HF Bandsaw: Blade Popping Off

Peter Atwood

Peter Atwood

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
2,468
A buddy of mine has been having trouble with his Harbor Freight Metal Bandsaw. It seems the blade keeps popping off. I have heard of this happening to others and I wonder if anyone has a solution for the problem. I looked at it a couple of months ago and it seemed fine, the blade was quite tight.
 
Peter, some blades are so slightly and subtly out of round because of tiny weld variations it is hard to notice but they won't track well. Sometimes the solution to this is either to back off the tightness or tighten them to the point of cringing. Try both.

Also, accessible from the inside is a pitch adjustment for the upper wheel. PITA, but may be the necessary fix. You wouldn't know it's there unless curiosity caused one to start takin things apart to see what the innards are like.

I don't know why some blades will pop off and others won't, but I've had one of these saws for 24 years and just have to say that every so often they just seem to take a notion and one particular blade will be a total pain for awhile, then later it'll work fine. Chinese hoodoo of some sort...
 
I put up with it for years before I finally just got the instruction book out and adjusted the top wheel.

You have to do it with the blade guard open, the hex wrench in the adjusting socket up top, and your other hand on the blade tensioning adjuster, saw running. As you adjust the top wheel back, you have to let tension off the blade or it will overtighten. It takes a few minutes to do, but once done right, the problems disappears.
The blade should be hard against the rim of the upper wheel. If it's popping off, it's not tight enough against it.
 
It has been my experience that tightening the blade more will often cure the problem. Tighten until it "dings" at a high pitch when strummed w/ a fingernail. I use a large pair of channel lock pliers to tighten mine. Being tight will also improve blade longevity.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, I really appreciate it. :) Now if I can get the thing adjusted for him without losing fingers I'll be doing good!
 
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