and thanks.

MCB
 
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