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Problem with portable band saw from HF

I got my portable band saw from HF for $69 and was happy with it till it quit working this morning.

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It lasted for about 4 month occasional use on weekends. As flimsy as it is it beats hand sawing.

While sawing blade suddenly stopped moving. Motor was still running. I removed cover and found that when saw blade is on and upper disc in "tighten" position lower disc(powered one) is not rotating while motor is still running. When in "loose" position motor spins lower disc just fine. I removed lower plastic disc. Gear teeth on motor and plastic disc are OK and not stripped. Upper disc when blade is off rotates just fine.

Looks like when tighten saw blade is locked somehow. Can anyone help me to find what's wrong with my crappy band saw?

Thanks, Alex

Reply to
Alex
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Can you turn the drive (lower) wheel by hand? You should not be able to. Either the shaft is slipping in the drive gear, or it is slipping in the wheel. I suppose the bearing has worn to the point the motor gear no longer engages with the drive gear.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

I can't turn lower wheel by hand.

Alex

J>> I got my portable band saw from HF for $69 and was happy with it till

Reply to
Alex

beats hand

cover and

not stripped.

The problem was your decision to buy it in the first place. Get a Milwaukee or something that lasts more than a few uses.

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

Or you should have gotten the 2-year warrenty. This only cost me $10 after I used the 20% coupon. (Total for saw+warranty = $65).

Reply to
Bruce Barnett

Is it possible the the blade is jammed at the guides? Maybe some chips got in there.

Pete Stanaitis

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Alex wrote:

Reply to
spaco

Blade is not jammed. I checked. Anyway I should have known better than buying cheap Chinese tool. Should have bite the bullet and get Milwaukie instead.

spaco wrote:

Reply to
Alex

Is it worth trying a sob story with HF? Anything with only a 3 month warranty doesn't show much faith from the vendor :-(

Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

not stripped.

Possibly a key sheared off at the motor gear? Ken.

Reply to
Ken Sterling

Well, if the motor is running, but the wheels are not turning, then SOMETHING in the drive train has to be slipping. You just have to determine what. The drive wheels exert a considerable driving force on the blade when it is cutting. My 4x6 Hor/vert bandsaw generally will have the blade slip on the driving wheel until it falls off the wheel when a bind-up occurs. I can't imagine how much force it takes to keep that wheel turning when the blade jams, but it has to be a LOT!

One thing you haven't mentioned is whether the upper (idler) wheel turns freely UNDER BLADE TENSION. Yes, that could be hard to check, I know. The crummy sleeve bearings they put on these seem to be a likely failure point, although mine is still holding up. I do oil it once in a while.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

There have been posts at various times from RCM'ers satisfied with their HF porta-bands. So it wasn't necessarily a bad decision and maybe you got a lemon. Send it back?

I got a used Porter-Cable on eBay for not much more than a new HF. For the amount that I use it, it will outlast me (I expect).

Bob

Reply to
Bob Engelhardt

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