Chowder to Powder
When I first got my saw it seemed to like it had been partially assembled once before. The belt cover was installed and there was a chip out of one of the pulleys. Harbor Freight wanted me to ship the saw back for a replacement. Well we all know how unreasonable that is. Then they said they would give me a credit so I could just go buy a new pulley. That's the first star. Some decent service if it took a little arguing to get it. The second star is because I have used this saw for several years, and for the last year every single day in my shop. That's the second star. I use it for rough sizing stock to go on my mill or lathe. A couple days ago it quit working. A blade broke, but that happens. The big thing is it wouldn't turn with any tension on the new blade. I opened up the gear box and found the brass gear had turned mostly to powder. The oil looked like gold metal flake paint. More like something you might see on an early 80s model custom low rider than in a gear box. I ordered a new gear and today I proceeded to try and install it when I found a piece missing. Look at the picture. The casting where the bearing goes is broken and the piece is missing. It wasn't inside the gear box. It was just missing. There was some nasty gunk in the oil when I proceed to clean it out. Like maybe some not fully cure silicone or something. I don't know if this was a used returned saw they pawned off on me, or if it was a saw broken at the factory and shipped damaged or maybe both, but its an absolute miracle that it lasted as long as it did.
