- Joined
- Jun 23, 2011
- Messages
- 786
Prologue: I went without a bandsaw for quite a few years. When I needed to cut something, I'd use a Sawzall, a hacksaw, or in later years, a HF portable bandsaw. For larger stuff, I'd have to bring it in to work and use the company saw. Then I bought the little 4x6 bandsaw from HF. How did I ever get by without my own bandsaw? Oh the hours wasted over the years cutting stuff.
When I picked up my little 4x6 HF bandsaw, I was a bit disgusted with the quality of the machine. I spent hours putting it together just to have it cut WAY out of square and have the gearbox jam up due to improper factory assembly. Nonetheless, after a weekend of disassembly, hand fitting, accurizing and general TLC, the little saw has become a staple in my shop and a reliable and accurate performer. In short, if you put in the time to tune it up, the 4x6 can be a nice little saw.
The only drawback of the little saw? Well, it's little! I'd like the ability to cut 6" round stock which the 4x6 cannot readily do. Also, I found the 6" dimension a bit optimistic. Including the requisite jaw mod (for which I give up 3/4"), the real capacity was more like 4x5".
The 7x12 (the good): I had a bunch of HF gift cards, some holiday cash, and a 20% off coupon so off to HF the missus and I went off to buy the 7x12... (BTW: the 4x6 is for sale, PM me if interested).
The saw was quickly purchased and loaded into my truck... All 359 pounds of it! It looked like it was just a BIG cardboard box with a wood skid strapped to it.
I got it home and muscled the box down into my basement shop. When I cut open the cardboard, I saw that the cardboard was simply an "overshell". The saw was in a solid wood framed crate. Even more pleasing was that it looked like the saw was more or less fully assembled (unlkike the 4x6 which required a few hours to assemble). All I had to do was put on the belt guard, wheels and leveling feet and remove a packing lock.
In the parts box with the wheels was this little thingy:
Never mind the fake "inspected" report with randomly populated measurement fields. This baby was tested!
The machine was covered with the requisite cosmoline. However anything that is painted was spared the slop brush. Even more pleasing was that I didn't need scrapers, mineral spirits, degreasers, etc. to get it off; it was very soft (much like pertroleum jelly) and just wiped right off! Nice!
Fit and finish is quite good. Here's an example:
Here she is in her new home. This thing is a brute! The 4x6 is a toy in comparison.
I checked the squareness of the jaw to the blade. Could it be? Yep, it was spot on. Then I checked the blade's perpendicularity to the bed. Damn! Spot on too! (My 4x6's blade was canted about 5 degrees when I got it)
OK, next step, I plugged her in and made a test cut. All was well, although the blade chatters slightly until it really bears into the cut. Not a big deal, the blade it comes with is crummy carbon steel. It'll be replaced with a 6-10 variable pitch bi-metal blade. I've never seen a variable pitch blade chatter. The only issue I found was that the saw turned off befre the cut had completed. It took a slight bending of the shutoff tang to fix this.
Next, I mixed up some soluable oil coolant (Mobilcut 102) and filled the tank. The coolant system works like a champ.
The jaws on the vise end up about 1 1/4" in from the blade. For cutting short stuff, this is obviously an issue. The fixed jaw is readily repositionable to a new spot 3/16 from the blade just by unbolting it and using a different set of existing holes. The movable jaw, however needed an extension plate which I added:
A really nice feature to the bandsaw is how the moveable jaw is implemented. Firstly, it has a "quick" feature which allows it to move independantly from the leadscrew for fast adjustment. Just grab it and move it up to the work, then give the leadscrew handle 1/4 turn and the work is locked. Secondly, the jaw is in a slotted way. Unlike the 4x6, the 7x12 movable jaw doesn't flop all over. It's retained parallel to the fixed jaw. A minor downside is that BOTH jaws have to be adjusted for an angle cut. No big deal. I rarely do that anyway.
When I was all ready to remove the movable jaw for the extension mod, I had my set of metric wrenches handy. Then I discovered something I considered incredible! There's no metric hardware on this thing! It's all grade 5 SAE.
So that's all the good - and quite a good amount of it there is.
The not so good: But it wouldn't be HF without some poor materials or poor workmanship, right?
Here's my only two real beefs (apart from the crummy included blade):
1) The wiring box on the side of the motor is cheap plastic. This broke within minutes:
2) Vertically, the jaws aren't exactly square to the bed. I don't think this will matter much in practice, but they did go through the trouble of milling (or Blanchard grinding - it's hard to tell exactly) a nice finish on two sides of the jaws. You figure it would be square, right?
This isn't really a beef, but I find it a bit humorous. Perhaps it's a clever new feature not found on the competition's units? Or, just a bit of adventurous translation?
Conclusion: This new saw is a brute. It's accurate, rigid, powerful, and has good fit and finish (with a few exceptions). With the installation of a quality blade, this is a winner.
Happy New Year!
John
When I picked up my little 4x6 HF bandsaw, I was a bit disgusted with the quality of the machine. I spent hours putting it together just to have it cut WAY out of square and have the gearbox jam up due to improper factory assembly. Nonetheless, after a weekend of disassembly, hand fitting, accurizing and general TLC, the little saw has become a staple in my shop and a reliable and accurate performer. In short, if you put in the time to tune it up, the 4x6 can be a nice little saw.
The only drawback of the little saw? Well, it's little! I'd like the ability to cut 6" round stock which the 4x6 cannot readily do. Also, I found the 6" dimension a bit optimistic. Including the requisite jaw mod (for which I give up 3/4"), the real capacity was more like 4x5".
The 7x12 (the good): I had a bunch of HF gift cards, some holiday cash, and a 20% off coupon so off to HF the missus and I went off to buy the 7x12... (BTW: the 4x6 is for sale, PM me if interested).
The saw was quickly purchased and loaded into my truck... All 359 pounds of it! It looked like it was just a BIG cardboard box with a wood skid strapped to it.
I got it home and muscled the box down into my basement shop. When I cut open the cardboard, I saw that the cardboard was simply an "overshell". The saw was in a solid wood framed crate. Even more pleasing was that it looked like the saw was more or less fully assembled (unlkike the 4x6 which required a few hours to assemble). All I had to do was put on the belt guard, wheels and leveling feet and remove a packing lock.
In the parts box with the wheels was this little thingy:
Never mind the fake "inspected" report with randomly populated measurement fields. This baby was tested!
The machine was covered with the requisite cosmoline. However anything that is painted was spared the slop brush. Even more pleasing was that I didn't need scrapers, mineral spirits, degreasers, etc. to get it off; it was very soft (much like pertroleum jelly) and just wiped right off! Nice!
Fit and finish is quite good. Here's an example:
Here she is in her new home. This thing is a brute! The 4x6 is a toy in comparison.
I checked the squareness of the jaw to the blade. Could it be? Yep, it was spot on. Then I checked the blade's perpendicularity to the bed. Damn! Spot on too! (My 4x6's blade was canted about 5 degrees when I got it)
OK, next step, I plugged her in and made a test cut. All was well, although the blade chatters slightly until it really bears into the cut. Not a big deal, the blade it comes with is crummy carbon steel. It'll be replaced with a 6-10 variable pitch bi-metal blade. I've never seen a variable pitch blade chatter. The only issue I found was that the saw turned off befre the cut had completed. It took a slight bending of the shutoff tang to fix this.
Next, I mixed up some soluable oil coolant (Mobilcut 102) and filled the tank. The coolant system works like a champ.
The jaws on the vise end up about 1 1/4" in from the blade. For cutting short stuff, this is obviously an issue. The fixed jaw is readily repositionable to a new spot 3/16 from the blade just by unbolting it and using a different set of existing holes. The movable jaw, however needed an extension plate which I added:
A really nice feature to the bandsaw is how the moveable jaw is implemented. Firstly, it has a "quick" feature which allows it to move independantly from the leadscrew for fast adjustment. Just grab it and move it up to the work, then give the leadscrew handle 1/4 turn and the work is locked. Secondly, the jaw is in a slotted way. Unlike the 4x6, the 7x12 movable jaw doesn't flop all over. It's retained parallel to the fixed jaw. A minor downside is that BOTH jaws have to be adjusted for an angle cut. No big deal. I rarely do that anyway.
When I was all ready to remove the movable jaw for the extension mod, I had my set of metric wrenches handy. Then I discovered something I considered incredible! There's no metric hardware on this thing! It's all grade 5 SAE.
So that's all the good - and quite a good amount of it there is.
The not so good: But it wouldn't be HF without some poor materials or poor workmanship, right?
Here's my only two real beefs (apart from the crummy included blade):
1) The wiring box on the side of the motor is cheap plastic. This broke within minutes:
2) Vertically, the jaws aren't exactly square to the bed. I don't think this will matter much in practice, but they did go through the trouble of milling (or Blanchard grinding - it's hard to tell exactly) a nice finish on two sides of the jaws. You figure it would be square, right?
This isn't really a beef, but I find it a bit humorous. Perhaps it's a clever new feature not found on the competition's units? Or, just a bit of adventurous translation?
Conclusion: This new saw is a brute. It's accurate, rigid, powerful, and has good fit and finish (with a few exceptions). With the installation of a quality blade, this is a winner.
Happy New Year!
John
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