rtbcomp
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- 18,574
- Location
- Sheffield UK
First impression.
Well made; the base is pressed steel and weighs 7Kg. It has quick-release vice and the arm which the saw itself fastens to:
You can rotate the arm about the base to give up to a 45 degree cut. The machine screw with the lever attached clamps the arm in the desired position and the lever can be re-positioned on the screw so it doesn't foul the saw when it is lowered. The arm and vice castings are aluminium.
The saw itself is made from plastic and aluminium, weighs 10 Kg and comes in a moulded case:
Controls.
There are three controls, a non-latching trigger, speed selector and a switch for the LED worklight.
The speed selector is continuously variable, but has 6 detent positions. The range is 0.7 to 2.4 m/s, there is nothing anywhere to correlate the number with the speed.
The three metre mains lead is fitted with a 13A plug.
The blade supplied has M24 13 x 0.65 1141 10/14T stamped on it. According to this guy
https://www.tuffsaws.co.uk/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=21
The M24 blade is a better quality type than the cheaper carbon steel.
Assembly.
Assembly is straightforward, the instructions are very clear and printed on good quality paper. There are two points worth mentioning.
1) I feel the screws holding the saw to the arm could be a bit longer, they screw directly into the aluminium casting.
2) It tells you to adjust the guide bar, but doesn't say what you are trying to achieve by the adjustment. In fact the guide bar is a stop which limits the downward travel of the saw, I set it so the teeth on the blade just drop below the vice, thus ensuring cutting all the way through without moving too far down.
Installing the blade was fun. It's quite stiff and at one point it jumped out and bit me on the forehead. The manual advises wearing gloves when fitting the blade, a hard hat wouldn't be a bad idea either. There's a simple lever to tension the blade. It has 2 positions, tight & slack, no adjustment.
There are two handles but when using it with the base you just need the one with the trigger. It looks like the other one would allow you to use the saw without the base, but this is not mentioned in the instructions, but there is a photo of someone doing just that.
In Use.
It's a bit noisy, slightly less so than a mains electric drill. It has a universal (commutator type) motor. I would recommend ear defenders.
Setting the cutting angle is awkward because you can't read the scale from the front of the machine and you need to make sure the clamp lever doesn't foul the saw. The instructions recommend you do a test cut if you're doing accurate work.
You need to keep hold of the trigger to do a cut. The manual says don't use excessive force, but it doesn't say whether or not it's ok just to let the weight of the saw feed the blade though the workpiece. There's no automatic stop at the end of the cut.
There is no discernible play in the arm that supports the saw, cuts are straight and they don't wander. I cut several pieces of 1/4" x 3" mild steel plate and a piece of 40mm dia bright steel bar. It was like cutting butter with a hot knife.
The vice clamped the work firmly.
Conclusion.
I really like it, certainly good value for money. Blades are shared with several other similar saws and are readily available. Just need to see how well it stands up to use, but I don't foresee any problems.
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But due to the scary price I had to walk away!
