Busy Bee Tools Canada

From what I understand, Busy Bee is owned by the brother of Grizzly Owner Shiraz Balolia. The production is similar to Grizzly, offshore, but less monitored. That was what I had heard, and this thread seems to support it.
 
Nels, you are correct. One brother started in Bellingham, the other in Burnaby,(Vancouver). about an hour apart. Their wood working machinery generally gets OK reviews. They're a little cheaper than Grizzly on the small stuff, and until the CDN$ dropped, more expensive on the machinery. They handle more made-in-India Groz.
 
I'll keep it short. For some small tooling items etc they aren't too bad but for machinery they SUCK!! You would be better off buying old used North American equipment and rebuild it.
 
Just a short note on the Busy Bee store in Calgary Ab which I see does not have a review as of yet .
My dealings with them is as listed above , generally not good. But will have to say that dealings with Grizzly Tool to be a positive one
One generally gets what one pays for "Buyer Beware"
 
Hi all,
I am sorry to hear all the probs related to Busy Bee tools but as a new CX704 owner I feel I must weigh in on this subject. I purchased this lathe at the Ottawa store as I live about 50 kms north of Montreal and we have no machine tool outlets that I have been able to find other than King Canada. I found the staff, while busy, to be quite helpful and polite in an unrushed kind of way.

Now on to the machine itself. I have worked all my life as some form of mechanic/millwright and am quite used to the inherent quirks and problems of machine setup and installation. That being said I found the CX704, while quite a bit smaller than what I am used to, to be no different. Once it had been torn down and cleaned then reassembled and adjusted I have absolutely no complaints. After all it is a 729.00$ lathe. If used within it's capabilities it is a decent little machine. I love to tinker and for me this lathe holds a lot of promise.

Thanks
 
I think I will comment as well. Over the past few years I have ordered small tooling etc on line from Busy Bee. I have been satisfied with all the purchases. I did buy a double ended center / edge finder that I thought was not accurate. I emailed them and they sent a replacement no charge and didn't want the other on back.

My friend recently bought a B2227L Lathe from them and he found the guy in the Ottawa store very knowledgeable and friendly. I have used his lathe and it appears decent with no problems so far. About a week after my friend bought the lathe I noticed that it was being offered on sale in the latest flyer. My friend called them and they gave him a store credit for the difference.

Most recently he picked up one of their smaller bench top mills. When we got it home we couldn't get it to turn on. He told them, took it back and they gave him a new one. Turns out the first one may have been ok, and that perhaps we weren't operating the obtuse power on sequence correctly. I have only tried his mill once with a 12 mm cutter and it seems pretty rigid.

David
 
I too owned a B2227L lathe. The noisiest lathe I ever used and the repeatability was horrendous. I sold it and for less than I got for it I bought a South Bend 9A which makes the Craftex look exactly like what it it. A piece of Chinese scrap metal. My 60+ year old SB is a dream to operate and is quiet and accurate. I don't really care who sells them, the Chinese imports are junk, all of them. In my opinion of course for what it is worth.
 
giddie1 said:
Hi all,
I am sorry to hear all the probs related to Busy Bee tools but as a new CX704 owner I feel I must weigh in on this subject. I purchased this lathe at the Ottawa store as I live about 50 kms north of Montreal and we have no machine tool outlets that I have been able to find other than King Canada. I found the staff, while busy, to be quite helpful and polite in an unrushed kind of way.

Now on to the machine itself. I have worked all my life as some form of mechanic/millwright and am quite used to the inherent quirks and problems of machine setup and installation. That being said I found the CX704, while quite a bit smaller than what I am used to, to be no different. Once it had been torn down and cleaned then reassembled and adjusted I have absolutely no complaints. After all it is a 729.00$ lathe. If used within it's capabilities it is a decent little machine. I love to tinker and for me this lathe holds a lot of promise.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Will you are welcome to try my CX701 if you are ever in Nova Scotia, you will find that this Lathe for $3600.00 is a terrible lathe and I have 25 years experience and have worked with a lot of good machinery over the years.
 
gramps1951 said:
I too owned a B2227L lathe. The noisiest lathe I ever used and the repeatability was horrendous. I sold it and for less than I got for it I bought a South Bend 9A which makes the Craftex look exactly like what it it. A piece of Chinese scrap metal. My 60+ year old SB is a dream to operate and is quiet and accurate. I don't really care who sells them, the Chinese imports are junk, all of them. In my opinion of course for what it is worth.
Click to expand...
Thank you and that is 100 % true because I even contacted the Factory that made my Lathe in China and this is what they said: We can not help you because you didn't purchase the Lathe directly from us. Here in North America you would go back to the company that made the Lathe and I'm sure they would look after you.
 
I was looking a buying a lathe from Busy Bee but , changed my mind and bought a King Industrial 12x36.
In light of all theses issued I'm happy I went King
 
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