Post by Sabre52 on Apr 13, 2011 12:48:18 GMT -5
Howdy folks, Finally got the new ten inch saw up and cutting so I thought I'd continue with my evaluation of this product. Only made five cuts so far but here goes.
First the positives:
The power feed is very good, much better than on my old saw. It feeds slowly which I like as that means less dishing and more blade life. The vice seems to grip rock very well and is easy to adjust though one turn does not seem to move it the 1/16 inch I think they said it would, maybe a bit less. The hold down seems to prevent the rock from riding up the blade. Slabs cut were very very smooth and even, almost lapped. The auto shut off works very well though the machine did turn itself off than back on once for whatever reason. The saw runs very quite too. Overall, I'd say it functions very well once you get used to the oddities of the design compared to older units.
One of the oddities is the dual coolant tank system where a valve controls flow from a small oil reservoir to a tiny one in which the blade turns. ( very small oil tanks on this saw!) Fill level is critical and must be adjusted with the saw running as overfilling will result in oil being shot all over your table and floor. Not all that easy to do and it took some tinkering to get it right. Once you get the hang of it. it's a pretty cool system but has to be watched and adjusted regularly. I suspect this saw will have to have the oil changed frequently to keep the valve system from clogging too.
Now the negatives and there are some biggies here. Again one wonders if the designers have ever friggin used a rock saw.
#1 The hood with the cutouts allows oil mist to go all over the shop even with "no smoke" added. Main problem is on the left side which not only has the gap but no lip on the table to speak off. Blows mist all over and if the oil flow is too heavy, the table overflows in an instant leaking that dang oil all over my saw table *L* Had to cover the hole with cardboard to prevent some of the drift. Will have to get some plexi and hot glue it over this gap or some kind off rubber flap as one of our member suggested. Here's a pic:
Note that the drains had to be plumbed for cleaning too, IMHO something that the friggin manufacturer should have to do, not the buyer. I have pipe extensions for the drains too so I can easily put a five gallon bucket under the drains which I plumbed through my table. Got this table from Northern Supply and it rules as a saw table. easy to assemble and rolls well and is big enough for all the saw crap you have.
#2 The godawful saw tabletop. First off, I wanted to cut some pet wood and I did not like the look of the cheapo saw blade supplied with the unit. Table top and screw feed etc has to be removed to change the saw blade. Feeds have to be unplugged too. Table is held on by three bolts which are a booger to get to. Then you get the table top removed and you are faced with a tiny little blade compartment. I'm a big guy and getting my fingers in the gaps to change the blade was a real trial and, believe me, lots of colorful language filled the air as I dropped the gull danged nut about 27 times trying to get the new blade on.
*sigh* and that was only the beginning. Getting the three danged bolts back in place to reattach the table top is nearly impossible. I dropped the damned nuts, washers and lock washers so many times trying to thread them on in that tiny workspace that after forty minutes I gave up and ran the two back bolts in upside down so the nuts were on top. that worked much better! Front bolt took another half hour still. The whole damn unit must have been designed for some kind of gulldanged munchkin. dwarf, tinkerbell sized person cause my hands wouldn't fit anywhere. Really a giant pain in the ass changing to a good blade ( MK 303).
#3 having installed the new blade another problem came to light. The gulldanged table top slit that the blade runs in was cut too damn small for a MK303 blade. Blade would not even turn in the slit till I worked it back and forth and used the diamond edge to cut the slit longer. The blade that came with it rubbed but the 303 must be just a micron or two larger and would not fit.
Anyway, all obstacles were corrected or overcome but my main thought was: Hey, shouldn't all this crap be dealt with by the folks who make the saw, not the rockhound that wants to cut rocks? If you're three feet tall with tinie tiny tinkerbell fingers, this should all be easier for you. But for me not so much. I'll sign out and get back to cutting.....Mel
First the positives:
The power feed is very good, much better than on my old saw. It feeds slowly which I like as that means less dishing and more blade life. The vice seems to grip rock very well and is easy to adjust though one turn does not seem to move it the 1/16 inch I think they said it would, maybe a bit less. The hold down seems to prevent the rock from riding up the blade. Slabs cut were very very smooth and even, almost lapped. The auto shut off works very well though the machine did turn itself off than back on once for whatever reason. The saw runs very quite too. Overall, I'd say it functions very well once you get used to the oddities of the design compared to older units.
One of the oddities is the dual coolant tank system where a valve controls flow from a small oil reservoir to a tiny one in which the blade turns. ( very small oil tanks on this saw!) Fill level is critical and must be adjusted with the saw running as overfilling will result in oil being shot all over your table and floor. Not all that easy to do and it took some tinkering to get it right. Once you get the hang of it. it's a pretty cool system but has to be watched and adjusted regularly. I suspect this saw will have to have the oil changed frequently to keep the valve system from clogging too.
Now the negatives and there are some biggies here. Again one wonders if the designers have ever friggin used a rock saw.
#1 The hood with the cutouts allows oil mist to go all over the shop even with "no smoke" added. Main problem is on the left side which not only has the gap but no lip on the table to speak off. Blows mist all over and if the oil flow is too heavy, the table overflows in an instant leaking that dang oil all over my saw table *L* Had to cover the hole with cardboard to prevent some of the drift. Will have to get some plexi and hot glue it over this gap or some kind off rubber flap as one of our member suggested. Here's a pic:
Note that the drains had to be plumbed for cleaning too, IMHO something that the friggin manufacturer should have to do, not the buyer. I have pipe extensions for the drains too so I can easily put a five gallon bucket under the drains which I plumbed through my table. Got this table from Northern Supply and it rules as a saw table. easy to assemble and rolls well and is big enough for all the saw crap you have.
#2 The godawful saw tabletop. First off, I wanted to cut some pet wood and I did not like the look of the cheapo saw blade supplied with the unit. Table top and screw feed etc has to be removed to change the saw blade. Feeds have to be unplugged too. Table is held on by three bolts which are a booger to get to. Then you get the table top removed and you are faced with a tiny little blade compartment. I'm a big guy and getting my fingers in the gaps to change the blade was a real trial and, believe me, lots of colorful language filled the air as I dropped the gull danged nut about 27 times trying to get the new blade on.
*sigh* and that was only the beginning. Getting the three danged bolts back in place to reattach the table top is nearly impossible. I dropped the damned nuts, washers and lock washers so many times trying to thread them on in that tiny workspace that after forty minutes I gave up and ran the two back bolts in upside down so the nuts were on top. that worked much better! Front bolt took another half hour still. The whole damn unit must have been designed for some kind of gulldanged munchkin. dwarf, tinkerbell sized person cause my hands wouldn't fit anywhere. Really a giant pain in the ass changing to a good blade ( MK 303).
#3 having installed the new blade another problem came to light. The gulldanged table top slit that the blade runs in was cut too damn small for a MK303 blade. Blade would not even turn in the slit till I worked it back and forth and used the diamond edge to cut the slit longer. The blade that came with it rubbed but the 303 must be just a micron or two larger and would not fit.
Anyway, all obstacles were corrected or overcome but my main thought was: Hey, shouldn't all this crap be dealt with by the folks who make the saw, not the rockhound that wants to cut rocks? If you're three feet tall with tinie tiny tinkerbell fingers, this should all be easier for you. But for me not so much. I'll sign out and get back to cutting.....Mel