Busy Bee Tools Canada

I started out as an enthusiastic and loyal customer of the Richmond branch when they first moved out of the basement... in 1981. All of their metalworking equipment was Taiwan made and in the middle or a little better for quality. It helped that their buyer (who left and founded Grizzly) was well versed in metalworking and knew some good stuff (not a machinist, though).

So I have been there over the entire time, been my own tech support for the most part, and ordered what I needed based on my own judgement.

It is sad to say they now buy from the cheapest suppliers, no longer have anyone (at least in Calgary and BC) that do any metalworking, and the few woodworkers don't use BB equipment. There has been a very slow decline, but I think they are near bottom.

I still buy HSS tooling and Glanze products from them, because they are cheaper than Accusize. Once they lose that advantage, it's a final goodbye.

Oh - their 49$ surface plate isn't bad for the price. Not a Mitotoyo, but adequate for a home shop. (what can I say I have that BB and also an A grade plate from Mitutoyo - the BB one is my lapping plate).
 
Busy Bee has been around for a while now and seem to be going strong as a business. That says something. Consumers don't want to pay more than they have to so the 'lowest' price is always attractive. Just look at the popularity of dollar stores.

To sell at the lowest prices and survive a business has to have the lowest costs as we all know. To me it is not logical to expect BB to have experienced and informed sales people as this means they would have to pay higher salaries in todays labor market. As the consumer we would ultimately have to pay more. BB would become another KBC.

So to take advantage of the low prices at BB (or anywhere else) we have to do our own research and consult 'experts' when advice is needed. This HM website is a great place to get the tech support that is lacking at BB. Eventually as we learn the ropes we may end up leaving BB behind as Dappler so aptly described in his post above.

There are other suppliers who can serve us. They have been around for a long time too and offer excellent guidance and advice. We each have to decide for ourselves what this is worth to us. My experience with BB has been positive overall. There may be some tools I might not have afforded if not for BB. After years of buying from BB and other suppliers I have a clearer understanding of what to expect from who.
 
Just a heads up Tozguy. Their lathes are rather expensive Modern Tool has a better lathe cheaper then their largest, for instance. For the same price, shipped, and several of the Grizzly mills have much better quality and features. The only place where they are cheaper is in some of the tooling, which needs to be comparison shopped. Much of their woodworking equipment cn be had for similar or cheaper prices elsewhere.

What I have been trying to get at is - at BB's price point their quality has slipped. If they were to start to offer better quality, they might survive. For now the unsatisfied customer pile is getting bigger, and that does not bode well for them.
 
Dabber, a question about BusyBee . I picked up a older BB 4x6 bandsaw . What's odd is that instead of the stickers, it has riveted name plate and no machine specs. Usually Taiwan machines have date on them. Ant idea when BB would have imported the little Rong Fu#115 ?
 
Downwindtracker2: BB continued to import from Taiwan long after the guy I mentioned went to Grizzly. Somewhere around 1986 I started seeing 'made in china' stickers on select machines, usually the bottom end, and at super cheap prices. The first one I remember was a little 5X20" lathe in red, where the dovetails had about .010 play in them. However "Rong Fu" is a Taiwanese company. Recently they have been manufacturing in China, importing to Taiwan then reselling to N America. If it is more than 5 years old chances are it is 100% Tai.

I think BB saws from China came later, sometime in the early 1990s.

By the way, their 18" VFD band saw and their horizontal pivot-head 5X7 saws seem to be made in taiwan (or at least the castings are) I found a 'made in taiwan' sticker surriptiously pasted inside my vertical bandsaw.

The odd thing they sell from China is pretty good - but without sales training and qualified people it is caveat emptor! I still buy 'Glanze' carbide accessories from BB because they are the lowest price for a good product.
 
Thanks . I see more Made In India tooling at BB than at Grizzly. Or at least they have company named stuff, Groz. I have now four BB machines, all bought used, they were cheap. One of which is decent , a '91 DF 1224g lathe. I came down from northern BC in '86 , they had moved to Burnaby by then.

The tool in question is a 4x6 bandsaw. I had bought a TWS 4x6 for $50. Every time I used it, it seemed I had to fix something. The curse of the cheap 4x6. Sort of like rolling the rock up the hill. This time I wanted to cut some 3" 3/8" angle squarish. The vise was as rigid as a fish on the bottom of a boat. This time the vise t-nut was beyond redemption . It's not hard to fix better than new on these imports. I was going all out, I was even going to paint it. When I opened the gearbox which had been stuffed full of grease to clean it, I cut my glove on the gear. It had a 1/4 turn of backlash. Grease doesn't work. That's when I checked CL and found this real early BB 4x6 bandsaw. for $100.

The TWS 4x6 was a better design, the guide adjustment was on the exterior and went closer together. A little sturdier too. The guide bearing were larger. The upper wheel had bearings and not a bushing. Casting finish wasn't as nice, though. I had visited TWS in the late '80s , a one man show in an empty warehouse.

With the experience of what wore out on the TWS, I'll do some mods on the Rong Fu #115. At least I don't have to paint it.
 
cool... I have the same or similar lathe, a DF1237, bought in '81. It has an unusual 2 3/8 8TPI spindle - is your spindle the same or is yours D1-4?

I ended up with an Emerson 7X12 horiz band saw, after checking out the 5X7 BB. I'm glad I did - however it needs a rebuild bad, it was made sometime around 1966-1968... I got it for about half the BB price, but it will take 40 hours or so of rebuild work to make it like new again!

I think your early CL BB band saw will work out for you. My friend has a 1987 Taiwanese 5X7 cast horiz band saw. He's used it ever since, no troubles at all. It doesn't cut perfectly straight, never did, but it does the job well otherwise. (on a 2" round, it veers off by about .015, not too shabby).
 
Bandsaws, even industrial ones, are , at best, a good'nuff sort of tool.

I have that same spindle nose. It's truly odd. It's a DIN,60mm, German spec, except it has 8 TPI. But, it has maintenance issues .It looks like the motor side pulley on the jack shaft is turning on the shaft. . This not a good thing. I would be surprised if they aren't spun. I was using to make parts for a 4x6 bandsaw, which I was modifying so I could make parts for a shop built metal shaper I was completing. I'm more than little backed up. However, the lathe needed seals and a new belt. I have 3 phase motor and VFD for it . So after two years of ownership I guess it's time.
 
Thanks for the heads-up on the spindle! I always wondered about it!

My seals are toast, too - from moving it. I'm sure the moving company dropped it on the spindle nose, as the extreme left seals were totally hatched. I have to remove the entire spindle to replace all 4 seals, which is needed now...

Sorry about the jack shaft - at least it is fixable with some work. It is a dependable lathe. BTW mine still has the original 1.5 HP 1725 motor on it... Maybe one day there's another VFD in my future!

Next time I go to White Rock, I'll give you a heads-up. We could meet for coffee!
 
Sound good.

Looking in, it looks like all three shafts have to come out. At least my spindle bearing sound good . Big screw driver to the good ear. Tomorrow I'm going check on a tenth dial indicator, ouch. for when I reassemble. To be honest, I've never done bearing clearances on something this small.
 
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