How to set blade tracking on the 4X6 Band Saw. Keep that blade from falling off! Harbor Freight 

I have been looking for this video for a long time. It is the best I have seen on adjusting blade tracking and adjustment I had almost given up..Thank You So Much

the fact you threw your band saw out of whack to make these videos is much appreciated.

I had a lot of wobble in my upper wheel. To fix this, I wrapped heavy duty aluminum foil and contact cement around the tensioner slide bars. Between every 2 layers of foil, I brushed a little DAP contact cement, taking care not to have any cement get on the outside surface of the foil and then pushed the bar into the axle adjusting slide groove. I repeated this process until I had almost no wobble on either side individually, and NO wobble when both slider bars were wrapped and form fitted to 2.5mm I found that 2.5 mm is the sweet thickness on the sliders. The aluminum foil is only a MacGyver temporary quick fix. I did it to get through a project, and it's holding up surprisingly well. After I finish this current project, I'm going to have my cousin mill me up a couple of new sliders to 2.5mm uniform thickness. The biggest problems I find is that with these cheap saws, is the loose the tolerances make precision cutting iffy at best. RU-vid has a lot of great instructional videos on how to "tighten up" the slop and and make it a very serviceable and respectable machine. BTW, you're absolutely correct about not skimping on the blades. The OEM blade is junk. I put a Harbor Freight "top of the line" all purpose blade, and It made a big difference. I also bought a Starrett 99192-05-04-1/2 Intenss Bimetal Band Saw Blade, Powerband M42, 1/2-inch Width, 0.025-inch Thickness, 5 ft.-4-1/2-inch Welded Band Length, Pitch (TPI): 14. I haven't put it on the saw yet, and probably won't until I get my slide bars machined, but Starrett has been a major quality manufacturer for a very long time and I expect their highly rated blade to be among the best. Whatever other tolerances I can tighten up, I'll let you know.

I'm an engineer, and a new machinist. (Full machine shop.) But I am "Johnny come Lately" to machining. Thanks for the video, I used to know how to do this, and forgot. LOL! (I forgot about the Allen Screw) Good clear video.

I was ready to throw out my band saw because I thought it was permanently busted from the factory. Thank you so much.

Glad I watched your vid, as my new saw came with the blade dislodged behind one set of the guide bearings in the box. Had I switched it on straight out of the box I suspect the blade would have taken out the bearing and/or itself. Taking my time & inspecting the pulley box & going through your recommended adjustments before switch on, saved the day!!

Thinking of picking one of these up, this video will have come in handy...thanks!

Well done video. This cheapo bandsaw works good for what I use it. Thanks for the well explained adjustments

Thank you sir for that awesome vid!!! Small bandsaw, band jumps off at the motor side wheel…have to try a lot. Not sure with the band tension, not sure where the sweet spot is…at the start of the learning curve, every machine has one…

Thanks Don, a very helpful video.

Hey Don, thanks a lot for this video. Really helped me out. Appreciate it 👍.

Hi sir thank you for your video. What is the reason for the wear of the blade of the wheel in the event of rotation and how is it treated

Very useful information thank you for your knowledge and time on this video, hello from P.S.L. Florida

Good vid. Learned a lot. Thanks!

Thank you very much for the help👌👌👌

Good info Don, thanks.

Great video thanks

I have a harbor freight junk but mine doesn't have all these adjustments. I find the number one reason for throughting blades is taking too big of a bit, especially with a new blade. On the side there is a rod with a spring hooked to it. This sets how much down force tension is on the blade. Depending on what you are cutting and how aggressive your blade is, you may have to tighten up on that spring by turning that bar so there is less downforce pressure on the blade, so it doesn't bite so hard during the cut.

Thanks for sharing

Good run down man

Hi thanks for this: If you take off the blade, how much up/down play is in the tracking-sliding-assembly, the part thsat slide as you put it like a lathe guided by the two plates. I get the tilting adjustment in the horizontal-wheel-blade plane, but what about the vertical reliant on I assume no play in the guides, mine has a lot of play here I cannot adjust. I do have a mill, and can make modification to correct that, if need be=I am restoring an old Rong FU 115....Thankyou.

Don, great video. My blade is walking off the bottom wheel. Is there adjustments for that?

Don: Thanks for the great video. I just got a brand new HF saw like your's (they've gone up a little) and it seems that the blade DOES NOT track across the cutting area. That is, when the blade is aligned with the drive wheels, it must be twisted some with the guide bearing to cut square. That is, with NO guide bearings, the blade tracks on the wheels to give a 15--20 deg oblique when the cutting area is..Is that the way it is supposed to be? Are the guide bearings designed to put that much twist in the blade to get it to cut straight? Thanks

Hey man thanks for the video. I have one of these and have had a ton of issues with it. I just use my DoAll now. When I get back home I am gonna dig it out and see if this will work for mine. It seems to eat blades.

Good help.

How is it possible that the longer pipe cannot fit at 45 degrees, the saw holder is in the way?

I think you covered most of the problems.

My blade "walks off" the bottom wheel. What causes that?

I have a small metal bandsaw, 'METALLKRAFT MBS 105' and the band jumps off at the drive wheel side. I have to adjust wheel tracking and blade guidance (at the roller bearings). General noob questions, what to do first: First wheel tracking and then blade guidance - or - first blade guidance and then wheel tracking? Please help. thx!

Hi my name is Jeff how do you adjust the bottom drive wheel my blade is hanging of by a quarter of a inch by all my cuts perfect inch and a half square stock 3/16 thick I cut a slice 1/8 Inch thick and I mic it it is the same on all 4 sides

Don, nice video, I made a minor adjustment on the top, guide wheels are true but my blade always comes off the bottom or motor side. HF 4x6. Any tips?

Hey don. When I went to cut square tubing 1x1 the blade just stopped in the material.

So I see and understand the Allen key adjustment on the top wheel using a pick and have that setup properly. However I do not see how to adjust the lower wheel? My blade is only riding half way on that lower wheel. I took the four bolts off the cover behind that wheel, however that was a mistake. Oil leaked out. Now that's cleaned up I need to know how to make the blade ride on the lower wheel like it does on the top wheel

Hello, i want to know how much KW is the electromotor and what is its RPM. I have the same bandsaw but dont have the electromotor for it. Thanks!

My saw cuts a bit more on the top of the cut and less on bottom. Any solutions? Adjusted tracking and guides.

What would cause the blade to keep popping off when you go to start cutting?

Is anyone having issues with the drive wheel developing a wobble or warp ? I have taken it apart and nothing is loose . The shaft feels fine . Bearings are good . The drive wheel is all the sudden wobbling, like it's bent some how .

Don, were you drunk when you stole that sign?

You cannot over tension the blade on a Harbor Freight 4x6 saw. Check with Leonox, Starrett, or Sandvik if you don't believe me. - Blade tension should be between 15,000 and 25,000 PSI on the cross section of the blade, A little more on BiMetals - Bottom line, you cannot tighten that saw up enough to get into the recommended range let alone over tighten it. I made hub for ours with a 4" tommy bar. - Crank it has hard as you can. We put like 40+ foot pounds on on it. (You cannot get that much on the plastic knob unless you out a pipe wrench on it) - Make sure you break in the blade properly so you don't get stress risers (cracks) and you never break a blade. Except when we try to cut something with a half ass Dixied-up set up and the part gets loose and jams the blade in the cut, we wear out our blades.. In normal service we NEVER break a blade. Plus we get +/- .015" going against a stop all day in steady production. If you are careful you can get it within a couple of thousandths. --- and our HF saw has been in a revenue shop for 40 years. One more time for the cork sniffers. Don't sell these little saws short. They will run with any other saw in this size range.

When you're indicating what we need to see....get your body and hands out of the way. Not good

Hi sir thank you for your video. What is the cause of wear of the blade of the pulley in the event of rotation and how is it treated