I use it daily in a fabrication shop, adjust it properly, use slick stick on the blade every couple cuts, and I hang a hammer from the handle for extra weight

Its a nice tool and I see the cut is smooth and the metal did not heat up. If speed is more important though, an abrasive chop saw cut maybe 1/16" outside the line followed by an angle grinder would suffice.

Could be any number of things; most likely a combination. The roller guides need to be set properly, which I still haven't really figured out, for a straight cut. Also, if you can adjust the roller guide housing, move them as close to the material as possible, so the minimum amount of blade is exposed. Lastly, the entire "arm" that drops down needs to be free of "wiggle". If it can be pushed from side to side, you won't get a straight cut, at least with steel. Hope this helps.

Yes, that's the stock blade on the lowest speed, cutting through 1/4" steel. The stock blade lasted for maybe 10 or so cuts before snapping.

Angle iron needs to be cut with the edge up! It will cut faster and with less heat plus it will make the blade last longer! I use a drip oiler on mine and have cut well over 600 hundred pieces of metal of various sizes and thicknesses. The HF saws require a bit of modification to make it a great saw and it is possible to get a straighter faster cut with better blades. I've replaced the motor, the blade,the base, the oil in the gear box and made several adjustments to it and it cuts perfect!

@jacktheripped - That's not a bad idea. I've had decent success finding bi-metal 65-1/2" blades, but they really haven't lasted as long as I would expect. I cut a fair amount of heavy stock -- like 4" cylinders, but it's all aluminum and I often use coolant.

What blade did you replace it with, are you planning on doing any of the mods that's floating on the net ? I've looked at this saw and for the money it looks good enough for making a few cuts on the weekend.

@amaedesign - The blade is in there fine, I just had it on the lowest speed and the slowest feed. I now have it at the highest speed and heaviest feed for everything I cut and it is much faster. I'm using the saw a lot these days. And although I've been storing it *outside* for two years, it still works great.

@fly2000jtb my school has this bandsaw. its very light actually. i can wheel it were ever i need it no problem. probubly take about a 25 lb pull to lift it up on its wheels. really is maneuverable

@fall22123 - It's faster than this video shows -- this was my first cut, so I had it set on the slowest speed and slowest feed. I cut 4" diameter stock all the time and it's pretty quick, especially if you run a little coolant/lubricant on the cut.

@jcorsaro Chop saws leave a bigger mess, heat or burn the metal, and also make a wider cut and wastes material. I hate chop saws and so I bought this HF bandsaw today for 100 clams. Only used twice by a guy who was moving and had to leave it behind. He even threw in an extra set of non-chinese blades.

Well as with most harbor freight crap it just needs a little modification and a $30 blade, and it'll be just fine....i own one along with a wellsaw 1016 and have an Ellis 3000 at work..

@Andyman3k - Yeah, I admit above, I was running it way too slowly here. I had never used it before, so I was super conservative.

Cut looks good, but it sure looks like it takes a long time compared to using a chop saw.

@SWD2263 - You know, I've bought all sorts of power tools, hand tools and miscellaneous tools from Harbor Freight and found them all to be good to great. Maybe my experience is uncommon, though.

has anyone tried the portable bandsaw from harbor freight? I would like to see a video of that. watch my harbor freight welder video

@fly2000jtb - Sorry, I didn't see this comment. It's pretty heavy, about 150 pounds in its packaging from HF. But, I weigh just over 100 lbs. and was able to assemble it by myself. And, as rcfreak2493 notes, once assembled it's easy to roll it around.

@SPARTANENGINEER1701 can you link me to the blade you are talking about?

Is it just me or is the blade going tortuously slow? If that's just cold/hot rolled, i'm pretty sure you could go a LOT faster...

Cuts pretty slow. It would take forever to cut through a thick piece of bar stock.

I guess the bandsaw is ok if you don't use cheap a blade? Take Care, John

Is that the stock blade ?

Looks like the blade is in backward. I know from experience. Don't laugh - it's possible to have the teeth facing the wrong way. No, it's not that there are left and right-hand blades... you just turn the blade loop inside-out to switch from left to right-hand. I have the same harbor freight saw and it finishes a cut like that in about a minute.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!! LOL