According to mj :
Pete,
I just bought the $170 bandsaw from Harbor Freight. I was on their site
yesterday and now it is priced at $209.
Anyway...I finally got mine set up. It comes with a cheapy 1/3 HP
motor. I cut a brass shaft that was about 1-1/2" in diameter and then I
started on a 3" chunk a few hours later. It ran for about five minutes
and the motor promptly quit, although it did not lock up. I let it cool
off (it was starting to get real warm to the touch), but it was too
late. (Don't look Ethel! LOL). I went to the hardware store and bought
a decent 1/2 HP motor for $80 and I am in the process in installing
that one.

I've heard of this before. Interestingly enough, I've put many
hours on mine, bought some years back now, which was sold by MSC for a
bit more than the others at the time. I think that they spec'd a much
better motor, as I have never felt it overheat.

The description from some who have had the motor burn up was
that the actual length of the frame and rotor inside the motor was a lot
shorter than you would expect from the housing. I would be interested
in seeing whether your motor has the same construction.

Piece of sh!t motor. The rest seems to be OK. I still feel that I did
OK in buying this. I got it for $169, $8.95 shipping and the $80 motor.
The next cheapest bandsaws were around $200 and shipping was
approximately $70-$90 and I am sure those motors weren't probably much
better.

Maybe not, maybe so. But it sounds as though you are ahead of
the game, and with that new motor in there, you can expect it to keep
going for quite a while.

Good Luck,
DoN.
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