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I have one of the green 4 x 6 HF saws that is probably ten or so years old. I bought it from a salvage store that carried a lot of HF tools that may have been customer returns, items damaged in freight, or factory rejects. This saw was a mess and may have been a factory reject because the pivot holes for the blade carriage were out of alignment. They were so far off, that with the carriage fully lowered, the blade missed the gap in the table by 1/8 ". At any rate, the saw looked bad enough that nobody was interested in it, so the store finally marked it down to 90% off just as I happened to be looking at it. At that time HF was selling these saws for $199.00 which made it a 2 buck buy. MINE!!.
The repair required a complete tear down, to re-bore and bush the pivot shaft holes. While it was apart, the gear box was cleaned out to remove all the gritty grease. During a trial run, the blade would not stay on the wheels, and the wheel tilt adjustment was all loosey-goosey and had no effect. The adjusting mechanism was reworked and once done, the blade tracked and stayed on the wheels. After all that the saw worked perfectly. A bimetal blade was installed for obvious reasons, and the saw has been a joy to use ever since. Then, on a hot, Mississippi summer day, I managed to work it beyond it's duty cycle, and smoked the motor. My fault! When it cooled down, I tore the motor apart, and found the plastic fan had melted and the plastic gummed up the shaft bushings. Just for grins, I cleaned it up the melted plastic, oiled the bushings, and to my surprise, the motor ran on the bench. It's still going strong, but needs a push to get it started (start windings gone?). Since the motor's fan is no longer with us, I keep a small fan blowing on it when it's in use. One day I may spring for a new motor, but for now it does just fine. Not bad for an original purchase of $1.99.
One other mod was to the wobbly stand. A couple lengths of 1/2" conduit were bolted between the front and rear legs to stiffen them up which made a world of difference. They also serve as a support for a baking pan that makes a nice chip collector. I could have bought a better saw, but look at the fun I would have missed out on.
The repair required a complete tear down, to re-bore and bush the pivot shaft holes. While it was apart, the gear box was cleaned out to remove all the gritty grease. During a trial run, the blade would not stay on the wheels, and the wheel tilt adjustment was all loosey-goosey and had no effect. The adjusting mechanism was reworked and once done, the blade tracked and stayed on the wheels. After all that the saw worked perfectly. A bimetal blade was installed for obvious reasons, and the saw has been a joy to use ever since. Then, on a hot, Mississippi summer day, I managed to work it beyond it's duty cycle, and smoked the motor. My fault! When it cooled down, I tore the motor apart, and found the plastic fan had melted and the plastic gummed up the shaft bushings. Just for grins, I cleaned it up the melted plastic, oiled the bushings, and to my surprise, the motor ran on the bench. It's still going strong, but needs a push to get it started (start windings gone?). Since the motor's fan is no longer with us, I keep a small fan blowing on it when it's in use. One day I may spring for a new motor, but for now it does just fine. Not bad for an original purchase of $1.99.
One other mod was to the wobbly stand. A couple lengths of 1/2" conduit were bolted between the front and rear legs to stiffen them up which made a world of difference. They also serve as a support for a baking pan that makes a nice chip collector. I could have bought a better saw, but look at the fun I would have missed out on.
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