Thats weird, my HF bandsaw still has the original motor on it after
20+ years of almost daily hard use, and runs just fine.......Guess as
cheap as it was made 20 some years ago those chinese fingured out a
way to make em even cheaper......


On 26 Nov 2005 05:36:12 -0800, "mj" wrote:

===I ended up buying one of those cheapy HF bandsaws. I got mine on sale
===for $169 plus $8.95 shipping. I checked the site yesterday and it is
===now $209 and the same low shipping. It had (HAD) a even cheaper 1/3 HP
===motor on it. My only concern in buying this was the motor. But since
===the next cheapest bandsaws were around $200 and $70-$90 shipping, I
===figured if the motor went out, I could always just replace it and still
===be saving money. Besides, I figured the rest of them probably did not
===have a motor much better than HF.
===Yesterday (Friday) I finally got it set up. I cut a chunk of 1-1/2"
===brass and it seemed to work pretty good. I replaced the blade with a
===bi-metal cutting blade too. I started cutting a 3" chunk of brass rod
===and the motor ran for about five minutes (if that) and quit. It was
===getting somewhat warm to the touch, so I let it cool off for an hour or
===so. Went back and tried it and nothing. I went to the local hardware
===store and bought a decent 1/2 HP motor for it ($80) and I am in the
===process of installing it. I need to go back this morning and get a
===pulley for it. I figured I am still ahead even with the motor change.
===The bandsaw itself seems to be made well enough. I could tell the motor
===wasn't going to last long, but I was sort of surprised it went out on
===the second cut.
===I thought about contacting HF about it, but I didn't want another of
===these piece of sh!t motors again. And I was not going to take apart the
===bandsaw and send the whole thing back had it come to that.
===One more thing...when I got my bandsaw, the blade was already
===installed...backwards.
===Mike

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The original frugal ponder! Koi-ahoi mates....