OT-Problems w/Harbor Freight Band Saw?

I just bought one of those Harbor Freight horizontal band saw's and the blade keeps jumping off in the vertical position. I adjusted the tracking according to the manual and the thing still jumps off with just a little pressure on the blade. The blade tracks fine, the tension is tight, and the guide bearings are contacting- I have no idea. Anyone else ever have this problem? It's driving me nuts!!!

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks -JAM

 

Mine rips through Balsa wood just like butter

 

Take it back.

 

They should swap it no problem.

 

Mis"take" it back to the lake!

 

The title says it all.

What's the saying? "you get what you pay for"..

Good thing is, they will most likely swap you out for a new one.

 

You may need to have the tension tighter than you think.

Is there an indication in the manual on how tight to set it up?

I have an older - 'bout 22 years - HF 4 x 6" horizontal/vertical band saw and it's been working fine.

It has what appears to be an adjuster at the outer non-hinged end that adjusts the outer wheel for angle.

I wonder too about the blade proper.
HF blades ain't so swift in my experience.
You may find the one you have is off square where the blade ends are spot welded.
Shoot a straight edge across the blade weld area and see if the blade is straight.
Check too, to see if the blade is not spot welded with one blade higher than the other in both the vertical and horizontal plane.
If it's off, that may be why it's dropping off the wheel.

Try a Delta or Ridgid blade from Sears or Home Depot.
1/2" x 64".
They work well and last quite a while.
10 TPI for aluminum and 14 or 18 TPI for steel.
Depends on how thick the material you're cutting is.

I also wonder if the axle in the gear box, the one that drives the wheel nearest the hinge is either bored off-square or the bore is egg shaped.
The egg shape could happen if they forget to put lube in the gear box.
You may find an adjuster to set the axle/wheel angle inside the gearbox.


How does it do on horizontal cuts?
Is the spring pressure device set about right?
You don't want it so tight that the blade floats on the workpiece.
You do need some weight on it.

One last one, open up the safety guard and see if a straight edge placed across both wheels indicate they are the same height and straight - although you may want a little bit of outward tilt on the outer wheel which should pull the blade up against the flange.

And like the guys say, if adjusting it doesn't do it, take it back for another one.
I know a few guys who own these saws and they work just fine.

 

I've had mine for quite awhile and thats normal for those. What helps is to buy the best blade you can buy, (there's a thread on here somewhere) and don't expect a lot from it. it is what it is. I don't use mine in the vertical position any more, I bought the HF vert. band saw for 800.00 and am happy with that, after slowing it down and installing a 40.00 blade, it works great.

 

Once you get it - or another - running ok, and if the new saws still have that wobbly sheet metal stand at each end, solidity of the unit can be helped a whole lot by bolting a piece of angle - or even strap - across the back and front diagonally.

It makes it quite solid and is really noticeable when moving it around.

The darned things are heavy too and lifting one end for a long move is a pain the backside.

When you get a little time knock out a stand for it.
I used 1" x 2" x .120 wall rectangular tubing cuz I had quite a bit left over after building the 32 frame crossmembers for my 31 roadster.

One thing I'd do different is to use expanded metal for the floor of the shelf so metal dust would float through instead of piling up.

A 2nd shelf would help as well.
Saw accessories on the top one and short cut-off pieces on the bottom.

Here's a pic to give you an idea.

Big trick is cutting the compound angle for the legs.
You want the base wider than the top for sure.
Not seen are the four tabs that use the original bolts that went to the flimsy original sheet metal base.

The really nice part about this base is the wheels at all four corners.
Use swivel casters at the handle end and solid non-swiveling casters under the motor end.
Locking wheels are a nice addition.
Use wheels that are individually rated for the weight of the saw and with them lightly loaded they'll last a long while and work fine.

Don't make the mistake of using swivels on all four corners.
I have some large castering swivels I used on a body frame.
Damn thing goes every which way when you move it by yourself.

 

Mine does the same.It also started cutting crooked, both horiz. and vert. I will try some of those adjustments though. I guess I got what I paid for, huh? But it has been worth the money for the 4+ years or so, so far. Good blades help. Has anyone made a larger table for one for the vertical position? Thanks for posting and replies!! MIKE.

 

i'll add to what Jay and the others said, it needs some adjustment. on mine i had the same problem, i had to move the drive wheel out some, and adjust the angle of the top wheel using the adjuster, and run the blade super tight, like almost as tight as you can get the tension knob by hand! that solved the problem.

 

I bought a chop saw from them once, and it lasted about 3 wks before it burned up. Just take a sledgehammer to it, and go get a Makita or Milwalkee.

 

I've had better saws than theirs that took a bunch of tinkering to get dialed in. My first metal bandsaw was an fairly expensive Olsen and I got it because the first owner never could get it to cut straight. I spend many hours to get it right.
You might try a different blade just in case they welded that one crooked.
Also you need to run the blades much tighter than they reccomend. I rented a video of a guy who tightened the blade by tuning the musical note it made when twanged.

 

Try a new blade.
If the blades been on the saw for a while and still cuts ok, once they're worn a bit they will start cutting crooked.

Here's a couple modifications I made to my bandsaw.

Note the position of the left side guide wheels.
That's the extreme left limit of travel for the saw as it was when new.
Note the drilled and tapped hole in the slot.
It allows the left side guide wheels to go further left which allows cutting larger stock.


The 2nd pic shows the slightly larger table I made.
This one is of aluminum, steel would be better.
The aluminum tends to drag, but it's usable as it is.

I cut the 1/8" boxing plates for my 31's 32 rails with this saw using the table shown.
Didn't take as long as you think.

 

The wheels need to be adjusted relative to each other,
so they are in the same plane.

Then adjust the guides to the blade.

 

Thanks- I'll try all of the above before dismantling and bringing it back.

 

as much as i hate spending money at HF, there are certain tools there that fill a need that can't be met at a decent price by other brands. their bandsaw is a perfect example, with a little tweaking here and there it does the home builder just fine, i've even used them in industrial environments with good luck. what horixontal/vertical bandsaw do makita or milwakee make...at ANY price? the next step up in a saw like the HF bandsaw is out of the budget of the typical garage builder. now if we WERE talking about chop saws, i would agree, i wouldn't touch a HF chopsaw if it were free.

 

Ahh ha, so this is what you have been up to Ryan!!
I'm impressed!
No wonder you are thinking of going at all of this on a full time basis!!

Well done!
Dave

 

I don't know if they make bandsaws in those brands, I was just giving examples of good brands. I've had a few Deltas and they work great.

 

the difference between tool companies is really just in the re-assembly, re-inspection and fine tuning.....most alll big scale(not hand) tools are made in tiawan.....the better companies bring them into the USA and go over them again....

I say try and get the wheels aligned then get the adjusters in synch...then if it still is off...take it back...

good luck

 

Follow up-
I wanted to post a follow up in the archive in case anyone else has this problem in the future. I purchased a new blade and went to work on it Friday night. I adjusted the drive wheel outward and set the bearings in place. After about an hour and a half of tweaking, I got the blade tracking pretty good. To look at the tracking, it's not perfect but I can put a lot of pressure on the blade and it won't jump off.

I found that as I tightened the tension, the top wheel moved up and back. You will need to adjust your drive wheel to compensate for the misalignment of the top wheel as you tighten. I found that watching the blade (with the door open) while cutting and and applying pressure was the key to finding the problem. Just be careful- you don't want those pesky fingers getting in the way ;-)

Thanks -JAM

 

when I got mine, i had the same problem. I messed with the alignment some, and got it close. I read that you cant over tighten them by hand, so i really honk down on the adjustment wheel when i go to use it, and leave it loose when im not. I like mine, for the price. You have to tell yourself its a lower quality machine, and dont expect too much out of it, and dont be too hard on it. It does work good though. This might sound stupid, but make sure the blade cuts the correct way, my blade didnt. At the time, i didnt know all you had to do was turn the blade inside out to change direction.

trey