Harbor Freight bandsaw mill
- Thread starter chuckwood
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Well the mill is together and we were able to make a couple text cuts in some spruce, some minor adjustments and we were able to everything squared up. Overall not a bad rig, the head move around a little more than I would like but for the price I don't mind making a few modifications, I don't think I could have bought the materials and hardware to build this thing for what we have into it, never mind the time.
Spruce, get the knottiest one you can find best log to learn how to mill on!
The head moves around a lot on all of them. A lil head shake is ok.
Thanks for the pictures, I look forward to following your adventure.
The head moves around a lot on all of them. A lil head shake is ok.
Thanks for the pictures, I look forward to following your adventure.
Jim Timber
1/4 bubble off
How are the blade guides on those mills?
Everything on the mill seems to be of pretty good quality, my only complaints so far would be the lube system, the shut off valve leaked immediately, I think a little Teflon tape will cure that and the blade guard doors rattle, which I think some weather stripping will fix. The steel is plenty heavy enough, the welds looked good, the fastners were good quality, the motor is as good as any small engine out there, the clutch is pretty robust, came wih a Lenox blade.
hunterbuild
ArboristSite Member
How long did it take to get it together? Did you have to adjust the guides? Mine were cutting good I thought, but after adjusting them it cut better.
Don't expect much from the Lenox blade. There was a lot of hype and BS from Lenox when they introduced their new C-Sharp profile. Some people liked it, most of us who saw above the hobby level absolutely despise them. They dull very quickly, even in soft wood like Poplar. Forget about getting any kind of sharpness life in harder woods like Locust and White Oak. Best I could get was 150-200 bd.ft. sawing de-barked GREEN White oak and 300-400 bd.ft. in debarked green Poplar.
Don't be surprised if you get wavy cuts as well. Blade body is only .042 thick and for some reason the blades will consistently dodge EVERY knot and adverse grain changes. I ran the tension up to 26,000 lbs. + of strain (measured at/on the blade itself) with no improvement in cut quality (3/16" of down pressure). They cut even worse with the lack of a roller guide system to apply down pressure.... yes, I tried for experimental purposes to help others. The only blade that I found cuts worse than the C-Sharp is the TimberWolf blade, from Suffolk Machinery (I'll leave it at that
). It all depends on your expectations of the product quality you expect to produce.IMHO, not worth the money to even re-sharpen and have told customers as much... and those C-Sharp blades aren't cheap to buy. Most have switched, but a couple guys still run them. I had (2) break after the 1st re-sharpening (not at the weld) others have reported this as well. Not trying to pith anyone off, just sharing experience and feedback of myself and others who have attempted to saw productively with them.
Glad you've got the mill up and running!! Nice shop BTW
These are from earlier in this thread:
KASCO WoodMaxx Blades - again, ask for Derek Davenport. He'll get you taken care of.
Phone: 314-771-1550 | Toll Free USA: 1-800-325-3251 | Toll Free Canada: 1-800-361-3329
KASCO WoodMaxx Blades - again, ask for Derek Davenport. He'll get you taken care of.
Phone: 314-771-1550 | Toll Free USA: 1-800-325-3251 | Toll Free Canada: 1-800-361-3329
Looks like a 144" .042" thick blade form Kasco is $13.50, so the .045 thick blade is just a little bit more. With shipping you'll probably come in less than Cooks before shipping. If you read the above, another member posted what he paid delivered to his door.
You'll just have to call. I'm not a salesman for them.
In regards to Cooks blades...IMO, they are 3rd from the bottom in regards to quality. Even if the quality was greatly improved, the blade profile/hook angle is FAR to aggressive for a low HP mill (under 25hp). The Cooks SuperSharp blade needs significant HP and torque to pull it through the cut... these little mills do not have the sand in their britches to saw efficiently with an aggressive blade. I've run them and they are an extremely power hungry blade. I just shipped out a box of Cooks SS blades that just had their 1st re-sharpening. Those blades were by far the WORST new blades I had ever re-sharpened. After the first re-sharp, they cut MUCH better, but it takes time and attention to detail to "re-condition" them. If I typed the details out, we'd have a short novel... and the devil is in the details.
Again, not trying to ruffle any feathers. Just sharing what I and other sawyers have experienced.
You'll just have to call. I'm not a salesman for them.
In regards to Cooks blades...IMO, they are 3rd from the bottom in regards to quality. Even if the quality was greatly improved, the blade profile/hook angle is FAR to aggressive for a low HP mill (under 25hp). The Cooks SuperSharp blade needs significant HP and torque to pull it through the cut... these little mills do not have the sand in their britches to saw efficiently with an aggressive blade. I've run them and they are an extremely power hungry blade. I just shipped out a box of Cooks SS blades that just had their 1st re-sharpening. Those blades were by far the WORST new blades I had ever re-sharpened. After the first re-sharp, they cut MUCH better, but it takes time and attention to detail to "re-condition" them. If I typed the details out, we'd have a short novel... and the devil is in the details.
Again, not trying to ruffle any feathers. Just sharing what I and other sawyers have experienced.
I greatly appreciate the information. I read the reviews on pretty much any product now before purchasing. Given all the information out there one can save a great deal of money, time and frustration. If I had not been able to read reviews on the HF mill I would not have been the one to take a chance and therefore would not own a mill. Seems like with every China purchase the quality gets better and better.
Glad the information is helpful. That was one reason I made a point of running almost every blade available (with the exception of a couple) so I could offer re-sharp customers advice. There seems to be a lot of mis-information put out by some manufactures with the intent of making a sale... and nothing more. The end consumer ends up paying the price both for initial quality and the blade maintenance. Its better to buy quality to begin with and avoid the extra costs when getting them re-sharpened.... if the place providing you service actually pays attention and does the job right (many don't).
Just remember, the blade is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your mill. Everything else is there to power, support and guide the blade. If your blade has issues, your lumber quality, production, and patience will suffer immensely. That just takes the fun out of the whole experience. 
We all do this because we enjoy it and hopefully make/save a little money along the way.
Just remember, the blade is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your mill. Everything else is there to power, support and guide the blade. If your blade has issues, your lumber quality, production, and patience will suffer immensely.
That just takes the fun out of the whole experience. We all do this because we enjoy it and hopefully make/save a little money along the way.
millbilly
ArboristSite Guru
opcorn:opcorn:I have a mill based loosely on Gene's mill drawing. I ordered bladed from a place in my state that is supposed to have a good blade. When I first got it going, I was having trouble getting it to cut straight. I tried different blades and adjusted on everything trying to get them to cut straight. I dulled some and took some off thinking I was doing something wrong. I made some upgrades to my mill (log leveler, log turner, log clamp, and backstop, all remotely operated) and started cutting again. I had a blade on that I had been using and cut up several logs. It was cutting pretty good, but I wanted to try a new blade to see if it was faster.
Put the new blade on and did not make one cut. Get about 2 feet and it had dipped about 1/2". Was not cutting as well as well as the well used blade. Put the old blade back on and it cut ok.
I have several more new blades from the same co and when the snow leaves, I am going to try them all to see how they work. Then I will post a report. If they all cut like the new one I just took off, I will be sending them back. What I'm thinking, for the time a resharpener has to spend getting them right, I could buy new blades.
I have resharpened blades coming from one of the members here. I told him how I had a hard time getting the saw adjusted and he said he did not see how I could have gotten them to cut. We will see when I get to do a comparison. I know my resharpen will be better, but I don't know about the rest of the new ones yet. Thanks RW
Larry
Put the new blade on and did not make one cut. Get about 2 feet and it had dipped about 1/2". Was not cutting as well as well as the well used blade. Put the old blade back on and it cut ok.
I have several more new blades from the same co and when the snow leaves, I am going to try them all to see how they work. Then I will post a report. If they all cut like the new one I just took off, I will be sending them back. What I'm thinking, for the time a resharpener has to spend getting them right, I could buy new blades.
I have resharpened blades coming from one of the members here. I told him how I had a hard time getting the saw adjusted and he said he did not see how I could have gotten them to cut. We will see when I get to do a comparison. I know my resharpen will be better, but I don't know about the rest of the new ones yet. Thanks RW
Larry
Mrpacman
New Member
Dear son just what did you do to fix he heigght adjustment problem?
Mrpacman
New Member
Dear sir please explain in more detail about the the flush and run procedure first i've heard of this technique Thank you
Dear,
I typically start with a nice thick (30 wt) Dino non synthetic oil to complete the break in / flush with. I fill to the desired level start engine let idle for a second or two till it runs with the choke off then vary the throttle from low to medium for around 3 min. I then shut the engine off and drain the oil quickly, next I will run it for a couple hours and drain again, after that every 20-30hrs. I also use rotella t6 full synthetic after the first break in / flush
I typically start with a nice thick (30 wt) Dino non synthetic oil to complete the break in / flush with. I fill to the desired level start engine let idle for a second or two till it runs with the choke off then vary the throttle from low to medium for around 3 min. I then shut the engine off and drain the oil quickly, next I will run it for a couple hours and drain again, after that every 20-30hrs. I also use rotella t6 full synthetic after the first break in / flush
