North America Busy Bee got me…

[Rauce]

So I needed some new belts after changing the motor pulley on my lathe project. I had bought Gates Tru-Flex belts a while back for the other two sets of belts and have been satisfied with the matching and overall quality.

Didn’t really feel like using my half hour lunch to go to get belts from an industrial supplier so I googled around and ended up on busy bee’s page:

V BELT 4L450 1/2 X 5/16

Busy Bee Tools is Canada's largest Woodworking & Metalworking retailer. Find power tools, woodworking tools & metalworking tools at factory direct prices.

www.busybeetools.com

Well the belts arrived today and wouldn’t you know it they’re dusty, dried out, warped, “da-yen” brand belts. If they were comparable to gates tru-flex I might not have cared but these are crap.

Hopefully I get my money back.

 

[LenVW]

Hey Ross,
I will see what the AMMEGA belts will price-out at.
#4L450 1/2 x 5/16
Let you know Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[Rauce]

Hey Ross,
I will see what the AMMEGA belts will price-out at.
#4L450 1/2 x 5/16
Let you know Tuesday or Wednesday.

I ordered some Optibelt belts from motion. Not much more money than busy bee. Haven’t heard back from busy bee yet.

 

[Rauce]

Busy Bee sent me a label to return them. They didn’t admit to any deception on their part, just said the photo is not meant to represent the exact product you receive… which would be fine if it was noted in the description. They haven’t added that though.

 

[Chicken lights]

FWIW, my local Napa can source me Gates, they usually can get me belts pretty quick. Belt tensioners and idlers too

 

[LenVW]

Hey Ross,
I was at our Woodstock supply warehouse today.
Ammega-Megadyne has priced the belt (#4L450 1/2 x 5/16) as an ‘A53’.
$8.00 per belt
They did not note a lead time.