Junk HF bandsaw

The motor is smaller than the bandsaw i bought in 1988 , far less power.

I had to grind out the guides where the push ballbearings were , had to move them over til the blade centered .

The 2 pinch BB are grossly missalligned , you'll need to mill the square ways on the tiny holders to get them to grab and pull the blade in . The upper wheel has a bad cantilever ,too close together , will deflect too easy . I had to grind out the casting , the upper wheel adjuster bottomed out ! They built a newer model with a single ballbearing on top wheel , but it uses cheap flimsy alum/potmetal holders for blade guides !!

The lip on the big wheels could be bigger so blade cant jump back . ussualy it falls off fwd , but while trying to get the angle right on the mill job on guide pedistal , it jumped off the backside and extruded the blade to uselessness .

My head has a picture of a recip saw using all the blades i ruined . It uses a 9 amp hand held car polisher motor , using half a bandsaw blade . about 33" long , with BB guides ...

BTW helped a frnd do a Dodge Stratus 2400cc engine flywheel !! It has 2 shoulders ! I depthmiked them . Well be lathing out the stupid thing so you can get a sleeve in around the bolt to pull it off .

You must put lots of push on that bolt . We'll be putting a sleeve around the bolt and it will be easy to pull flywheel w/o stressing the bolt at all . 5/8 gd 8 bolts and a flat plate w/ holes will make a better wheelpuller than what the factory recommends . Just shim the bolt head into the flywheel crack , push bolt thru the plate , nut it and titen . The flywheel is designed NOT for flat belts , as it is 4 times mo rigid beefy than required . Flat belts can take power with far less bearing loads than the old V belts . The belt is about 10 honest HP ! Also

Reply to
werty
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werty wrote:

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Reply to
JR North

So, throw the bandsaw away and get over it.....

Reply to
Ken Sterling

What about the $500 and $700 HF bandsaws. Are they any good.

i
Reply to
Ignoramus16175

They are all good if you have reasonable expectations.

The $130 one is a very workable bandsaw construction kit where you may or may not need to do some tweaking depending on what day it was built. I certainly is not something suitable for everyday use cutting large structural steel pieces, but it functions just fine for smaller stuff in a home shop. Get a good name brand blade though.

The more expensive ones can of course handle heavier use and have extra features like coolant. No guarantee you won't need to make a couple tweaks on those either if they were built on a bad day, but probably less chance of it.

Presumably the Jet versions of these larger saws have had a little better QC and should be ok out of the box for the small extra cost. Still not a fully industrial unit though at these sizes.

If you want a perfect out of the box metal cutting bandsaw spend several grand (at least) to a true industrial name brand unit.

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

I have a 700 dollar one from MSC taht cuts as well if you buy good blades and set up the guides correctly. I put synthetic lube in the gearbox.

John

Reply to
John

In a rich country , id not have to toss it ..... not have to get over anything ... Your stinkin govt cronies ... HF !! Walmart , GM , FORD , MSC , UPS , ...........

Reply to
werty

I think the gearbox in the larger HF is far too small . It weighs like an expensive saw , but gear box may not last .

64.5" band saw blades from HF have worked well , havent got any recently ....

Porter Cable makes a 7724R HandHeld saw w/o worm gears , $210 .

BTW Old ENCO 12 by 36 Gear head lathe has a 1/2" wide bull gear !

Got a good laugh at Home Depot , did you see the stupid gear train on the cement mixers ??!! Idiots used a fan belt to drive a gear box , but they were affraid of bevel gears , so belt must twist around several times !!

Should be , the belt is simple straight to a shaft that goes over to gearbox with one hi-speed bevel , further reduction by chain reduction . as chain can take a big overload and is cheap .

Ignoramus16175 wrote:

Reply to
werty

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