My Method For Making 300/221 Brass

[PFDD]

Well, I just came in from the garage where it became obvious why my blade on the Harbor Freight saw was dragging and stopping when I smelled hot plastic after making 2 and a half cuts on cases.

I pulled the guard off the left side and had quite an accumulation of rubber debris from the belt where it was slipping because the saw driving cog was't adequately secured and was slipping on the shaft. That resulted in extra heat buildup and the cog rested against the belt cover melting an indentation in it. Oh joy! I tried securing the set screw on the saw driving cog but it acted like it was stripped and I didn't have any metric replacements on hand

I must have received one made before some Chinese national holiday. When I originally pulled it out off the box I noticed the cord cover was outside the housing too but I didn't worry about that as I wasn't planning on stressing the cord. Reminds me of a Volve Turbo I once owned that must have been made the afternoon before Swedish summer holiday. What a piece of crap that was.

Now to see what Harbor Freight is willing to do about it. Guess I got what I paid for and less....

Update: I called HF customer service and they're sending a prepaid return Fedex label for return credit since I'm within 30 days of purchase. I have a local HF store I wasn't aware of and I'll pick up a replacement there as they won't take a mail order return. Suboptimal, but not bad in all.

The saw may not be as underpowered as I thought given the slipping drive belt I was experiencing. It will never be a powerhouse but seems to be adequate for the task and saves a lot of brass shavings.