HF 4x6 - Time to replace?

Had one of these. Cheap motor died. Ran mine for the next 20 years -until I gave it away- on a 1/6 hp (!) salvaged washing machine motor. Get it tuned up -lots of descriptions on what to do there- buy high quality blades and keep them really tight. As long as the worm gear, motor, & bearings hold out, they're unkillable. Always do a cut on a new blade with a piece of 2-3" mild steel round to condition the blade; use cutting oil or coolant.

Bedframe steel is variable- some cuts, some of it is harder'n woodpecker lips. I usually try it with a hacksaw first.
 
When I bought my 4X6 from Busy Bee in Canada (same quality as HF) it ran for a week and the motor quit.
Replaced it with a 1/2 horse furnace fan motor and have not looked back.
Good to hear that you found the issue.
Jim
 
Harder 'n woodpecker lips! Gotta remember that one LOL
Mark
yes bedframes are highly variable, and they often don't weld very well either- I used 6011 on ac with acceptable results
 
Bed frames are what comes to my mind when someone says "mystery metal." Test before using...
 
You know what else I love about this thread/revelation? It explains all the trouble I had trying to learn to weld on a cheap Lincoln buzz box like 20 years ago. Eventually took a class for both stick and MIG, but will always remember how much trouble I had that first time. What was I working on? Yep, bed frames, cut by hand with a hacksaw... ugh.
 
Let's see, ten years service out of a saw you can replace for $150.(cupon in mag). I think $15 bucks a year not to use a hacksaw a very good deal. Either get a new saw or a new motor
 
Agree bed frames are mystery metal. Some are hard as hell and some are soft as all get out. I have had both. and welds are all over the place, Some weld great, and some, Bolts would do better.
Saws, Older models seem to be better, and may cost to repair but often worth it compared to the newer ones. Bearings and seals are all replaceable. Get the oil on the gearbox done and keep it up. and you can keep them running for a long time. And one that I was told of recently, was that on a new blade, watch someone got one that had the teeth backwards. so you would have to run the motor in revers to get it to cut. If I ever got one I would contact the company and see what they would be willing to do.
 
Herbie555 said:
According to my recent reading, over-feeding is particularly hard on fresh teeth? Rx lower feed and blade speeds for the initial "so many" inches of material cut. I dunno.
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I seriously doubt this advice is true, perhaps a good example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet". Please provide a link, if you can, to where you read this, I'm curious as to the explanation...
Also, Bedframes, I have a lot of experience as free materials is the way I like to roll... Yep they can vary from soft to quite hard, sometimes even on the same piece! I like Buffalo20's explanation of "work hardening" makes a lot of sense especially if the bed saw a lot of "action" :) Now, I always cut bed frame angle with an abrasive chop saw.
 
kvt said:
And one that I was told of recently, was that on a new blade, watch someone got one that had the teeth backwards. so you would have to run the motor in revers to get it to cut. If I ever got one I would contact the company and see what they would be willing to do.
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Important trick: A blade that has the teeth "backwards" can be reversed by turning the blade "inside out". Like, flip the surface over and work it all the way around. Voila', the teeth will be facing the other way. I have to do this about one time in five as the process of taking the wire-wraps off and getting the blade out of the shrink-packaging has it come out "backwards".

Eddyde said:
I seriously doubt this advice is true, perhaps a good example of "don't believe everything you read on the internet". Please provide a link, if you can, to where you read this, I'm curious as to the explanation...
Click to expand...

Note that I only came across this stuff while researching my blade issues, but here are the sources:
http://www.starrett.com/docs/saw-resources/recommendations.pdf?sfvrsn=2 (This is from the blade manufacturer)
http://www.bandsawblade.com/breakin.htm (Similar here)
https://www.sawblade.com/breaking-in-band-saw-blades.cfm (and again)
http://www.wikussawtech.com/index.php/en/einfahren (another blade manufacturer)

So like I said, this was all news to me, so I'm not preaching this stuff as gospel, just that I discovered yet another thing that I, as an untrained amateur, hadn't heard of until now that could be affecting blade life.
 
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