Harbor Freight bandsaw mill

[mesupra]

Yea there's a good chance I skip out early Tuesday or Wednesday and get it together, hopefully be testing it out next weekend.

 

[mesupra]

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.

 

[hamish]

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.

 

[Jim Timber]

How are the blade guides on those mills?

 

[mesupra]

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]

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.

 

[mesupra]

It took about 2hrs give or take. We have not yet played with the guides yet, really didn't have much chance to play with it.

 

[rwthom279]

Everything on the mill seems to be of pretty good quality, ......... came with a Lenox blade.

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

 

[mesupra]

Which blade would you recommend?

 

[rwthom279]

These are from earlier in this thread:

A good source for blades is: http://www.kascosharptech.com/sawmill-blades.html No one can beat their prices, and they are darn good blades. Blades SHIPPED to your door are less than blades alone from anywhere else I've found. I personally would recommend their 4 deg. blade in an 0.045 thickness. They don't list it on their website, but call and ask for Derek Davenport and he'll take care of you. A 4 deg. blade will cut pretty much everything you can put on the little mill ( or any lower hp band mill for that matter ) with excellent results and productivity. Since the HF mill doesn't have roller guides, the 0.045" thickness GREATLY improves the cut quality and surface finish of the lumber.

As mentioned previously, Kasco Woodmaxx bands are an amazing deal, and perform very well also.

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

 

[mesupra]

Thanks for the contact information, what are we talking for "cheap" I've heard great things about cooks too, looks like there around $155 for 10 blades.

 

[rwthom279]

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.

 

[mesupra]

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.

 

[rwthom279]

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.

 

[millbilly]

opcorn:opcorn:

 

[lps8]

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

 

[Mrpacman]

I did have the problem with the height adjustment, but after I fixed that clear running.

Dear son just what did you do to fix he heigght adjustment problem?

 

[Mrpacman]

Great information, I figured the shaft size would be 1 inch but I know the 212cc predator is 3/4. I agree with the engine flush, I've had 4 predator greyhound engine and I've flushed each one after about 10-15 run time to find the first oil to have a nice golden hue. Thanks for the blade link And the hook angle recommendation. This site has proved very helpful.

Dear sir please explain in more detail about the the flush and run procedure first i've heard of this technique Thank you

 

[mesupra]

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