Portaband and Swag table vs. Harbor Freight 4x6

J

jkf96a

Well-Known Member
Title says it all. Dewalt or Milwaukee portaband plus a Swag table, or go with a HF 4x6? Anyone with experience with both care to say which they prefer? Anyone who has one wish they had the other?
 
I have both. I rigged the harbor freight as a vertical saw. Both have their advantages and shortcomings. If I had to operate with just one it would be the Dewalt and SWAG table.
 
I have both and use the portaband much more. It's biggest problem is a maximum cut depth of about 5".
 
Not that my opinion will be of great importance but here it is for what it's worth; The harbor freight stuff is what it is...China stuff, and recently I found that out when my guide wheel assembly went bad in my HF porta-band headed south. Parts for HF stuff isn't just hanging on trees which is important if you get in a pinch. So I ended up replacing the HF porta band with a Milwaukee porta-band. The HF porta-band did me a good job for a couple of years, but I expect the Milwaukee to far outlast the China made equipment. The cost of course is considerably different, but so is the quality. In short, go for the porta band. But you can make your own stand, I did and so have several others on this site.
 
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Bush Monkey said:
I have both. I rigged the harbor freight as a vertical saw. Both have their advantages and shortcomings. If I had to operate with just one it would be the Dewalt and SWAG table.
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Bush Monkey,

Do you have a pic or can you describe of how you rigged your Harbor Freight as a vertical saw? I've got one on the way and will need to figure out something.

I had sworn off HF after being bit twice, but the portable band saw gets 'relatively' good reviews here and on other forums and it was heavily discounted. (By relatively good, I mean relative to other HF tools.)


Edited: oops. I see you may be talking about the HF 4x6. I have the portable bandsaw on the way and need to rig it as a stationary upright bandsaw.
 
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Lagrange said:
Not that my opinion will be of great importance but here it is for what it's worth; The harbor freight stuff is what it is...China stuff, and recently I found that out when my guide wheel assembly went bad in my HF porta-band headed south. Parts for HF stuff isn't just hanging on trees which is important if you get in a pinch. So I ended up replacing the HF porta band with a Milwaukee porta-band. The HF porta-band did me a good job for a couple of years, but I expect the Milwaukee to far outlast the China made equipment. The cost of course is considerably different, but so is the quality. In short, go for the porta band. But you can make your own stand, I did and so have several others on this site.
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The Milwaulkee saw is better designed, better built, greater throat depth, you can buy accessories for it like the Swag Off Road table, and you can get repair parts too.

But it's also 4x's the price.

The new Milwaulee saws are made in China now too, so you can forget the buy American sentiment..



To the original Poster,
I have a 4x6 and a portaband, I just put the portaband in the vise and use it much more often than the 4x6 because iit has ticked me of with blade alignment problems.

The portaband is just handy
If you get one for the table, you will also want one to use handheld for quick cut offs.
 
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