Been looking to buy a chop saw for all the stuff around the house, projects and everything else. I read some reviews on the Harbor Freight ones and they left a bad taste in my mouth. so so much for buying one of those.
So looking to spend 100-150$ what does that leave me with?
What are your suggestions/ first hand experiences? Thanks for your help
I have cut enough 304 stainless to make 2 car frames with a Ryobi 10" wood miter saw, using abrasive "blades." I bought it at Home Depot for about a bill.
Do you mean a metal cutting abrasive chopsaw, or a wood cutting miter saw?
Look at pawnshops for the miter saw.
Makita. Mine is 15 years old and it will outlast me I'm pretty sure.
Don't cheap out on the wheels! Between glazing and not cutting, and sometimes exploding with exciting results, cheap wheels aren't a good deal.
SVreX wrote: Do you mean a metal cutting abrasive chopsaw, or a wood cutting miter saw? Look at pawnshops for the miter saw.
metal cutting chopsaw. not a mitersaw converted for metal
My HF one has been used for the last 2 years nearly everyday clean the sand/earwax mixture that passes for grease in China out of the bearings and use decent consumables (lenox wheels might be the best thing ever I can "dice" a 3 foot piece of 3/16 in no time at all) and its just as good as any other Ive used.
Just pick up a name brand. They are all good. I have a Dewalt for cuttiing PVC pipe and wood, a Mikita for abrasive blades and steel tubing, and some old thing that just won't die for cutting metal studs, plate, etc. Just make sure you get one with at least a 12" blade if you can afford it. The guard gets in the way whenever you try to cut something thicker than 3" with the 10" saw. Always something on CL for 50 cents on the dollar. Home depot should have something good for sale with Christmas on the way. If you go back and forth with wood cutting and metal cutting blades, make sure the RPMs of the saw match the RPM requirements of the abrasive blades. Ever seen a 14" abrasive blade detonate at speed? It's happened to me twice, but both times it was very cold out so I was wearing lots of layers. If it had happened during the summer, I would of been in a world of hurt.
foxtrapper wrote: Don't cheap out on the wheels! Between glazing and not cutting, and sometimes exploding with exciting results, cheap wheels aren't a good deal.
This X 1000. Good blades will make a HF saw seem like a DeWalt and make a DeWalt seem like whatever the chop saw equivalent of something better than a DeWalt is. Awesome metaphor, huh?
jg
I just bought the HF industrial 14" for $99 after looking at the DeWalt for $200 at Lowes. The table and build felt better on the HF model. I've made a few cuts and I'm pretty happy so far, but it cuts slow. Better discs are on the list. Also, there's no quick release on the angle of the material clamp, but after looking at a few that had them, I'll trade PITA for staying where I put it.
I have the homedepot store brand, can't remember off the top of my head but its bright orange. It works well, draws enough power at full load to blow 20 amp breakers though.
Its also heavy as all get out. I remember the dewalt being substantially lighter (I think it used an aluminum table) and was about the same price, within 20 bucks. I wish I woulda got the dewalt for that reason alone, as I keep mine in the closet and only get it out to use it since I don't have a garage.
wheels do make a big difference, not just in brand, but you also see different grit wheels. Larger grits cut faster but seem to wear out faster as well. Unfortunately at most local hardware stores you get the brand they carry or none at all.
i have a ryobi from home depot. first one died on the 2nd cut. second one has been going strong for 8 years. i run the crap out of it when i'm building a car.
I have an, uh, the red one... Milwaukee, that's it! 14" abrasive.
It's fine. I'm really curious about whether I'd get better (more accuracy, less burrs) results from a metal cutting blade on a miter saw. Not that either issue is egregious with this one.
It's got a nice, solid, cast base, but the angle setting stuff is all folded steel, and the clamping area and table are small.
Not quite ready to start subjecting our nice Bosch miter saw to experiments, though. I think for blades I've just grabbed whatever was at Home Depot, perhaps that's the first thing to try...
Tractor Supply has a Kawasaki cut off saw I've been tempted to try.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/kawasaki-15a-cut-off-saw-14-in-blade-dia--3901687
I tried an abrasives metal cutting blade on my Ryobi miter saw and it shook the saw pretty badly. I was concerned about the blade wearing the bearings on the saw prematurely since it wasn't really made for that. It could be that a better quality blade wouldn't shake so bad, but once it's been used it's going to go off balance more as abrasives are lost. I decided not to risk it since my miter saw works really accurately on wood - I didn't want to damage the bearings and throw off the accuracy of the saw.
We use a DeWalt chop saw at work and my brother loves it. I've not used it enough to form a strong opinion.
DaveEstey wrote: Tractor Supply has a Kawasaki cut off saw I've been tempted to try.
NO! I have tried 2 kawasaki power tools and won't be trying any more. They are very poorly made. One was a dremel type thing and the other was a hammer dril.. The hammer drill passed away after 30 masonry holes. It was a piece of crap, and not ergomic in anyway. the dremel thing is also terrible in hand, doesn't feel right, all the accessories are poorly designed and not compatible with the dremel brand stuff, the cord is WAY too thick for a tiny machine and very rigid, interferes with detail work, I hate it. I'm not buying that crap again, I'll skip straight to the harbor freight junk if I want E36 M3ty temporary tools. I love tractor supply but they need to get some better E36 M3 on their shelves in the power tool aisle.
We have a Makita in the highschool metal shop. It has taken all the abuse the kiddies have given it, and it has never needed any servicing.
I bought myself a 14" Milwaukee, and I'm not as happy with it as the Makita, however it might just be the blade on it.
In reply to andrave: Good to know, thanks for the input.
DaveEstey wrote: Tractor Supply has a Kawasaki cut off saw I've been tempted to try. http://www.tractorsupply.com/kawasaki-15a-cut-off-saw-14-in-blade-dia--3901687
I actually looked at that one in TSC tonight. It's almost identical to the heavy duty HF one I just bought, just painted a different color. If Kawasaki is rebranding stuff that sells at HF, I have no doubt some of it it sucks. As mentioned above, I'm pretty happy with mine so far, but only a dozen cuts in.
I'm sure the HF one was a handy $40 cheaper than the "kawasaki" one too.
We have a DeWalt chop saw at work, and I have the feeling it was once good, but lived too hard a life. It's doesn't cut very straight anymore.
On the flip side, we also have a Milwaukee sliding compound miter saw. That thing is amazing. It was a Craigslist find, and it's quite good.
been doing a lot of reading and looking around at stores and am starting to feel like they are all the same except for color and price. (thats a bit of a stretch but...)
just tryin to pick the best on and be done with it.
It's a bit above your price range, but I was looking at a Kobalt 12" sliding compound miter saw yesterday. I'm currently cutting a crap load of ceiling planks with a borrowed 10" sliding Mikita and I like a number of the features on the Kobalt better. The Makita isn't very intuitive for one.
Have had good results with the Dewalt saws I have used both at work and friend's shop.
My experience tells me they are all pretty much equivalent (except for the features like quick clamping or miter). I have personally used: Milwaukee, Makita, Mastercraft, Ryobi and General. I cannot say I noticed any real difference functionally between those five. In this case, the blades really makes the tool.
You'll need to log in to post.
