As this mounting foot shows no signs of being bent or damaged, I have guessed that the main welded body of the machine is a little "twisted".

The stand and wheel kit have still not been taken out of the box yet as I am using the machine on a workbench. The rip fence mount features easily accessible screws for fine adjustment of the fence in relation to the blade, for increased accuracy. The initial cuts I made to set the bandsaw up showed me that I could easily use it to slice large pieces of hardwood and have no issues with blade alignment or power. In the box is a DVD “Bandsaw Master Class” by Alan Holtham – I was advised in the shop that it is worth watching and totally agree. The DVD goes through the basic features, adjustments and settings, maintenance and making cuts. The BS250 has a solid, finely ground cast iron table top provides an ideal, low friction work support. With a strong tension system that requires more than adequate tension for blade capacities of this model and 'sealed for life bearings' that require no maintenance during the working life of your machine.Even with the bandsaw positioned with the spine against the workshop wall, the offset hinges enable the door to open far enough to give good access for blade changes without the need to take the door off or move the bandsaw away from the wall. The guide bearings on this bandsaw last around 12 months before getting full of dust, especially the lower ones. The BS250 has long been one of our best-selling bandsaws and has a solid reputation as being probably the best benchtop bandsaw on the market. Following our development of the SABRE-350 and SABRE-450, we decided to take some of the DNA of these revolutionary new machines and inject it into the BS250, to produce the definitive small bandsaw with premium features and unparalleled performance at this level of the market.

I like Record wood working machines as they are well made so I was looking at the 250 when i saw the Sabre 250, that was a problem, which one do i go for.

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Thestrong steel frames, dynamically balanced band wheels, cast iron tablesand a powerful 1/3hp induction motor will make light work of any jobapplication and give you a good professional finish. The lower guides are again three ball bearings that can be moved once you release the caphead bolts, a bit more fiddly as there is not so much room, but nicely made and again strong.

The blade tension is set using the handwheel on the top of the saw, the handwheel is removable. In addition the top wheel can be tilted so as to get the blade running central. I have resisted buying an up-rated fence from a third party and have got used to always have to set it against an engineers set square every time it is fitted or moved as it cannot be adjusted or set to stay at right angles to the machine table. My workshop is quite small and the overall size and weight of this means that I can store it under the bench. There were countersunk bolts fixing the main extruded tube to the cast square end fixing and must admit that I replaced these with two hexagonal head bolts and washers. It does feel better, but does limit the movement of the adjustable fence.In this image you can see the underside of the table, cast iron and very heavy. There are slots in the fixings that will allow you to square the table up to the blade. Optional Stand & Wheelkit Available: The optional stand and wheelkit allow themachine to be moved easily around the workshop.

In this configuration it has quality and features well ahead of many of the lower cost floor-standing machines available in the market. The end result is a premium-quality, affordable bandsaw which retains the compact size of the BS250 while offering improved capacities, usability, accuracy and performance. The only other problem that I have with the machine in use is that the fence has to be set against a machine square every time it has its position moved as it will not pull-up correctly when the lever is tightened. This is time consuming and should not be necessary and I am hoping the Sabre 250 fence will work better. Very easy to adjust and get the guides just kissing the blade. The Record BS250 Bandsaw is quite easy to adjust. The BS250 was delivered safely with no damage to the outer box but the complete lower blade guide assembly was missing and the motor housing was dented.

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I needed a bench top machine with a bigger capacity than my little old Power Devil which had seen twenty years service and was now getting a bit worn. I chose the Sabre 250 based upon the good features, cast iron table, two speeds if I wanted, and so on. It took longer to arrive than expected as it was trans-shipped from one haulier to another more local to my home. The machine needed to be set up nicely; out of the box some of the factory assembly was not well aligned, but if you've had a bandsaw before you know what to look for. If you look for the best affordable bandsaw, then our fourth recommendation will surely appeal to your taste! Here’s Silverline Trade Quality 350W Bandsaw and Converter Plug Blue SIL441563! This BS250 is a very good machine for the money, and with a couple of minor tweaks it can be improved still further at very little cost. The fence is perhaps not as nicely made as I would expect as it is a mixture of castings and extrusions.