Some are good, some are bad. I've had mine running for about 3 years now -
nearly daily use - and it is still running fine with the original motor and
saws dead true.

A friend of mine got one and couldn't seem to get the blade to track right.
He took it apart and found that the top driving wheel was wobbly. Sure
enough, after taking it apart he found that it was missing one of the 2 main
bearings! He took it back to the store and exchanged it for another (No
questions asked - nice). The second saw had both bearings but one of the
bearing seats was bored too large so the bearing would just wobble in its
seat. So, he made and pressed a sleeve into the oversized seat, installed a
couple of good bearings and now has a saw that runs beautifully.

I'm reminded of Forest Gump: "Harbor Freight is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're going to get..."

Robert

"mj" wrote in message
oups.com...
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