Good idea, lousy execution

[Robatoy]

concept makes a lot of sense. A small rotating blade at the end of a stick. I thought: "how bad can it be?" What did I expect? Not much. I got waaaay less than that. A 4 amp motor isn't going to do much, but if geared down, it could be useful in some applications....and for 69 bucks...what-the-hey? It cut about 1 to 1 1/2" into 1/2" acrylic and the motor would trip. It would restart in a couple of seconds and trip again. Sloooooow feed? 1

1/2" and trip. Canadian Tire was kind enough to refund my money. They're good that way.

Too bad, really, it is such a good idea. Imagine Festool or Fein doing something like that, eh? (Yup... becoming a snob.)

BTW, I already had a couple of Makitas 5091D's.. very useful with their carbide blades. A priceless little saw. I wish it was tailed. I got sick and tired of buying their seemingly abandoned 12volt batteries. The bulk of their operations are now done with my Fein MultiMaster. Am I missing anything that somebody else manufactures? Preferably a plug-in device?

r ---->who is starting to feel christmassy already...must be the tunes...

[root]

There's the PC 4.5" trim saw, it's corded. At 4.5A, it is similarly gutless.

I continue to be surprised that nobody offers power adapters, nor even makes it easy to replace the cells in the pack. Whole thing is a big scam, as far as I can tell.

Of course, at 12 V and probably 600 W of power, your Makita must draw around 50 amps... >

[Robatoy]

I have thought about a wire to a car battery. I have a few dead Makita batteries that I can 'convert' to a plug. A grommet here or there... should work.

[bf]

LOL, I know that's a dig at me, but I did not imply to say that in the other thread. Not worth explaining my position again, but I truly meant no offense.

[nailshooter41]

r:

How about this bad boy?

don't know about the new ones sold here, but some of the old ones I see on the job have been in service >literally< for 25+ years, when they were a Rockwell tool. The older ones I used were solid as a brick, steady as a stone when cutting, and since they are worm drive they easily cut counter tops, and stock up to an inch or so thick.

Don't know about the newer models, but occasionally I see the old ones on Ebay at really reasonable prices. I have had excellent luck buying tools on Ebay, and as long as I have been really careful and asked a lot of questions before bidding, it has been great for me. (I just bought an incredible once or twice used Milwaukee half sheet sander with a pile of sandpaper and the brand new in the cardboard metal case for it for $94 to the door - normal price $175 plus shipping and NO box.)

Reading the reviews on the Amazon link above it shows that some were unhappy with the machine out of the box. Might want to check on that locally so you can get a good one. With the quality control (or lack thereof) on the tools I am buying these days no matter what I spend, I always try to give them a good once over and workout when I buy them.

That's a pretty cool saw made for hard use. Lemme know what you think...

Robert

[Lew Hodgett]

RE: Subject

SFWIW

My tenant uses a 77 with a metal abrasive cut off blade to cut polyester/glass laminate.

Since molded counter tops are polyester with talc filler, same rig might also do a good job cutting them.

Dust control is an issue.

Lew

[Robatoy]

As anybody here will tell you, a dig here and there is not beyond me.

*S*..BUT.. I have no idea to what thou referreth. Honestly. Refresh my memory, so I may gloat a little? r

[Flex Flint]

[OT] As opposed to "but their webmaster s*cks"? Tried to view the page yesterday and now, but had to go to Canada Post to find a postal code first. Here's one for other people that didn't get in: M4P 1V8 [OT]

As to the machine itself: although I like the design, not for me, thanks. As a newbie, I want to be mobile and be able to cut more than

1-5/16 inch on the spot. Is a circular saw really that much less precise? In relation to the Porter Cable referred to by nailshooter41, I noticed Morris Dovey works with a similar design, maybe you could ask him. See here for Morris's machine: (210kB) and here: for the page it is on with some text from Morris.

[bf]

Weren't we haven't a little disagreement when I said that part of the reason that Fein/Festool are expensive is because some people like it as a status symbol, and if it was cheap they wouldn't buy it? (Note, only part of the reason, I'm sure they are good tools).

I got the impression that irritated you a bit, but maybe it was someone else.. no big deal..

I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't saying that people that buy Fein/Festool are "suckers" or "snobs" or anything like that.. I didn't intend to offend anyone.

[nailshooter41]

this little one would not be it. I have a couple of Makitas that were picked after going through several to get the kind of cutting I want.

I never lend those out, nor do I let anyone else use them. They have really tight bearings, and the shoe is really close to square to the blade.

I use a differnet saw for general work, and that I have a pretty rugged Bosch saw and it works great for 90% of the work I do.

I am sure that Robatoy who also does craftwork for a living has the saw of his choice to chew through large stock. He was asking about a particular type of saw, not an all around saw.

Robert