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. The saw work very well and has changed my wood working experience, it has opened up all sorts of new projects. Optional Stand & Wheelkit Available: The optional stand and wheelkit allow themachine to be moved easily around the workshop.

Some of the photos show a very dusty bandsaw – that′s because I just had to assemble it and do trial cuts before taking any images for this article. Review

I do want to buy a second machine for use in my model workshop and would like to try a Sabre 250 next but as it is such a similar machine I fear it may well share the same welded main body (?) and so I need to make sure that my next new machine is stable and does not wobble in use like this one has done from new. This is time consuming and should not be necessary and I am hoping the Sabre 250 fence will work better. 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. The Record Power BS250 is a bench top band saw with a cast irontable. The user benefits from stability normally only found in muchlarger models.

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.

Planing & Thicknessing

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. 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. 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. 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 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.The guide bearings on this bandsaw last around 12 months before getting full of dust, especially the lower ones. The extract is set in the lower front portion of the case. The saw comes with an adapter so will work with 58mm or 100mm extraction systems. 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.By taking the most relevant features from the existing SABRE series and applying them to the BS250, we believe we have produced the best benchtop bandsaw available on the market below ?400 / €500.In addition, we believe that the capacities, power and performance upgrades, combined with the unique SABRE features now found on this machine, make it a real contender in the general purpose floor-standing bandsaw category when combined with the BS250-AW stand and wheel kit. 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. So having watched the DVD I set up the bandsaw taking care to align the table square with the blade.