New Harvey Ambassador C-14 Bandsaw

[MS Guy]

Last Friday I received my new C-14 from Harvey. I haven’t finished setting it up yet, but I thought I’d post a thread to talk about thoughts and opinions about it. So, let’s start with the delivery, it was shipped via ABF Freight with lift gate service. I was very impressed with them, even with weather delays they kept me updated with tracking and worked with me on the date and time. Harvey’s packaging is impressive, very sturdy cardboard, some of the nicest formed foam I’ve seen, and everything was strapped and had shrink wrapped to the pallet.

With only my wife and myself (with just a little cursing) we were able to bring it into the shop which is at the back of the house. We started with the whole thing on a furniture dolly and when it was all said and done the saw was off the pallet and on a hand truck to get it the shop. That was Friday.

Over the weekend I put the mobile base together. The directions were well let me just say less than stellar. I read that I had to build a platform on the base or else the saw’s lower door wouldn’t open. C’mon guys for what the base cost it shouldn’t require a platform. I also saw that the base of the saw has 4 leveling legs. Here’s a thought why not just offer locking casters to replace the leveling legs? If I had to do over I think I would’ve tried to find a good set of casters instead of the mobile base.

Today my wife and I are going to try to get the saw onto the mobile base so I can finish setting it up. As things progress I’ll post how it’s going.

 

[Oka]

It is easy I bought one last year pretty straight forward.

Any questions just PM me I will answer if possible.

 

[ErinJ]

Sounds like a solid start overall. Harvey’s packaging and freight partners really do seem to be top notch, but yeah, that mobile base criticism is fair and you’re definitely not alone there. For the price, needing a platform (and vague instructions) is frustrating, and the caster idea makes way more sense than leveling feet if mobility is the goal. What size blade do you have?

 

[MS Guy]

Sounds like a solid start overall. Harvey’s packaging and freight partners really do seem to be top notch, but yeah, that mobile base criticism is fair and you’re definitely not alone there. For the price, needing a platform (and vague instructions) is frustrating, and the caster idea makes way more sense than leveling feet if mobility is the goal. What size blade do you have?

I bought two resaw blades from Infinity that are ¾ in and a ¼ in for tighter work.

 

[MS Guy]

Well today was a productive day. We got the bandsaw on the base fairly easily. Then I went to work on the saw itself and got to setting it up. But before I go into the set up I’ve got to go back to the mobile base. It seems that when I push down on the foot lever one side is not going down all the way and I’m not sure why, that’s one of the things I’m going to talk to Harvey about.

So I got the saw level, adjusted the table, moved the on/off switch, and attached the tool holder. And I thought Ok things are moving right along and that’s when the fun started. My next step naturally was to put a blade on, I’m glad that I watched some videos because here again the instructions are not that helpful. It was trickier than I thought it would be, but after some trial and error it was good to go. At this point I found another thing wrong, the blade tension indicator was hanging straight down, I tried tightening the screw but it felt like it was stripped. To me this isn’t a big deal I just tightened the blade until I had about ¼ inch of deflection.

If anyone has any advice or tips I could use some.

 

[tvrgeek]

Made a few mods on mine to improve dust collection and convenience. Added the Laguna fence., extended outfeed, light, basket etc.

 

[ErinJ]

On the mobile base, check for uneven linkage, debris in the mechanism, or a wheel that’s not fully seated. Sometimes a small adjustment fixes it. For the tension indicator, they’re often just a rough guide anyway, so your deflection method works fine, but I’d still mention the stripped screw to Harvey. Once you start cutting, focus on proper tracking, guide setup, and a square table. These things make the biggest difference.

Well today was a productive day. We got the bandsaw on the base fairly easily. Then I went to work on the saw itself and got to setting it up. But before I go into the set up I’ve got to go back to the mobile base. It seems that when I push down on the foot lever one side is not going down all the way and I’m not sure why, that’s one of the things I’m going to talk to Harvey about.

So I got the saw level, adjusted the table, moved the on/off switch, and attached the tool holder. And I thought Ok things are moving right along and that’s when the fun started. My next step naturally was to put a blade on, I’m glad that I watched some videos because here again the instructions are not that helpful. It was trickier than I thought it would be, but after some trial and error it was good to go. At this point I found another thing wrong, the blade tension indicator was hanging straight down, I tried tightening the screw but it felt like it was stripped. To me this isn’t a big deal I just tightened the blade until I had about ¼ inch of deflection.

If anyone has any advice or tips I could use some.

 

[MS Guy]

Today I was able to take saw off the mobile base. I took all the set screws off of the connectors and brought everything to the full up position. I then went to the foot pedal and loosened all 8 set screws there. Made sure everything was still all the way up and tightened the connectors. Got back to the pedal and put that in the right position and tightened the 8 screws back up. I ran an op check and the base was working. We then put the saw back on and thankfully it was working just the way it was supposed to.

I still have to fix the tension indicator. After talking to Harvey they think the indicator became disconnected during shipping so they sent me detailed instructions (complete with pictures) how to fix it. I’ll let you know if the fix works as soon as I get a chance to work on it.

I hope this thread one day might help someone else if they have similar issues.

 

[oldtexasdog]

I bought their cabinet saw and was also impressed with their packaging and customer service but not so much their directions for assembly. I found Youtube to once again be my friend.