Upon assembling it, I found one mis-welded wheel support, on the base frame , but QEP didn't hesitate to replaced the frame, quickly. This issue was d iscovered late Friday, a week ago, so I had to wait until Monday to report the problem to QEP, then wait for the replacement part, which arrived this Thursday.
After 3 hours of use, my overall impression of this saw, so for, is Grade C . Twenty yrs ago, I used an $80 7" tile saw, to cut tile for my sister's flooring, so that's my only comparative example for grading this saw. From what I recall, that 7" tile saw would get a grade of B+, at least. I don' t recall its make, but I think she still has it... and never used since.
QEP's saw: The fence, on/for the work table is held in place by one *screw and tighten ing this screw is not precise. The fence moves out of alignment when the screw is tightened. This may not be an issue with most tile/stone cutting, but for a $400 saw, IMO, a 10" long fence should not be 1/8" - 3/16" out o f alignment, when tightened to the work surface, to the work table's front rail.
*This screw tightens directly against a cast aluminum front rail of the wor k table. I suspect, over time, the screw will make a depression (dent) or depressions (dents), at the various locations, along the front rail, such t hat future settings will not be totally accurate. I may be wrong about this proffered issue.The water tray, under the saw, is huge, maybe 10 gallons capacity, and is a s wide and as long as the frame support (about 16" W X 32" L X 4" deep)). This is way too much volume. Maybe this volume acts as a ballast support, thought the whole saw unit is about 100 lbs and is pretty steady, for the w ork I'm doing. The highest point of the water pump intake is about 1/4" be low the water level. The slightest amount of use "allows" for the water pu mp intake to start catching air, then the pump fails to pump water. During use, the silt buildup, from the brick I'm cutting, seems to work its way u nder the pump, raising it above the water, hence, the pump doesn't pump the water any longer. The water tray needs to be deeper. I put a 5 gal. buck et next to the saw and submerged the water pump in the bucket, allowing for only fresh water to cycle through the pump. *There were several reference s, in the instruction manual, about cleaning the pump and water lines, shou ld they become clogged with silt. Within the first half hour of use, I had to disassemble and clean the pump, twice, for it to continue to pump corre ctly.
There is a 1" wide space between the blade guard and the motor. The arbor shaft is visible, here. As the arbor spins, it catches water and flings it , sprays it, toward the operator. My whole front stomach and waist area wa s soaked, in a short time of use. I initially was cutting half the thickne ss of the brick, then flip the brick to cut the other half. In order to cu t only half a brick thickness, I raised the blade, hence the water was spla shing higher, nearer my chest and chin. I lowered the blade, hence cutting 3-1/4" thick, so the water sprayed at a lower area, on my stomach and wais t. This water spraying is very much not desirable, especially the amount t hat is sprayed. Being drenched, this way, is not desirable, at all.... whi ch leads to my most important and significant complaint, so for.
Despite my complaining, so for, the saw works very well. After 3 hours of use, I started feeling a tingling electrical shock at the on/off switch. I hadn't had that shocking up to that time. I shut the saw off. In the ins tructions, there were several references to possible electrical shock, if t he power supply grounding was not properly wired. The instructions repeate dly mentioned to make sure the electrical supply was properly grounded. I don't think my wiring is improperly grounded. I will change to another out let on a different circuit, and see if that makes a difference.
The saw was plugged into the same outlet as my jointer and I've never had a n issue with electrical shock on the jointer. The jointer has a Baldor mot or. There's no tag/plate/ID on the tile saw motor. I am not knowledgeable of motors, if this is something of relevance. I see in the below link, Ti leGuyTodd comments of a "Liberry" article, but I haven't look at it, to see if there's any mention of different motor brands being relevant to my prob lem.
I don't know if the "arbor" water spraying has anything to do with this ele ctrical issue. The motor area (and everything else) became wet, from the s praying and from other normal wet-working. If my power source is wired inc orrectly, I would assume I would have had this problem all along, and not a fter 3 hours of use. I am not happy, at all, with this development. Again, I will change to another electrical outlet and see what happens.
If anyone has any comments or suggestions, about this electrical issue, fee l free to speak. I've cut about 70 brick (pavers) and would like to finish . I need to cut about 150 more.
I'm not pleased with this latest problem (hence, delay of the job), I've ha d, with this saw. If this electrical problem is not with my outlets, then, for this $400 saw, I would give it a grade of F.
Sonny