Calgary BB Clearance Machines

[YYCHM]

BB in Calgary had a tent sale Sat June 1 (kind of a scratch and dent thing). I didn't make it but some of the deals were apparently very good.

As of today, they still have a bunch of decent size clearance mills and lathes available. Most appeared to be a little over 50% off. No warrantee on clearance machines however.

 

[DPittman]

Well the "warranty" of BB machines anyhow is of very little value in my opinion. At 50% off I would consider any of the Busy Bee line up because the machinery is basically the same as any other Asian suppliers and the service, manuals, warranty and parts is about the same.

 

[Janger]

Could be an excellent bargain though. I think the mills are ok.

 

[Tom Kitta]

BB has warranty? Who knew? You mean like one that works? It would be worth it to investigate whatever they can take some $$$ of their regular machines and sell them without warranty as I think it is worthless.

At 50% off some of these machines can be a great deal.

 

[Janger]

Well.... I appreciate people have had issues. But that’s not the whole story. On my BB lathe the rpm gauge quit and they sent me a new one the next day. I’m sure there are other horror stories but for me anyway they did fine.

 

[Tom O]

I can’t complain about BB either they have always treated me good and seem to have a good assortment of parts. I fried the one motor at least the rear brush holder cap fused with the brush making it impossible to remove they replaced it and I bought a spare for I believe $100. Since that happened I put round brass shims between the cap and brush to stop any future fusion of the two. And if your interested in mill spindles they have them in back too!

 

[Everett]

Well, I don't mean to be a curmudgeon, but have found Busy Bee to be average to decent in my dealings with them. It's usually been good but my concern stems from buying a round column mill from them rather than the other import tool store 7 blocks south of them because of supposedly better Taiwanese quality and quality control. Well, when it turned out the knobs were missing from the three spindle feed handles they brushed me off and didn't help me at all. As for smaller pieces like micrometers, end mills, etc I have bought and will still buy there, but won't buy another machine from them. I'm sure like any business they have very happy customers, "meh" customers and angry customers, I'm in the middle category. It is reassuring and good to hear that they helped some of you out, maybe it's just my local store that's the issue.

 

[Tom O]

True but buying a mill should take some research the round column is #1 on the list YouTube clearly wasn’t consulted! Lol

 

[kevin.decelles]

they came through on the one item i need fixed on my Cx600. Provided the replacement part and I installed it myself. Not my first choice, but not my last either.

 

[DPittman]

Well while we are telling stories about busy bee...
I had a 10x22 lathe and in the first year the spindle bearings started squealing...it had a 3 year warranty so I called them, the fellow I dealt with in Calgary told me that I needed to change the gear oil and it would probably be fine. The lathe spindle bearings do not run in oil and are permanently sealed. They then said they would order parts for me but it would take at least 3 months and likely longer. After some hassle they finally agreed to order me a replacement machine which I had to then wait months for.
I guess I got that issue dealt with but did not figure their service or warranty was worth much. If I buy anything from Busy Bee it has to be as cheap as any other online supplier of the same equipment.

On the positive side of things, the manager "Bev" in Calgary was very pleasant to deal with and I believe she was doing all she could within Busy Bee policies.

 

[Tom Kitta]

Busy Bee is too expensive these days - they jacked up their prices to the level that US has with 25% tariff. They think people's only choice is to buy from them or buy from the US.

My total spending budget at BB is less than 1% of my machining $. KMS is a bit better. Out of all local stores only Princess Auto is the one I would recommend. At least they have good return policy.

My current KMS order experience is also pretty bad - I don't think they are much better then BB.

I also highly recommend Amazon for anything. eBay is OK as well through not as good & when problems arise they are marginally better than BB / KMS.

 

[Tom O]

With eBay it’s the wait! I ordered a board for my lathe a couple days ago and can expect it at the earliest June 19th.

It is missing something on the right card third down! So fingers crossed!

 

[CalgaryPT]

...rather than the other import tool store 7 blocks south of them

Which store would that be? I'm drawing a blank...