- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
- Messages
- 3,258
I tell you what, my friends, I have been pulling my hair out! This new HF saw I bought is a complete piece of junk. Of course the word, "junk" isn't exactly the expletive I prefer to use when fussing and fuming over it. 
1. No matter what I do, the blade will not make a straight vertical cut. I discovered (unfortunately after it was all mounted to my good stand) that the table wasn't ground level. The little ledge on the opposite side of the blade from the vise was about .075 higher than the rest of the table surface. After about 20 minutes with a 14" Magic-Cut file, I got it close enough.
2. The tracking sucks. Period. The whole blade adjustment system has changed since my 1985 saw. It's supposed to be more adjustable, but the adjustments are so sloppy, there is a very-fine window of effective adjustment that can be made before it can be used.
3. Its loud. SO loud in fact, I have to wear earmuffs when cutting with it. This hinders the sweet sounds of Megadeath emanating from my audio.
4. Overall Observations:
This saw looks very much like the old saw, but when you start looking closer, there are a whole lot of differences that really irritate me. First of all, its made cheaper.
It's lighter... much lighter. It's been redesigned and made in such a way as to be mass-produced using less material. Gee, what a shame. A few less pounds of crappy Asian cast iron. Big deal, huh?
The gearbox, instead of being cast into the upper frame as one unit is a cheap steel bolt-on. I shudder to think how long that will last.
The tension knob really sucks too. We've been told to crank down as hard as we can, right? Harder to do that on this saw. The useless D-handle is too darn close to the knob! I racked my knuckles pretty good trying to get a full turn on the knob. Finally, in the bottom of my rollaway in the garage, I uncovered a pliers-type oil filter wrench. IT WORKED PERFECTLY! Now I can get a good reef-down on the knob. Trouble is now it's reall easy to get it too tight. When your blade is too tight, any... and I mean ANY little mishap and your blade is scrap. I caught a triangular chunk of aluminum between the blade and the slot, and BOOM the blade was shot. Just like that. GRR!
And thats not all. While I was fussing around with the tension knob, I noticed that the spot the knob comes in contact with the frame is on an angle to the base of the knob! I scratched my head and said, "What kind of sh*t is this?" Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of mechanical design knows you can't make a good lateral force on an angled surface! The mating surfaces have to be perfectly perpendicular to the force. This tension knob has a mating surface of about 20 degrees! No wonder its got a funky feel to it when you try to tension it! I looked at the old saw, and its designed a lot better - that mating surface being square to the knob.
The pulleys are crap. The belt is crap. It started shredding and stinking after a few minutes of operation. There was black belt-boogers everywhere. I used the belt from the old machine, but the pulleys were all out-of-round, and the castings were misaligned. GRWOAARRR! Man, this crap really pisses me off by now. I chucked-up the pulleys on the lathe and turned them down enough to get them to run a little smoother and still be able to grab the V-belt.
Now here is the real kick. After being frustrated, I started looking around for a better saw. eBay had a few saws, but they were expensive. I'm looking for a decent American-made saw, but they are all so pricey. The sad truth is that to go from the HF saw up to the next level import, you are talking about $800 and up. It's STILL an import saw if you catch my meaning. So I looked into Kalamazoo, Ellis, and Wellsaw.
A good friend of mine has an old Wellsaw. Its nice. It could use some tlc and some fresh paint, but it chugs along - sawing whatever he asks it to saw, and never complains. So I called Wellsaw and asked about there basic saw, the 613. It'll cut 13" wide and 6" high on a 90 degree. More than enough for anything I do. Guess how much?
$3995
I was shocked. So I wrote back to them telling them it was a shame that small guys like me are forced to suffer with the Asian goods because American tools are either too expensive or non-existant. The sales rep told me it was because I could buy parts easily for it and all the saleman blah blah blah.
So there you have it. Thanks for reading my poopoo about the 2005 version of the HF 4x6 saw. If I had some Time in a Bottle (God bless Jim Croce), I would spend it on remounting my old saw to the new base and get a new motor for it which (20-20 hindsight) is what I should have done to begin with.
Jeff
1. No matter what I do, the blade will not make a straight vertical cut. I discovered (unfortunately after it was all mounted to my good stand) that the table wasn't ground level. The little ledge on the opposite side of the blade from the vise was about .075 higher than the rest of the table surface. After about 20 minutes with a 14" Magic-Cut file, I got it close enough.
2. The tracking sucks. Period. The whole blade adjustment system has changed since my 1985 saw. It's supposed to be more adjustable, but the adjustments are so sloppy, there is a very-fine window of effective adjustment that can be made before it can be used.
3. Its loud. SO loud in fact, I have to wear earmuffs when cutting with it. This hinders the sweet sounds of Megadeath emanating from my audio.
4. Overall Observations:
This saw looks very much like the old saw, but when you start looking closer, there are a whole lot of differences that really irritate me. First of all, its made cheaper.
It's lighter... much lighter. It's been redesigned and made in such a way as to be mass-produced using less material. Gee, what a shame. A few less pounds of crappy Asian cast iron. Big deal, huh?
The gearbox, instead of being cast into the upper frame as one unit is a cheap steel bolt-on. I shudder to think how long that will last.
The tension knob really sucks too. We've been told to crank down as hard as we can, right? Harder to do that on this saw. The useless D-handle is too darn close to the knob! I racked my knuckles pretty good trying to get a full turn on the knob. Finally, in the bottom of my rollaway in the garage, I uncovered a pliers-type oil filter wrench. IT WORKED PERFECTLY! Now I can get a good reef-down on the knob. Trouble is now it's reall easy to get it too tight. When your blade is too tight, any... and I mean ANY little mishap and your blade is scrap. I caught a triangular chunk of aluminum between the blade and the slot, and BOOM the blade was shot. Just like that. GRR!
And thats not all. While I was fussing around with the tension knob, I noticed that the spot the knob comes in contact with the frame is on an angle to the base of the knob! I scratched my head and said, "What kind of sh*t is this?" Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of mechanical design knows you can't make a good lateral force on an angled surface! The mating surfaces have to be perfectly perpendicular to the force. This tension knob has a mating surface of about 20 degrees! No wonder its got a funky feel to it when you try to tension it! I looked at the old saw, and its designed a lot better - that mating surface being square to the knob.
The pulleys are crap. The belt is crap. It started shredding and stinking after a few minutes of operation. There was black belt-boogers everywhere. I used the belt from the old machine, but the pulleys were all out-of-round, and the castings were misaligned. GRWOAARRR!
Man, this crap really pisses me off by now. I chucked-up the pulleys on the lathe and turned them down enough to get them to run a little smoother and still be able to grab the V-belt. Now here is the real kick. After being frustrated, I started looking around for a better saw. eBay had a few saws, but they were expensive. I'm looking for a decent American-made saw, but they are all so pricey. The sad truth is that to go from the HF saw up to the next level import, you are talking about $800 and up. It's STILL an import saw if you catch my meaning. So I looked into Kalamazoo, Ellis, and Wellsaw.
A good friend of mine has an old Wellsaw. Its nice. It could use some tlc and some fresh paint, but it chugs along - sawing whatever he asks it to saw, and never complains. So I called Wellsaw and asked about there basic saw, the 613. It'll cut 13" wide and 6" high on a 90 degree. More than enough for anything I do. Guess how much?
$3995
I was shocked. So I wrote back to them telling them it was a shame that small guys like me are forced to suffer with the Asian goods because American tools are either too expensive or non-existant. The sales rep told me it was because I could buy parts easily for it and all the saleman blah blah blah.
So there you have it. Thanks for reading my poopoo about the 2005 version of the HF 4x6 saw. If I had some Time in a Bottle (God bless Jim Croce), I would spend it on remounting my old saw to the new base and get a new motor for it which (20-20 hindsight) is what I should have done to begin with.
Jeff
I hate to say it but it sounds like you had one of the oldies but goodies. Remember, you can still put a new motor in your old saw and start looking for gearbox parts etc so you can maintain your favorite.
Believe it when I tell you, you'll eventually get your new saw trimmed out so it works for you, and it'll last just fine for the indefinate future.
Besides, we all need to do our part to alleviate the trade deficit and get that economy pumping! Go ahead, be one of the good Americans and spend some more $money! 
