Post by markb on Jul 15, 2022 22:17:18 GMT -5
Well, the saga with my Hi-Tech 10" Slab Saw is almost over! It's going back to the manufacturer once and for all and I'm getting a FULL refund back. They wanted to send me yet another replacement saw, but I politely refused. What a frustrating journey the past 3 months has been, and I wanted to document my experience for any newer members trying to decide on what saw they may want to buy or not buy. Of course our experiences may differ as often happens, but for whatever reason my experience with what I had hoped to be a great choice for a saw that could both slab and trim rocks, did not pan out.
Here is my experience...
The first saw I received from H-TD (full company name abbreviated to protect the innocent) had a screw eyelet misaligned in the base, where a bolt fit through the brass end piece on the end of the arbor and to the frame. Because of that, the bolt would only go in wonky, not flush as intended, and the table top would not fit flat. I called their support number and they were very nice, but had no idea what was going on. So I sent them some pictures I took to document the problem.
So the tech talked with the Engineer and they swapped out the wonky fitting table top saw with a new one.
I kept the Vise, however, which was designed to hold a rock securely in place and allow you to get a straight cut on a slab, rather than rely on your hands. But, it could only hold a small rock. Not exactly the size of rock one would think a 10" blade would be cutting. To be fair, though, their online picture did show a smaller rock in the Vise, but being new to the lapidary world, I didn't catch on to just how small it really was. So, I sent them some pics to illustrate the problem as I saw it and how calling it a Slab Saw was a bit misleading.
I kept and ended up rebuilding my Vise with longer bolts, but the top of the bolt on the right to hold the back of the rock is too long for the Vise carriage frame, so that too would need to be modified to make it work with longer screws.
With the second saw I received, the table top also wouldn't sit flat and wobbled depending on where you leaned on it. So I called their support and they were so nice. They had me tear off a strip of foam glued underneath the table top and after doing so, it fell into place. Hmmm? When I asked why it was there, she didn't really know.
Finally I got a table set up in my work area for the saw and started cutting rocks. Some of you will remember I reported asking about seeing sparks when I cut. In the end I just made sure there was more water on the area I was cutting and pushed through the sparks. They came and went and I tried to synchonize my blinking with them when they came, so I wouldn't see them. I got about 3/4 of a rock cut into small slabs, when I noticed that there seemed to be a bead of water traveling down a seam between the bottom of the motor housing and the top of the tank below it, to the left of the main saw tank.
These two pieces are connected by 6 small screws, 3 in front and 3 in back. The more I cut, the more water ran along the seam and even running down to the table below. So I thought maybe there was too much spray going to that area, and I wedged a rag over between the left table side and the motor housing, but to no avail and the water picked up in volume the more I sawed.
So I stopped to look at where the water might go, and low and behold it was making it's way around the base of the motor housing towards the power cord in the back. Well, as you may or may not know, water and electricity DON'T MIX.
So, I called their support number, and they were so nice.
They agreed that this was not good and we wondered together where the water had originated from, although, secretly I suspected it came from out of the LARGE MAIN SAW TANK below the blade!
I then asked her how low the motor sat inside the housing cover, aka how close is it to the water bead, and she suggested I remove the covering to find out for both of us. Well... okay.
She also said maybe I could wedge a sponge in between the motor housing and the main tank. I kid you not, that's what she said. She also suggested that after I took the motor housing cover off, that I put some sort of barrier on the end of the rod where the arbor connects to with 2 small set screws, just to keep any water out should it travel that far. At this point I was convinced I really worked for H-TD as a Design Engineer but no one had told me!
For those of you interested, when you remove the motor housing there is already a less than paper thin washer that sits between the motor and where the stainless steel arbor arm connects to the motor shaft, to possibly block any grease or water that may get to that point I guess. This is in line with the warning in the manual about this. But it is such a thin washer of unknown material, I'm not convinced it will do anything. But it looks so nice!
So next I removed the motor housing and let the saw sit overnight so I could track how far the water had traveled, plus try to figure out where it was coming from. Because the water carries sediment from the cut rocks, I could see water stains where it had been.
Sorry, the pic above is blurry, but it shows the water stain between the main tank and Motor Housing below where the arbor connects.
Water is coming out from between the Motor Housing and main saw tank.
Water staining all along front and left front corner, and beyond...
Water staining proof it went all the way back to the power connection.
As I was waiting I did reach out to a colleague of mine on this Forum who uses this same saw to see if he could help me figure it out. I sent him my pictures, but we couldn't figure it out. Once I thought maybe there was too much splash from the blade, but if that were so the motor housing would have been wet too, not just in the seam. We considered the blade may have been on backwards, but since there were no markings on it or mention of this in the manual, it didn't seem to be a problem.
So, I called back to their support, and they were so nice. I sent them the pictures of where I had seen the water stains the areas it traveled to, including the back power connector area.
Then they asked me if the saw sat level. So I checked, and yes it was.
Level atop Motor Housing
Level atop back table top
So, they suggested I shim up the motor housing side some, which had absolutely no effect on the lack of water, it still came. It did, however, bind up the connection between the arbor arm and the motor shaft connection a bit.
So today, I cleaned it all back up again, put it all together and tried it both flat and shimmed up 1/4" on the left, but both ways produced water in the seam.
Thus, I called back to speak with a manager, who was so nice, and we agreed a full refund was in order.
Thus, the good news is that they stand behind their products, but for me, it just didn't play out.
*Maybe this write up should be pinned, or maybe not. I'm sure the Moderators of this Forum can decide.
Here is my experience...
The first saw I received from H-TD (full company name abbreviated to protect the innocent) had a screw eyelet misaligned in the base, where a bolt fit through the brass end piece on the end of the arbor and to the frame. Because of that, the bolt would only go in wonky, not flush as intended, and the table top would not fit flat. I called their support number and they were very nice, but had no idea what was going on. So I sent them some pictures I took to document the problem.
So the tech talked with the Engineer and they swapped out the wonky fitting table top saw with a new one.
I kept the Vise, however, which was designed to hold a rock securely in place and allow you to get a straight cut on a slab, rather than rely on your hands. But, it could only hold a small rock. Not exactly the size of rock one would think a 10" blade would be cutting. To be fair, though, their online picture did show a smaller rock in the Vise, but being new to the lapidary world, I didn't catch on to just how small it really was. So, I sent them some pics to illustrate the problem as I saw it and how calling it a Slab Saw was a bit misleading.
I kept and ended up rebuilding my Vise with longer bolts, but the top of the bolt on the right to hold the back of the rock is too long for the Vise carriage frame, so that too would need to be modified to make it work with longer screws.
With the second saw I received, the table top also wouldn't sit flat and wobbled depending on where you leaned on it. So I called their support and they were so nice. They had me tear off a strip of foam glued underneath the table top and after doing so, it fell into place. Hmmm? When I asked why it was there, she didn't really know.
Finally I got a table set up in my work area for the saw and started cutting rocks. Some of you will remember I reported asking about seeing sparks when I cut. In the end I just made sure there was more water on the area I was cutting and pushed through the sparks. They came and went and I tried to synchonize my blinking with them when they came, so I wouldn't see them. I got about 3/4 of a rock cut into small slabs, when I noticed that there seemed to be a bead of water traveling down a seam between the bottom of the motor housing and the top of the tank below it, to the left of the main saw tank.
These two pieces are connected by 6 small screws, 3 in front and 3 in back. The more I cut, the more water ran along the seam and even running down to the table below. So I thought maybe there was too much spray going to that area, and I wedged a rag over between the left table side and the motor housing, but to no avail and the water picked up in volume the more I sawed.
So I stopped to look at where the water might go, and low and behold it was making it's way around the base of the motor housing towards the power cord in the back. Well, as you may or may not know, water and electricity DON'T MIX.
So, I called their support number, and they were so nice.
They agreed that this was not good and we wondered together where the water had originated from, although, secretly I suspected it came from out of the LARGE MAIN SAW TANK below the blade!
I then asked her how low the motor sat inside the housing cover, aka how close is it to the water bead, and she suggested I remove the covering to find out for both of us. Well... okay.
She also said maybe I could wedge a sponge in between the motor housing and the main tank. I kid you not, that's what she said. She also suggested that after I took the motor housing cover off, that I put some sort of barrier on the end of the rod where the arbor connects to with 2 small set screws, just to keep any water out should it travel that far. At this point I was convinced I really worked for H-TD as a Design Engineer but no one had told me!
For those of you interested, when you remove the motor housing there is already a less than paper thin washer that sits between the motor and where the stainless steel arbor arm connects to the motor shaft, to possibly block any grease or water that may get to that point I guess. This is in line with the warning in the manual about this. But it is such a thin washer of unknown material, I'm not convinced it will do anything. But it looks so nice!
So next I removed the motor housing and let the saw sit overnight so I could track how far the water had traveled, plus try to figure out where it was coming from. Because the water carries sediment from the cut rocks, I could see water stains where it had been.
Sorry, the pic above is blurry, but it shows the water stain between the main tank and Motor Housing below where the arbor connects.
Water is coming out from between the Motor Housing and main saw tank.
Water staining all along front and left front corner, and beyond...
Water staining proof it went all the way back to the power connection.
As I was waiting I did reach out to a colleague of mine on this Forum who uses this same saw to see if he could help me figure it out. I sent him my pictures, but we couldn't figure it out. Once I thought maybe there was too much splash from the blade, but if that were so the motor housing would have been wet too, not just in the seam. We considered the blade may have been on backwards, but since there were no markings on it or mention of this in the manual, it didn't seem to be a problem.
So, I called back to their support, and they were so nice. I sent them the pictures of where I had seen the water stains the areas it traveled to, including the back power connector area.
Then they asked me if the saw sat level. So I checked, and yes it was.
Level atop Motor Housing
Level atop back table top
So, they suggested I shim up the motor housing side some, which had absolutely no effect on the lack of water, it still came. It did, however, bind up the connection between the arbor arm and the motor shaft connection a bit.
So today, I cleaned it all back up again, put it all together and tried it both flat and shimmed up 1/4" on the left, but both ways produced water in the seam.
Thus, I called back to speak with a manager, who was so nice, and we agreed a full refund was in order.
Thus, the good news is that they stand behind their products, but for me, it just didn't play out.
*Maybe this write up should be pinned, or maybe not. I'm sure the Moderators of this Forum can decide.
