attn: harbor freight/central machinery el cheapo bandsaw owners!!!

M

markmarkmark

Joined
Jan 26, 2002
Messages
200
i just got my 139.99 harbor freight 4-1/2" metal cutting bandsaw...all set up and can't be beat for the money...BUT i had some trouble getting the blade square, 90 degrees, to the table...

the instructions have some totally ungrammatical nonsense at that section...and i couldn't for the life of me figure out what they were saying i needed to do to make the blade square to the table...the only thing i can figure is that somehow the arms that hold the guide bearings are supposed to be turned until the blade is square...but there is NO way to turn the arms...i managed to get pretty close by cranking up on one side of the guide bearings so that they would push the blade toward square...but i wonder if this is good for the bearings? i mean, they're supposed to just touch the blade...but i have one side of the bearings pushing up against the blade as far as they will go in order to get it square...

am i missing something??? is there some adjustment for getting the blade square? am i talking too much???
 
if you have got it square and it cuts, you must have done something right. also their band saw blades are terrible. get a new bi-metal blade from one of the supply houses.
 
I don't intend to give you a bad time but why is it necessary to run the blade square to the table? For good use aligne the blade so it makes use of the bearings as it should. If you have or get a wood cutting band saw do the same. Running on the edges of the bearings means the lack of side support for the blade. It will want to wander in the cut and you will find that the bearings will wear out a lot sooner. Frank Niro.
 
The bearings have an eccentric pivot so you can loosen them and by turning them they will move about 1/8" each way. you can adjust how tight the blade is in between the bearings that way and to a limited degree make the blade more perpendicular to the table, though I don't know why you would bother to. just let it cut crooked and use a disk grinder to sqaure all the edges up.
 
i'm a woodworker...i'm obsessive about having all my stuff run square...i suppose it doesn't really matter in this case as all i'm using it for is cutting scrap metal to workable size, but still, if there's a way to get it square, i'd prefer to...

i was concerned about wear on the bearings...i don't know too much about them - are these bearings a standard, easily replaceable size? i won't worry about the wear as long as i know i can find replacements...

Frank - i don't have the blade running on the edge of the bearings...what i meant is that i have the bearings set really close in to the blade...on my woodworking bandsaw, for example, it's set up so that the bearings are about a paper's width from the blade...but with this metal saw, i had to set the bearings to where they not only touch the blade, but are actually pushing on it in order to straighten it up....if i don't do that, the blade is at a HUGE angle... but the blade is pretty well centered between the bearings...

i don't know - maybe this is how things are supposed to be...i've never owned a metalworking machine before so i don't have a clue...so thanks for the input and responses...
 
Yes you must use the bearings to "turn" the blade and since the distance between the wheels is short then the "turn" is considerable.Frank Niro
 
Hey MarkX3, When did you order your bandsaw? I ordered mine on January 25 and haven't seen mine yet or received a shipment notice? Did the notify you when they shipped yours?
 
Silent - i ordered mine about 3 weeks ago...they told me it was backordered and would ship at the end of January...they sent me a postcard about a week ago to confirm the order, but they didn't notify me when it was actually getting shipped...

Mike - thanks for those links...very good site, that second one...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top