The Harbor Freight bandsaw #60500 review

The Harbor Freight 60500 band saw.

I needed a small band saw for some of the decor that I make, like bandsaw boxes etc. Like most woodworkers I am on a tight budget and I want the most for my money. The most I had to spend was about $120. Honestly even I knew that $120 is not enough to buy a decent bandsaw. 

I spent a couple of months watching craigslist for a decent deal. I saw lots of awesome deals for full size bandsaws, but they were all at least $250 and up. Just because they were not in my budget doesn't mean they weren't awesome deals. I mean a $250 Delta 14" bandsaw? Come on we all know thats a great deal. 

I looked at different brands of new bench top models, in ads. Though they would have all fit my needs, they were all still too expensive. The closest (new bandsaws) to fitting in my budget were the Craftsman model, and the Harbor Freight pictured above. In pictures they look almost exactly the same. The only noticeable difference is the table. 

Finally I caught Harbor freight having a sale on the 60500, it was marked down to $120. I had also recently came across the coveted 25% off coupon, so off to Harbor Freight I went. I got my bandsaw for about $99 after purchasing the 2 year replacement warranty. 

Getting home I unpacked the saw and assembled it. It was well packed and in pristine condition. Plugging it in I found it ran fine, so I started examining and adjusting it to make it ready to use. This is what I found.

- The adjustment of the tension on the blade is simple and easy to adjust. It even has a tension release lever that is easy to operate. 

- The bandsaw wheels are fairly true, and ride on sealed bearings.

- The drive belt is a cog type, like you find on timing belts for cars.

- There is a dust collection port, as well as a small brush that is supposed to knock saw dust off the tires.

- It came with one blade that felt pretty sharp and looked to be of decent quality.

- The adjustments of the blade guides is fairly straight forward and done with an allen wrench that is supplied. The sacrificial part of the guides are graphite cylinders that are kind of a pain to adjust with the allen wrench.

- The tabletop is aluminum, with a tilt adjustment that allows the table to tilt like a normal bandsaw.

- There are pre-drilled holes in the base to screw the bandsaw down to a bench.

- The frame is made of steel and very strong. 

I have officially had it for a year, so I will now tell you how it has faired.

First the blade supplied cuts fine if you are cutting a straight line, but cutting tight turns was nearly impossible. If you tried to cut a tight turn, it flat out refused. the blade would twist, in the slot it cut , to the point of riding against the guides so hard it would bind the blade. At first it made me think that the unit was under powered. This was until I started having the blade drift really bad after about a month of use, meaning it was dull and needed a new blade. I bought a new blade from Harbor Freight for about $8, and suddenly the machine cuts like a dream, even tight curves! After inspecting the two blades I realized the original blade had no tooth set, seriously, none at all. The tooth set is what allows you to cut turns, not sure what they were thinking or why I didn't notice it before, I mean this wasn't my first experience with a bandsaw. 

Second the dust collection port is nearly useless, with a light vacuum. It catches about half the dust, so I found myself having to vacuum it out periodically. One day my light vacuum stopped working so I hooked up my shop vac. This got all of the dust, but I hate having to listen to it while I am cutting. 

Third, if the guides are set correctly when the machine is warm, it will not be set right when it is cold. I was surprised,  when winter came and the temperature dropped to near freezing, I would turn the machine on and it would be bound up. Loosening the guides alleviated this, but when it warms up again you will have to readjust. 

Fourth the upper guide sucks. Yes, it moves up and down easily, but not in a straight line. As you turn the rack and pinion style adjustment the guide starts to tilt towards the frame of the machine ever so slightly. This can be a major pain when it is cold because it means readjusting the guides anytime you adjust the height of the guide cradle. When the machine is warm, it is not as big of a deal, though it does make the blade ride the guide a little heavier on one side. 

Fifth the table gets an OK rating. The insert it comes with leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to blade clearance. If you are cutting off small pieces, they have a tendency to get sucked down between the insert and the blade, leaving no where for it to go. This means you have to turn the saw off and unplug it, then dig the piece out. This is  easily fixed by making a zero clearance insert out of 1/8" ply, which will still need to have a bit sanded off for thickness, so that the insert is even with the table. I also noticed that the table sitting at 0* tilt, measure with small square against the blade not with the increments marked on the table, has a slight tilt in the table towards the back. This part should be naturally square to the blade, but the locking mechanism actually pulls the table into this position. When the locking mechanism is left unlocked, the table sits a little better, but then the table can tilt while cutting, which is bad. The cause of the problem is the rack and pinion style adjustment for table tilt. the hole is slightly off from where it should be, torquing the table over. There is not any way I have found to fix this, except to trash the adjustable table and screw a piece of counter top down as a table, which makes the table unable to tilt. There is also a silly little screw/nut combo that closes off the slot for the blade in the table. The slot is for removing the blade, and you have to take this screw/nut combo off when removing the blade. It literally serves no other purpose that to annoy you. Just throw it out. 

The Miter gauge is largely useless, as the degrees are way off, and it is a bad fit to the table. 

All in all it is a decent saw for the price, and works fairly well in all woods. The upper guide could use another 1/4" of height adjustability because something the dimensions of a 4x4 doesn't quite fit between  it and the tabletop. 

Am I happy with the purchase? Well I guess, but I wish I would have spent $189 for the craftsman bench top bandsaw. After actually seeing it in the store and comparing the two, it looks like the craftsman version has the stuff that this one doesn't. For one the upper blade guide on the craftsman is made of a stouter material, and has bearing guides as do the lower blade guides.  The tabletop is made of cast iron, and it comes with a re-saw fence. The miter however is the exact same one. So I think it would be worth it to purchase instead of the Harbor Freight, if you have the extra dough.