Greenlee 531 Portable Bandsaw

[Farmall 1066]

Stopped in a pawnshop Saturday, kinda made an impulse buy on a Greenlee 531 portable bandsaw, for $50, didn't think I'd get hurt too bad, and a kind of handy thing to have around. Came with nice metal case and 3 new blades.
Only downfall I see is that it's 2 speed, not variable speed, and blades seem to be nonstandard 53 3/4" length. Guess I'd rather deal with those things than a HF version, for more $.
Anyone have any experience with this model? Good source for blades?
Just be using it for general fabrication/farm shop type duties, and would like to build a stand for it, similar to the SWAG styles.

 

[Mohawk Dave]

2 speed will be fine. Some of my Milwaukees are 2 speed and some are VS. I would think VS would be better for a specific task/metal maybe???

As far as blades, check Staples.com...yep, Staples - the office place. I know they have blades for the Milwaukees.

 

[owenst7]

Mine uses a standard portaband blade (44 7/8"). Roark Supply had a good deal a while back on Lennox blades with the Pirate4x4 discount code.

I love that saw. Mine was really quiet. The motor burned up the windings though after I used it for about a year (I saved it out of a trash can). I used to be a greenlee distributor and couldn't get any help from them on the motor. It's sitting in a box now, waiting for me to get the ambition to rewind it.

 

[kenburkholz]

Almost any saw shop can make blades,any length, material,or t.p.i. Ken.

 

[zTimbo]

Almost any saw shop can make blades,any length, material,or t.p.i. Ken.

This is what I do...I've always made my own blades.

 

[gus1962]

I got my blades from sawblade.com , they custom blade to any length.