HF 9" Bandsaw

From Fusselman.org

I've had it in my head to own a bandsaw for a while now, and I found a great deal on a little Harbor Freight benchtop model. It's not really intended for "metal cutting" (like a horizontal might be), but it seems to work fine.

Pros: It's superior to the one they currently sell because it has an electronic variable speed function. Singularly, the best thing about this saw was the price. I paid about 30% of retail, and I'm fairly certain it's never been used. The table casting is pretty decent, especially given the price.

Cons: Setting the blade tracking is a pain in the butt. There's like 3 set screws, but the alignment gets all funky when you tighten it down. Moreover, I just really don't know how to set up a bandsaw. I'm learning though. The blade, at 50" is a non-standard length. Finding blades might be tricky. Another comment about this saw is that the fence doesn't seem square... Not too worried about that, though.

Update: The saw is now entirely up and running, after having had the blade come off randomly. The main problem is that the alignment and tension are linked, and not in a good way. I also measured the saw's geometry tonight, to start looking for blades. I'd really like a 1/2" Bi-Cobalt, instead of the 1/4" HSS that's on there now. I think a wider blade would stay on the wheels better, and be easier to adjust from a tracking standpoint.

The geometry of this saw is as follows:

• Wheels are 8.25" in diameter, making them just shy of 26" in circumference.
• Distance between the wheels is adjustable, by about a half-inch. Distance between centers varies between 13.25" and 13.75". This distance could be increased by both lengthening the tensioning bolt (making the shortest length shorter, perhaps to about 13") and relocating the top wheel housing bolt stud, allowing the wheel to move closer to the top of the housing. I'd say you could steal almost another .5" there, but I'm not quite sure how you'd keep the cover shut.

What this all really means is that, without accounting for stretch, the blade length is between 52.5" and 53.5". The closest "standard" size seems to be 53.75", which seems to be for portables. The other option is welding my own blades from whatever length is cheapest... I'm not looking forward to that...