Sorry for the long post. I know many eyes glaze over at such a long post but the point is right below in my request. My in-laws had an old Harbor Freight purchased "Delco" 14" bandsaw that have noticed sitting for over 20 yrs that I wanted to restore for periodic use. I thought it would be much better/lower cost than buying a new or used bandsaw and having to deal with fixing it up too. Well the more I dove into this project the more issues I found.
Request for Feedback
Issues & Repairs
Request for Feedback
- In the end I'd like your thoughts on if you didn't truly need the bandsaw but had already spent $95 in parts to repair it only to find out you need a lot more parts (i.e. ~$120+ not counting a good blade),new tires even though just purchase new tires but got a bad batch and the potential deal breaker, the upper guide post seems very misaligned and not fixable; would you spend the $120 more to see if that fixes everything or cut your losses ?
- If I spent this ~$215 to get it up and running good, that's still likely cheaper than purchasing a used one that I would have to likely make repairs as well and far cheaper than a new saw I do not need.
- What would you do ? Craigslist/Facebook Marketplace, yard sale it to get my money back out of it if possible or spend more to fix it up...
Issues & Repairs
- Table trunnions were broken - purchased new ones that fit perfectly....after lots of grinding
- Guide bearings stuck due to pitch/dust - purchased 2, replaced one since one I purchased came broken already (thanks China)...was able to clean up and use one of the old ones though
- Tires rotted & new ones are bad - replaced with urethane tires only to suspect I received bad tires (Thanks again China....lots of reviews out there with new tires causing vibrations due to variations in thickness); ~$25-30
- Upper wheel alignment assembly is cracked in multiple places and is believed to be contributing to making it difficult to align the blade properly; ~$75 for new assembly
- Blade tracking handle broken off so have to use a wrench to adjust blade tracking; knob would come with a new assembly
- Upper wheel alignment - huge gap behind the wheel that requires shimming w/ washers to keep it from rubbing heavily on the enclosure back
- V-belt for the motor was twisted and suspect warped due to sitting so long - believed to contribute to excessive vibrations; need to purchase new belt; ~$15 for new one
- The blade guard/shroud on the left side of the table was split in half and upon gluing it back it rubs on the blade (was told it always did this, which is very annoying); make one our of wood ? guess ?
- Missing table insert - can make out of wood or purchase some and hope I don't have to grind them to fit...~ $10-15 or make them
- Blade guides were torn up metal stock which I replaced with Cool Blocks
- These didn't come with a fence which is not ideal but not a show stopper....would use an aluminum bar or 2x4 clamped to the table before I spent $120 on a fence for this bandsaw
- Excessive vibrations I think are a combination of the drive belt & bad batch of new tires
- Most concerning is the upper guidepost being misaligned (by far) to the blade. See pics below. I've never seen or heard of such a misalignment. See the blade virtually touching the guide then the 2nd pic shows how far the guidepost is off in order to have the blade be centered in the guides
- I'm not sure how this is even fixable being how far off it it from the blade center to the center of the blade guides & guidepost and the post is hexagonal rather than a round bar. Even if it was a round bar, it's so far off the blade guides / cool blocks would be contacting the blade at an angle rather than flat against each side of the blade
- I was told it's always been that way.
- Is this just annoying (having the blade so close to the guide on the left) or would it be a show stopper to make any further repairs in your mind ?