band saw

D

dmarx

Joined
Sep 17, 2006
Messages
59
Alright, I decided to take everybodies advice and get a metal cutting band saw. (the sawsall just wasn't cutting it :rolleyes: ) So, I go to Harbour Freight and look at their's. Listed on website for $209 and labeled at store for $209, so I purchased. Get to the register, they ring it up for $149!!! I go huh? "It's on sale this week" the guy says. I say "how come it's not marked?" He says "Surprise". I say "Thanks!!"
Ya gotta love it.
 
you will want to make a better table and a better stand..........I have pictures on my site if you want to lok at an example.
 
Absolutely, thanks. The table sucks and the stand is useless for me; I can't see any reason for using it horizontally.
 
Oh, I take it back, you've made it so you can do both without removing the table. Cool!
 
just make the table small enough to clear for horizontal use.

Also, you will need to turn andle iron into small "Feet" so you can get the saw on a flat surface. It will need raising to make room for the guts underneath. There are several ways of doing this I bet but I just bolted angle iron to a saw horse and then bolted the saw to those.
 
Scrap the blade and get a bimetal. The one that comes with it will last about twenty minutes. I've had one of the HF saws for about ten years with no problems. I also changed out the table. I made one out of a piece of countertop.
 
I read this post and went down to HF to see if they had one. I talked to the guy and he got me one for 139. I figure I am going to give it a good work out so I bout the two year warranty. I figure with the money I saved it would be worth it even if the thing doesn't break. The two year warranty was only 35.00 more.

Now to order me some good blades and save up for a KMG.
 
Ya, I got the extended warranty also. Some of hf's stuff is great, and other stuff is just garbage. I did order a saw blade from Graingers'; a Starret bi-metal 18tpi. Wasn't sure about the tpi but I thought I'd try that.

Dave
 
dmarx said:
Ya, I got the extended warranty also. Some of hf's stuff is great, and other stuff is just garbage. I did order a saw blade from Graingers'; a Starret bi-metal 18tpi. Wasn't sure about the tpi but I thought I'd try that.

Dave
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That is very true about the relative quality of HF tools.
This particualar saw happens to be a nice little unit and a tremendous value at $150.
 
dmarx said:
Absolutely, thanks. The table sucks and the stand is useless for me; I can't see any reason for using it horizontally.
Click to expand...
The stand is so flimsy that after about a week the wheels fold up to where you can roll thwe thing......if it doesn't tip over in the up position.....which means you have to remove the nigh useles large table. Little Machine Shop's site has some good ideas on it for a table and a bracket so you can cut wide sheet stock in the horizotal postion. i will have to try some ofthese tricks. And get a GOOd bimetal blade IMMEDIATELY.
 
You might want to remove the handle next to the blade tensioning knob on the top of the cutting arm. It will be in the way when you go to hand tighten the tension knob and trust me, you will get tired of skinned knuckles pretty quickly. It's the best modification I ever made, with the exception of adding a new bi-metal blade.
 
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