For years I have been wanting a second band saw so I could cut curves without having to switch blades on the big band saw, selecting the model wasn’t easy but I went for the Record Power BS300E which has generally good reviews. For all I know there are no band saws in this size segment that are made in Europe, I try to avoid Chinese machinery but here I had no choice in terms of new machinery.

(At the moment of writing this article I can’t give any real opinion for this machine, the stock blade it came with is pretty bad (bad weld joint and too aggressive TPI for my intended use) and I haven’t yet received the proper blades I have ordered for it. Even the best band saw will perform poorly with average blades. I will likely review this later after having used it enough and with right blades)

 

The saw is too tall to work on a table, and too tiny to stand on the floor, it came with a roll-stand but I didn’t like the idea of having a stand on the floor. Luckily I had this pillar in my shop which was ideal to make a stand against, that wouldn’t take away any floor space and where the saw wouldn’t hinder or be hindered by another nearby tool.

So I made a simple stand that is attached to the pillar and has a drawer and a pull out shelf. This also made it easy to set it up at the ideal working height. My Hammer N4400 band saw table is at approximately 88cm of height, which is too low for detailed work as you have to bend over to get a good view. Here I placed the table of the band saw at 115cm of height so I can do detailed work in a comfortable position.

I made the shelf so I would have a platform to rest work pieces on when there are only a few, for big batches I always use the MFSC cart. The drawer holds all the accessories and tools that came with the saw. At this point I haven’t provided any dust collection, but that corner of my shop is due to an overhaul so I will tackle that when I get to that.

 

I also decided to repaint the doors as I thought the green was swearing in my shop, it was a fairly easy task since you can lift them right off. The light grey on the rest of the machine was identical to the base colour of my Felder machinery, so I spray painted the doors in anthracite grey which is the colour of the panels on the Felder 700 range I have. This way it fits in perfectly.

Basic impressions of the Record Power BS300E

The saw is quite heavy and appears solidly built, it was difficult for me to lift it up on the platform even without the table installed. A plus point is that the table is from cast iron. The parallel guide system is well made and has a nice indicator rule which even most professional machines don’t have. I’ll certainly make something similar for my other band saw. There is also a T slot on the table and a basic cross cut guide, nothing fancy but it does the trick for a band saw.

One negative point is that you need a hex key to undo and tilt the fence on the flat side. A handle would have been nice.

The guide system is basic, almost identical in concept to my Hammer band saw which in itself is also rather basic but effective enough.

The lower guide system is entirely different due to the lack of space, one positive element is that the rear guide is adjusted with a knob from the back of the table where you have ample space.

The wheels are also cast iron which is a plus point, aluminium wheels don’t have as much inertia so they will bog down quicker when you push too hard. The dust collection port is at the bottom while in my view it is preferable to collect the dust under the table so that it can’t get between the blade and wheels, my hammer is similar and the wheels tend to gum up, especially when cutting soft woods.

These are only first impressions, I’ll possibly review this later when I have enough experience with it.

Download the sketchup model below.

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