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Howdy and welcome. Hopefully some more knowledgeable and practical types will join up and help give this group some members and more interesting content. In the mean time check the bookmarks for a list of links on mods, using, a FAQ, and links to vendors.

The Asian-made 4x6 Metal cutting Bandsaw Many folks who need a low cost metal saw turn to this unit since it's a reasonable price. It's much like many import tools, decent, but with some work can be quite nice. There are several vendors of this model, and a couple of variations available as well. The basic unit is a three speed, 1HP single phase, horizontal/vertical, 4x6" metal cutting bandsaw. The stand for the unit varies a bit for some of the manufacturers (the Jet, most notably) and Grizzly's 2002 catalog has a model with a swivel base. The Enco model has the option of a UL listed, or even US-made, UL listed motor. Some of the specs vary slightly by manufacturer (IE, enco now lists it as a 5x6 saw). The unit weighs a bit over 100 pounds, and comes in a box disassembled in all cases I've read, and will take 20 minutes to an hour to setup, depending on breaks and personal diligence. The manual for the Harbor Freight version, is somewhat fractured and incorrect in the pictures accompanying the text, so watch out for that. Enco has the manual available online. There are three speeds you can select from. It's belt driven, and there is a low-tech but effective belt tension bolt that is between the motor and gearbox in a knuckle busting location. The speeds are 80 fpm, 120 fpm, and 200 fpm. Roughly translates to Steel, Brass, and Aluminum speeds. The stand that's included with the unit is a pair of sheet metal legs. They suck. A number of links on the bookmarks page have info on how they made a new stand. I used some 2x4's and a piece or two of plywood, and some cheap casters for mine. Blades: This unit uses 64.5" x 1/4" x .025" blades. Most bandsaw blade manufacturers will have a premade set of blades available for it. One of the first things you should do is purchase a bimetal saw blade for your saw. This can dramatically help cut times and will last significantly longer than hard back or carbon steel blades. Enco and Grizzly have a fair selection of Bi-Metal blades for the saw, including a 6-10 varitooth up to a 20-24 varitooth. Most of the BiMetal blades are about $20 (plus shipping). Lenox makes the DieMaster 2 bimetal blade which comes highly recommended, and Starret also manufactures a bimetal blade for our saws. Any feedback regarding any of the aftermarket blades available would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, My name is Jim and I just today received my HF bandsaw via UPS. It's still in the box, hope to have it up and running this weekend. Looking forward to hear from others who have already made the upgrades to this saw. thanks, Jim

Hi, My name is Jim and I just today received my HF bandsaw via UPS. It's still in the box, hope to have it up and running this weekend. Looking forward to hear from others who have already made the upgrades to this saw. thanks, Jim

Howdy All, I am glad I found this group. I haven't bought a saw yet and am looking for advice. Any suggestions? Robert

Hi, I picked up a Starrett bi-metal vari-tooth blade today at Grainger ($23). I haven't used it yet, but I'll post a report when I do. Starrett 5' 4 1/2" PowerBand Matrix 2 High speed steel bandsaw blade, 10-14 TPI, 1/2 wide, .025 thick. Grainger P/N:2GM79, $22.22 they are on page 1578 in Catalog 392. When I purchased my saw, I also bought a 10tpi and 24tpi blade at the same time. HF had them for $4.99...forget the part numbers right now, since I got them in-store. If anyone out there has used any other blades, besides the stock ones, please post a report or a comparison vs. stock! thanks. Sned1

I'm glad I found this board and hope to learn a lot here. I just bought my 4 x 6 saw and have yet to even make a cut with it. I like to poke around a little and get familiar with how things are put together first before I put it to use. Anyway, a visit to my sister and her family made an excellent excuse for me to get close to Grizzly in Williamsport, PA. It is hard to describe the Grizzly showroom other than it is absolutely spectacular. Gleaming, new, awesome. This was what I would expect the Rolls-Royce dealership in Beverly Hills to look like, not the Yugo tool store. All of their equipment is on display for touch and feel. Fantastic. Plus, if you're into the outdoors, there's a brand new Gander Mountain store next door. I got the saw home and the first thing I did was to find the manual. There are good ones and there are bad ones. This one is so bad that it becomes funny. Quote: "Turn on the switch, and change the blade speed..." With the V-belt pulleys? Not!!! Or this wonderful direction that "#53 Hexagon Head Screw should be adjusted in accurate height when machine in cutting after finished off cutting then magnetic Switch can be lost." The topper though is this one in the section on guide bearing adjustment. "Loosen the nut while holding the bolt with an alien wrench." That's the same wrench that fits the alien holes which were obviously lost along with with the magnetic switch. The Grizzly manual has no section whatsoever on assembly so you're on your own there. So far, I'm fairly impressed with the quality of the machine itself, considering the price and think it will do very well for my applications. The first "modification" I am making is to replace all of the "metrinch" fasteners. SAE threads with metric heads. It's just a lot easier to find inch tools than metric. There are some other things I can see to be improved and I'll post them as I go along. I have one question at this point. When the moving jaw of the vise is clamped, it still can rock a bit. It clamps to the nut which sticks up just a bit from the vise base. I would think that the jaw should clamp down to the base. Is this the way it should be? Should I grind down the top of the nut or was this the way it is designed? Am I missing something obvious here? I hope we can liven up this board and look forward to all the helpful things I'll learn here. Tom

Just joined the group. Look forward to swapping ideas. Got a HF 4x6 last week. I had a wood blade made for it as I will use it in the upright mode mostly right now, but do plan to cut metal in the future. Paul in OKC

Hi all. Most everyone agrees the vise definitely needs to be improved. Here's something I did. The pivot bolt which attaches directly to the bed was a very sloppy fit in the hole of the fixed vise jaw. I took a piece of thin wall brass tubing, 1/4" ID ('cause that's what was handy), cut off about 3/8" , slotted it, and pushed it onto the bolt. After a little trimming on a belt sander it fit snuggly into the hole in the vise jaw. The bolt was reinstalled and snugged just until the lock washer was fully compressed. Then I put a lock nut on the other end of the bolt to keep it from turning. The fixed jaw now can be adjusted without loosening the bolt and there's no slop around the pivot point. Next, I replaced the sliding nut and washer under the other end of the vise jaw with a t-slot nut (Grizzly G9510). The wide part of the nut doesn't span the slot, but bears against one side of the slot. Now, adjusting the vise requires loosening just one bolt (and one wrench, no need to hold the lower nut). This has made the fixed jaw of the vise much easier to adjust and I don't have to worry that clamping work tightly in the vise will shift the pivot end of the jaw. More to come. Tom

Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the 4x6bandsaw group: I bought my 4x6 bandsaw from: o Harbor Freight o Grizzly o Enco o Homier o Jet o other To vote, please visit the following web page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4x6bandsaw/polls Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups web site listed above. Thanks!

fellows glad there is a group that we can share infromation on these saw, I am Joe Guidry, Southwest, La. the bayou country, I bought a Harbor Freigh saw about two years ago, the first time I used it the motor burnt and went down hill after that, a flea market motor for five dollars works great and have made a lot of modifications since will post some when I get It cleaned up again, my last one was a hydraulic cylinder off of a John Deere combine steering, works great, still getting it to cut at 90 degree is still in question, you all have a good week, Joe.

Hi All! I am the proud owner of a 4x6 bandsaw. Until I bought mine, I used a jig saw and a hand hack saw for all my cutting. Needless to say, my projects were few and far between, if they involved much sawing. 8-) My saw was bought from REX supply in Houston. It carries the brand name; ACRA, and was made in Taiwan. I looked at the saws at Harbor Freight and Wholesale Tools. The saw from Rex seems to have a better finish than the others. It has cast iron blade guides. The upper frame is also heavier than the one at Harbor Freight. I bought extra blades from H.F. (carbon) and Enco (bi-metal). Did the usual check for sand in gear box, and it was clean. The saw cuts true with just the slightest mis-alignment from 90 degrees. I keep a 24 tooth blade in the saw, as I cut a lot of small 1/4 to 1/2 inch round stock. (the other blades are 10, 14, and 18 teeth [per inch of course 8-) ]) Leo (in pearland, home of fig trees) BTW: the instruction book was written in the same strange lingo as most imported tools.

Hi, I'm new to the list, having acquired an Enco 4x6 band saw on Sunday. It's in pretty good shape but the motor needs new bearings. The end caps (bells ?) have been removed but the shaft, front bearing and bell are stuck together. I'd appreciate any advice on how to get these items apart without damaging the bell. The assembly is being treated with liberal amounts of kroil while I wait for advice.

Trying to see if anything's broken, haven't seen any messages in over a week. Terry

Hello, This email message is a notification to let you know that a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the 4x6bandsaw group. File : /BandSaw.pdf Uploaded by : mrb37211 <cbrumbelow@...> Description : Harbor Freight 4x6 Manual You can access this file at the URL http://groups.yahoo.com/group/4x6bandsaw/files/BandSaw.pdf To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files Regards, mrb37211 <cbrumbelow@...>

Hey Guys! I changed my blade today, and found the blade not tracking right on the idler (upper) wheel. I looked up the adjustment instructions and adjusted so the teeth did not ride on the wheel surface. (i read that this a big no, no) After I tightened everything up, I made a cut. The vertical face of the cut was not at 90 degrees as before! I looked up the adjustments for this, but before I "messed" with another adjustment, I decided to readjust the blade tracking. This time I was more careful with the "back and forth" adjusting of the blade tension knob and the tracking screw. Tried it again and the cut was now 90 degrees. (yippee) Moral: If you make a change (adjustment) and something unexpected happens, do the adjustment again. Now back to making the throttle body.... Leo (hot in pearland, but dry)

Just some quickie bits that I've done with my saw to make it run a bit better. It sounded to me that it was a bit bouncy and rough when cutting so I started looking around at the saw to see what I could do to make it better. First, the oil in the gear box I drained and refilled it with new, fresh oil. It seemed to help a bit. Second, the v-belt was making most of the noise it seemed, so I took an old candle waxed the edges a bit and that helped. Just have to do it everytime before using it so as to make it effective. And no it doesn't slip either. Last, when using the saw to cut, even with the spring in the fully loose position (ie, for aluminum), the blade bounces a bit when cutting. So I took a claw hammer, and hung it on the top hand hold to give it a little weight, and that seems to stop any bouncing that was going on. Cheezy and in search of a more long term solution, but it worked. On another note, Harbor Fright sells a coolant pump unit for $39 that has a two gallon tank and a 4 foot nozzle. If someone was adventurous and wanted a cheap coolant setup, that might be something to look at. Right now I use a spray bottle of WD-40 for aluminum. As I'm getting more and more into steel, some kind of cutting fluid would be good to look into and a delivery system as well.

These are things I have been with my 4x6 1. Bimetal blade is the most important. They are expensive but worth it. They are usually 10 teeth per inch that alternate with 14 teeth per inch. It sets up a clearing action that carries away chips and faster cutting. 2. I do wax the blade with paraffin or if I run out, the old paste floor wax. Helps a little, not a lot. 3. Because the stand is so wobbley, I cut sections of angle iron and bolted them between the legs to stiffen the whole set up. 4. I do use coolant-plain water. I looked at a lot of synthetic coolants and too polluting for me to poor out on ground or flush. I got a big plastic bucket for below machine and put in one of the HF pumps for rock fountains, on sale for around $10.00 as I recall, but usually 14.00. I fixed the tube to drip just above the blade. With this set up, I cut a 3 inch solid steel round bar in not quite an hour. Previously, it took days, I would start at the first of week and use cutting oil, squirting it on at intervals, would go a couple of hours, then turn off, then restart next night, until finally cut. What is impressive is how the water may cool the blade but it carries alway all the fine chips that retard cutting. Therefore, to protect the pump from fine chips getting into the intake, I cover the pump in the plastic bucket with an old plastic orange juice bottle cut out to cover the pump like a hat. 5. If not using water coolant, I do use weights like the hammer descirbed to add force to the saw cutting.

I wish I'd taken a picture, but I ditched the chintzy sheet metal legs and replaced with some 2x4's, a piece of plywood, and 4 casters. My friend cut the 2x4's to fit the bottom angles under the saw frame. I had to alter on a bit by hand (not quite perfect but it works) to route around the power switch. The 2x4's I screwed into the plywood base, and bolted the casters underneath. On the back side (the tensioning spring side) I put a piece of pegboard with some hooks to hold spare blades while not in use. I plan on polyurethaning the whole contraption so it's liquid resistant. After poly-ing, I'll try and get some cross members between the legs to support a drip pan, and on the plywood I'll add a coolant pump system. Hopefully. I went this route after I mangled one leg and had a lovely experience balancing a circular saw (unplugged, thank goodness), a saw blade, and the bandsaw, which was falling down. After recovering from that, and determining that the leg was not worth trying to fix, I went the 2x4 route instead. It's much sturdier, and since it's on 4 casters, can be wheeled quite easily around the shop. Two of the casters lock in place, and the other two are fixed position casters. Anyone else replaced the stand for their saw?

I've just started making a few cuts on my Grizzly 4x6 bandsaw and must say I'm quite pleased with the results. I am cutting 303 stainless bar, 3/4" x 2". Although it might not be the suggested orientation, I laid the piece flat so the blade started on the 2" side first. The cut surfaces showed fine striations in the direction of the blade travel. This was consistent through the whole cut and probably due to extremely small variation in blade tooth set or chips dragging in the kerf and pretty much expected. But this is my question. When the cut is held to the light at some angles, there appears to be a very definite "wavy" pattern in the surface. Think of this as looking at a ruffled potato chip, 90 degrees to the ruffles. The wave pattern is at 90 degrees to the fine striations, with a "wavelength" of about 0.22" . Is this making any sense? These waves can't be felt. What causes this? The rough bar as received from the supplier also showed a similar wavy pattern but it was obviously cut on a vertical saw on the 2" side first and the "wavelength is about 0.75". Both ends of the bar show the same pattern. The waves look more like plateaus followed by valleys and can be felt easily. I was using the original blade as supplied, 14 teeth per inch at the slowest blade speed, figuring I'd get some cheap practice, before ruining a good bi-metal blade. I think these waves may be caused by some factor related to tooth pitch but I don't know. Has anyone else seen this or know what causes it? Would I still see this if I switched to a variable pitch blade? Any ideas? Tom Jenks