HF 4x6 band saw

The Grizzly 4x6 is the same as the Harbor Freight. I have used parts from Grizzly on my HF saw, because the Grizzly parts department is very easy to use, HF not so much. HF generally works on the bring it back and get a different one philosophy. Great if the store is a mile away, not so much if it is an hour + drive.

If you are contemplating the Grizzly 4x6 I'd take a look at their 5x6" swivel head. It is a fair bit more, but I think this style of saw is much handier, although you do lose the vertical option. I notice the price has gone up significantly since last year.

Grizzly 5x6" swivel head bandsaw


Another option would be a portaband to get you by until you can get the HF saw or find a good bandsaw on the used market. I've heard pretty good things about HF's Bauer Portaband ($140), and often see corded Milwaukee and Dewalt portabands on CL in the $50-150 price range.

I have had a Harbor Freight 4x6" for several years, and at under $300 it was a great bargain and has seen quite a bit of use.
I also have a vintage 6x10" Kalamazoo bandsaw which despite being 50 years old runs circles around the HF saw, but it was $350 used, I paid a little over $200 for the HF saw new.
 
Thanks for the replies.

As for the Grizzly version of the band saw - for what it is (over $500 when you include the shipping) I can't justify the price. I have looked at Grizzly equipment before, mostly lathes. However, I think when the time comes (years, decades...) Precision Matthews is a better route (I'd love to have one of their 14x40" units).

The porta band idea came up before - making a stand and table for it. I think the better route is still the 4x6 to start with. I'll play the game for a bit and see if I can snag one.
 
Whatever you do, assuming that it is a 4x6 bandsaw, is get a good bimetal blade or two ordered. The one that comes with it will dull cutting through soft butter.
 
7milesup said:
Whatever you do, assuming that it is a 4x6 bandsaw, is get a good bimetal blade or two ordered. The one that comes with it will dull cutting through soft butter.
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Already ordered a bunch a week or so ago. They havent shipped yet - have not had any notice they have been made and packed. If I don't hear anything through this week I'll contact the place. They are all Lenox bimetals. I got a couple wood blades also, just to play with (yes metal = slower speed than a wood saw but I'll play with it and see what it does). Blades, abrasives, etc are all good things to have multiples of on hand just in case - better to swap them when necessary and keep going on a project than stop progress on a project. Same goes for redundancy in tools. If one goes down have a backup. Or, multiple methods to accomplish the same task - not necessarily the same type of tool but ones that can be fanigled (that's a technical term) to get a job done ;)
 
FlyFishn said:
Does anyone have any thoughts on the warranties? I feel like it might not be worth it or if I get it when I do have a problem it would be so far down the road the warranty period would have expired anyway = SOL.
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There is a reason those "warranties" are the biggest money makers for retailers.
I'd ask them, "Are you telling me that you expect this item to break after 90 days?"
 
All,

On the up side I managed to snag a saw today. I checked stock online and one of the stores in town showed "limited stock". So I called and someone checked and they did have one.

The down side is it was the store manager who I spoke with, as I found out, and he was a total turd. I tried to have him hold it and told him what happened with the other deal - gone when I got there. Apparently it is "company policy" not to - and nor can your order, either there or online. He was no less of a turd when I got there. I wasn't rude, I was frustrated, but polite and explained my thoughts on their lack of customer support/service. He bounced it right back to the "district manager" saying his direction was straight from him and the district manager is who signs his paycheck. I can understand the "chain of command" thing, but there are right ways to converse with customers and do business and there are wrong ways. Their "policies" to blame or not, the way they did business today really put me off.

I did check the saw over before I left. They made me take it out of the store first (and wheeled it out on a hand truck - it is HEAVY). So I opened it up on my truck's tailgate. Everything looked to be in good shape - and the outside of the box was in acceptable condition (a couple pokes through it, but it was not obviously mishandled). All the parts appeared there and nothing was missing (havent counted nuts and bolts). I did open up the gear box also. Both the motor and the input shaft/gear turned easy as they should (you could tell they were all moving, not like a belt pully was loose on a shaft not spinning the shaft). Inside the gear box the gears were in good shape. The worm has some dings, but they are outside of the area that contacts the drive gear. I will check it out a bit closer and see if there is any metal in the oil. I did not feel much of a burr on the worm gear teeth - they are clean/sharp machined edges, but no extra metal burr that I felt. I might still knock the sharpness down, we'll see.

I have not put it together. That will have to wait a while. At least theres one here, though - all frustrations aside.
 
I tried to put the saw together today. I spent most of the time I had working on a power circuit - outlet box, 14-50 outlet, and 6g cable. The rest of the cable I made a 14-50 extension cord and a conversion whip from 14-50 to 6-50, L14-30R, and 5-20R. That took way longer than I anticipated.

The way I envisioned setting up the saw is to use a ladder and winch as a hoist. That is my go-to method. However, I was using the mount I had my utility winch on for welding practice and to clean up the welds on it so the winch was out of commission until yesterday when I reassembled it. Earlier I tried to get the saw out of the box but the saw assembly (comes assembled, minus the stand, belt, and belt shroud) was way too heavy to lift out of the box without the hoist.

By the time I got to the saw project today I had an hour and a half before sunset - not much daylight. I managed to get the saw on the stand and that was all the time I had - and still put stuff away after dark.

The stand is very flimsy. From one of the youtube videos I saw earlier I was aware that could be an issue, but I still wasn't prepared for how unstable it actually is. I did tighten the bolts (6 that attach the saw to the stand pieces, 4 at the tray, and 8 at the bottom corners) but it is still not very stable. I will mess with it some more tomorrow if I can.

I also found the lever/tab that kicks the power switch off is too short. I tried to bend it straighter but it is about 1/4" too short still. That is a minor issue.

I did check the worm gear and gear box before I left the store with it when I picked it up. I didn't see much of a burr, just a sharp machined edge, on the worm gear teeth. I will open up the gear box and give it a good look-over again before I use it.

I got a new order of blades in. The first round I messed up the dimensions on the metal blades, got the right wood blades but that won't help. So I just ordered another round of metal blades and will deal with the ones that are too long later. The saw has the OEM blade installed already but I'll go ahead and yank it and put a new one on - much better quality blades (lenox diemaster 2 10/14tpi).
 
More progress today.

I opened up the gear box and checked the worm gear over. The edges of the worm gear were sharp as I recalled. I am not sure I would go so far as to state they had burrs, but I did decide to file them down anyway just to get it out of the way.

Pics before filing attached below. The oil looks pretty clean, no sediment or shavings that I can tell.
 

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