Thread: Lathe info/help

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Harbor fright anything is all crap.JMO

Totally disagree, Harbor Freight doesn't make anything near as good as crap. Turds can be polished :-). I will admit to owning one piece of Harbor Freight gear. I knew exactly what I was getting into when I got it. It was a challenge project for machine work. I didn't have room for a proper dedicated horizontal band saw. There are groups on the Internet where people re-engineer and re-manufacture some Harbor Fright crap for fun.

To get my horizontal band saw to perform well, I did something to all of it except the casting:

1- Lathe turned the blade wheels to true up.
2- Replaced all of the bearings including those in the gear box (could not stand the grinding noise).
3- Pulled the gear box apart and tumbled the worm gear assembly.
4- Pulled the blade tension mechanism apart, replaced the tension rod and knob.
5- Designed and built a hydraulic load cell to measure and control blade tension.
6- Built a lubricant system for the blade.
7- Redesigned the blade tracking system and re-adjusted.
8- Designed and welded up a new stand for the saw.
9- Replaced the joke of a blade with a good bi-metal blade.
10- Built an adjustable hydraulic blade fall system to replace the joke of a spring.

It was a fun project to see if a total piece of &^%$ saw could be made to work correctly. Did I mention this was brand new?

It will cut a four inch blank to within about .004 inches top to bottom. I true it up on a lathe. It does what I need and I knew I was starting with garbage.

Friends don't let friends shop at Harbor Fright...

Best,

Ed