8" bandsaw from harbor freight- any good?

Matt Shade

Matt Shade

Joined
Nov 24, 1999
Messages
4,981
I was trying to cut a up a bar of steel yesterday with a roto zip tool and a cutoff wheel. It was not going well at all, and I really would like something better. Harbor freight has an 8" metal cutting bandsaw for $100. That seems awful cheap to me, but I gave the same for my benchtop wood bandsaw, and its great, so maybe price doesn't tell you much. I would only use it for cutting barstock into peices small enough to profile on a grinder, and maybe for cutting up some of the handle materials that kill wood blades and burn easily.Does anyone have this saw or know if its any good? I don't need a really heavy duty machine, but I want it to have good quality and last.
Would the slightly bigger, vertical/horizontal saw be better? It takes up a little more room than I would like, but I could find somewhere to put it. Is there anyhitng else I shuold look into?
Thanks for any help.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Matt,

The Vertical/Horizontal metal cutting bandsaw from Harbor Freight is an excellent buy. I got mine about a month ago and I love it. I use it to cut stock to length and also to cut around my patterns, so that I don't have to hog off so much metal when profiling. I paid $139 for mine and that included delivery (it comes by truck). The only thing I would recommend is to get a couple of Bi-Metal blades from Enco, as they work much better.

Do a search in the old Shop forum for Metal Bandsaws and you will find loads of info.

------------------
C.O.'s-"It takes balls to work behind the walls "
 
Originally posted by Jailhack:
The Vertical/Horizontal metal cutting bandsaw from Harbor Freight is an excellent buy. I got mine about a month ago and I love it. I use it to cut stock to length and also to cut around my patterns, so that I don't have to hog off so much metal when profiling. I paid $139 for mine and that included delivery (it comes by truck). The only thing I would recommend is to get a couple of Bi-Metal blades from Enco, as they work much better.
Click to expand...

This is good news! I ordered one from them about 2 weeks ago. It's still on backorder, though.
frown.gif


------------------
Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
I've had a Harbor Freight band saw for about three years and I've used and abused it with no problems. It's more then paid for itself.
Tom
 
Thanks guys
I'm going to do a little more comparing but I'll probably end up buying either the benchtop or the vertical/horizontal before the end of summer.My workbench is about full so the floor model saw might be better anyhow, and the ability to cut longer stuff would be handy. The only thing I'm not sure on is if I really want to spend the money on something that isn't name brand, or at least heard of more often. I don't care if its a name brand tool, but I would like to be able to find parts for it if they were ever needed.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
The V/H bandsaw that HF sells is IDENTICAL to the one that Grizzly sells, only it costs a hell of a lot less. As a matter of fact, a number of items that Grizzly sells are identical to the ones HF sells.

There is really nothing to the saw. It is just a motor (Japan, and rated higher from HF), a lower pulley an upper pulley and some gears that are belt driven. It is a simple machine and there is no reason that it should not last for years and years (especially when you are running it at slow speeds for metal cutting).

I do my homework before buying any machine and I am very happy with this one.

------------------
C.O.'s-"It takes balls to work behind the walls "
 
i have had mine for about a year and a half and have been very pleased with it..i have made a couple of improvments to it..one being the cheap thin metal plate that they give you for a table when cutting in the verticle plane..i replaced it with 1/4 alum plate...sometimes you have to fool with the ajustments to get the blade to track corectly..i have used it to cut a wide range of materals..it is worth the money and i dont know how i have managed to survive with out one for so long...bottom line get one!!!!
 
I'm thinking of buying a bandsaw too. What are the SKU #'s for the 8 inch and the horizontal/vertical bandsaws that you're talking about from Harbor Freight.

------------------
John
 
The SKU for the horizontal/vertical bandsaw is 37151-4VGA. Price fluctuates pretty frequently on this item and it's currently backordered anyway so if you're going to get one you might want to monitor their prices and buy it when/if the price drops. I ordered mine a few weeks ago at $149. Now it's up to $179, which is what it was at before it dropped to $149. A couple of months ago they were $139... I guess it depends on how big of a hurry you're in.

Ryan

------------------
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23




[This message has been edited by Ryan Meyering (edited 03-29-2000).]
 
Just got my HF bandsaw. $149.

I haven't even put it together yet but I like the looks of it. I also bought a drill press from them for $139 and it's ok but the fit and finish are not as nice as the bandsaw. This looks like great bang for the buck. Thanks to all those who recommended it.

Also, my Grizzly grinder is arriving on monday! Yay! Progress is being made.



------------------
Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
Just got my harbor freight bandsaw today. I haven't had time to put it together yet but it looks nice.

Just don't plan on ordering one and then making a knife next week with it. It took FOUR months for mine to arrive. That's right---months. The backorder is aggravating--I also had ordered a drill press from them before but gave up and cancelled after four months passed.

I'll let you know how it works. Better be good after the wait.
 
Wow, 4 months. I must have lucked out because my wait was only about 1 month and a couple of weeks for truck delivery. I checked their site before and they are back up to $179.(I paid $139). I guess you just have to order at the right time. It is well worth the wait though.

------------------
C.O.'s-"It takes balls to work behind the walls "
 
My order took about 3 weeks.

------------------
Hoodoo

The low, hoarse purr of the whirling stone—the light-press’d blade,
Diffusing, dropping, sideways-darting, in tiny showers of gold,
Sparkles from the wheel.

Walt Whitman
 
How do I get in touch with this company and what machines do I need to make knives?

Band saw, drill press, grinder....?

I figure I'll spend $500 or so?

Thanks

------------------
RKBA!
 
Got mine two weeks ago and put it together on Sunday. Once I changed the blade to a bi-metal, it works really nice. The finish isn't bad either.

Marcel
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top