aldi sliding mitre saw - opinions please

[Tim_UK]

I see aldi have a reasonably priced mitre saw coming soon -

anyone any experience of this model please ?

[Andy Hall]

Yes, this is the lowest end Chinese generic seen in quite a few places. I did take a look at one recently at a Sunday market. The slide mechanism was sticky with quite a lot of play so this isn't going to do anything much more than fairly rough, no repeatable hacking through material. This may be good enough for some applications, although none spring to mind. More concerning was that the guard is very flimsy and the mechanism was sticking. In an SCMS, these are a potentially lethal combination because the temptation is to take them off. Another clue is that a laser guide has been added. This is nothing more than a marketing feature - it doesn't serve any useful function.

I see no point in wasting money on it.

[robgraham]

Tim Just a caveat to Andy's post, and this is not in any way knocking Andy, but if you look through his posts on tool assessment, you will find that he is a high end purchaser and has high standards for tool purchase.

His review of this tool may be perfectly correct, but I have bought a number of power tools from Aldi/Lidl and found, for my usage, them to be quite adequate and as 'quality' includes price, to be good quality. My philosophy with a new tool is to buy cheap to see just how much use I really do have for it and then replace with better if necessary - remarkably in recent years replacement hasn't proven necessary and that includes a garage extension and a workshop rebuild!

Remember that Aldi's do a 30 day no quibble return so with Andy's comments in mind, and your usage isn't heavy, it might be worth buying this saw and returning it if it is as much 'crap' as Andy suggests.

Rob

[daddyfreddy]

No experience of that model precisely but I have had one of the 'cheapy' end mitre saws, branded SIP, for 3 years now and it's been invaluable. As robgraham said, you've got the warranty if it doesn't meet it's description.

My overall experience of cheap chinese power tools has been very positive.

[meow2222]

I've not tried the one you refer to, but have had & seen fairly mixed results with cheap mitres. They're prone to the following problems, which you need to check for:

1. saw head that is not rigid, producing wonky cuts. Reject any like this, there are plenty not this bad.
2. plastic base which bends as you lean on it, misaligning the cut. All the cheapies have this, the trick is to use a suitable clamp to minimise pressure on the base when you need an accurate cut.
3. Guards may be not properly functional, meaning removing it is the only way to use it.
4. Weak fence, this can be quite dangerous. I've seen one go bang very violently while only doing light cutting. Eye protection is important if you must buy these kind of low end goods.

NT

[Andy Hall]

My main concern is much more the safety aspect of this rather than the quality of what can be achieved. The latter depends on what the user wants.

The safety aspect of woodworking machinery was brought home to me quite clearly last week by a contractor who visited to do some window work. I happened to look at his left hand and the index, middle and ring fingers were mainly missing. He had a very thin looking thumb. It turned out that he used to be a joiner and had been using an SCMS from which the blade guard had been removed. As it happened, it was a decent one, but the users just felt that the guard was a nuisance.

A moment's loss of concentration and that was that - off had come the digits. One could see the line of the cut along the line of the remaining stubs of fingers. The thin looking thumb wasn't the original thumb, that was wrecked totally, but the index finger moved along. Apparently this is common repair practice because without a thumb or "thumb" gripping is quite restricted.

What was surprising was that he can still mnaged to do pretty much everything. He shook my hand (left hand to left hand) and the grip was quite surprising.

Nonetheless, it does remind one to be very careful indeed.

[dennis]

You mean it is unuseable. You shouldn't need to take the guard of one of these saws.

Eye protection is needed for all of them whatever price you pay.

[John Rumm]

Two things to keep in mind: firstly SIP is not representative of the low end - most of their stuff is at least adequate. Secondly if you are buying a budget mitre saw, you will tend to get a better result with a simple mitre saw than you will with a sliding compound mitre saw. With the SCMS the quality of the slide mechanism is very influential on the results you can get, and how smoothly it works. There is less to get wrong with a simple hinge.

[meow2222]

I dont, no. You may do. Some of the equipment I was brought up with had no guarding, soft start, insulating covers, etc.

NT

[Andy Dingley]

OK, just to have a different viewpoint from yet another Andy: - It's a piece of crap and you should avoid it.

1. It's 50 quid. I can do a lot more with 50 quid than waste it on worthless tools. I could waste it on _nice_ tools instead.
2. Anything I can do with this, I prefer to do with a £20 _hand_ tenon saw. if pushed, I can do it with a £3 B&Q cheapie. It also does it quietly and more accurately. OK, so it doesn't do it so quickly, but just how much carpentry are you actually planning to do with it? Aldi sell tools to sit on shelves, not to be used.
3. Supposing you're trade, or you have a big project. That's a fair reason for needing the speed of such a saw, compard to sawing by hand. In that case you'll have some sort of budget too -- so don't limit yourself with a 50 quid hunk-o-junk.

[Stuart Noble]

I know a photographer who only uses disposable cameras on holiday. His snaps are still miles better than mine.

[Doctor Drivel]

I see you have no experience of this model then.

[Andy Hall]

When did they let you out?

[John Rumm]

Oh! Better call off the dancing on^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h Requiem service we had planned then...

[Doctor Drivel]

It is clear you are from Essex.

[Doctor Drivel]

So it is clear you have experience of this saw - which the Op requested.

[dennis]

When I were young smallpox and TB were killers too. But treatments were developed just like guards were developed.

Many accidents are due to guards not being fitted.. its just being idle not to use the guards.

[Andy Hall]

This one is precisely the same as at least 4 others on the market other than in the colour of the paint job.

Of course, you may believe that the paint colour affects performance and safety......

[Lurch]

On Sat, 26 May 2007 21:41:08 +0100, Andy Hall mused:

Depends how many there are.

[Doctor Drivel]

The more paint colours the better of course.