Power Supplies Reviews

This saw will cut. We have 5 of them. We cut 3/8" aluminum plate with no problem and have yet to burn one out or break a gear box in 2 years.

The draw backs are we have to keep a stock of the arms for the blade guard. They are plastic a keep breaking. If the saw is dropped the cast aluminum arms that hold the base on can break. To fix it the whole gear box housing has to be replaced.

I compared this saw to a Milwaukee 6390. Advantages of this model are the rear pivot (you don't need to adjust the handle to keep it close to the shoe, it's always where you want it) and the blade brake. The brake stops the blade in 2 to3 seconds, the Milwaukee has no brake and takes 3 times that long. If I had bought this saw first and never tried the Milwaukee, I never would have looked back. This saw is a bit heavy, but it balances well, feels solid, and cuts very very well.

In the end this saw gets second place for two reasons. First, although there is a nice big notch in the upper blade guard to let you see your cut line, the front-mounted height adjustment is in the way so you have to lean forward to get a peek. Second, the Milwaukee just turns wood to vapor. The Dewalt is a very strong saw and never bogged down a bit. But the 6390 feels like magic when it cuts. It's not just the blade, I swapped them and while the Endurance blade is far superior to the DeWalt, either way the Milwaukee just makes you want to cut your picnic table in pieces for the sheer joy of it.

Well I had this saw for 10 years now and I love it. The flat alum base doesnt scratch the work and the adjustment works well. I've used this saw on a plywood base like a tablesaw and it preformed well. The electric brake continues to work, it's a nice safety feature. It is a professional quality saw and I would buy this saw again.

OK, it's my first biscuit joiner, I'll admit, but I have only nice things to say about it. It received an excelent rating in the Taunton Press tool guide and was one of the mid priced models, so I took the plunge (so to speak) and it has definately proved itself . I've used this tool for quite a few projects and it has worked smoothly and flawlessley. joints come out tight and perfectly aligned. There is only one drawback that comes to mind. It seems to be an excepted fact that the dust collector, as with most biscuit joiners, is not worth using. If you use the dust bag it will plug instantly. As someone else here recommended, I just turn the discharge nozzle away from me or to the floor and sweep up the chips later. I did connect it to my home central vac system with a rigged up adapter once and that seemed to work well but isn't always so convenient for me.

All things considered, I appreciate quality tools and am not dissapointed by this one. Highley recommended!

I looked at the PC, and did not like the plastic components on the fence. I already had a DW, and was not happy with the alignment problems between the fence and the blade. Of all three, the Makita is the best. The fence is attached to a surface machined parallel to the blade, and is also more substantial than the DW. Don't worry about the lower amp motor, as the blade is very high quality, and the wood from the slot comes out as shavings, not chips as in the DW. I like this tool. I would buy it again. I can't say that about the other two.

Like a couple of other posters, I'm not a huge fan of using biscuit joiners but on large glue-ups, mine still gets quite a bit of use, mostly for alignment.

I have used another popular brand of biscuit joiner and find the Makita top notch. I like it because it's not overly complicated at all and the chips really fly as opposed to clogging up in the chute. The fence is substantial, easy to adjust / lock and it's very straight forward to use. I don't want to have to "refresh my memory" for its use on those few occasions when I need biscuits. If for some reason I needed another, I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Makita for this tool.

I am sure it's just me, but I was a little disappointed- if I wanted a copy of a Milwaukee, I would have bought a Makita. The chuck is cheesy (sorry) the cord seems borrowed from a cheap TV, the direction switch feels like it's gonna break each time I use it. Maybe the Milwaukee 3/8 I remember using a while back was an older model. I am sure the essential guts and geabox in this unit are still bulletproof, but the daily details have been neglected and it was this I noticed immediately and unrelentingly. So for another $30 or so I can buy a proper cord and a nice Jacobs chuck and have.. what?

This drill has great torque, it will twist your hand off if you use the the old "hold the lock ring while you spin the chuck to tighten the bit" method. I could do that with my battery powered Dewalt 18 volt drill without incident. Using this drill you better not do it!

This drill will handle anything you throw at it, but I greatly dislike the chuck. You can not get it as tight as a normal keyed chuck and some of the materials I drill though cause the bit to slip. It is especially prevalent with the small sized bits.

I would give this drill 5 stars if the chuck was keyed!

Over the years I have owned a great number of drills. My first ever drill was a 3/8 Milwaukee hole shooter, is still my favorite and in 18 yrs is still working as good as ever with a cord change the only maintenance required. I purchased this new drill hoping for the same quality and was pleased to find it still there.

I've now had this saw for 3 years and can say that it is a poorly designed and very cheaply built tool.

The sole plate is a formed piece of sheet metal that is severely warped on the diagonal. There is no way to square saw blade to the sole plate. Consequently, it is impossible to get a perpendicular cut. The sole plate is formed sheet metal, therefore it has a radius on all four edges. This makes it impossible to use a carpenters square or any similarly thin straightedge as a cut guide. If you try, the radiused edge of the sole plate rides up the straightedge, and you loose use of the guide.

In a full depth cut, the motor sits within 3/16 of the cutting surface. This requires a thin straightedge (carpenters square) if you want a guide for the cut, but the sole plate radiused edge rides up the straightedge. So, it's a catch twenty-two.

The bent metal rip guide is next to useless.

On the plus side: The motor is strong, but loud. The saw is double insulated. The saw blade guard works very well.

In 1992 after finally realizing that a cheap circular saw wasn't worth the bother, I bought a Makita 5007NB which was great for pretty much everything. Then I learned about Porter-Cable and how well they design their power tools, especially for the professional woodworker. When I found out about the Saw-Boss I was impressed with the built in system for dust collection, its lower weight, and how well it cut with its 9 Amp motor. Porter-Cable chose the 6 inch blade as the smallest size which would still cut 2X lumber through at 45 degrees. And who else would give you an anti-splinter insert, lever locks, and angle zeroing screw as standard? When Bosch wanted $30 for a rip fence for my Model 1654, the Saw-Boss fence was available for less than $10 at my local Home Depot.
I went in to cut off eleven closet and bathroom doors in a luxury condo where the owner had put in extra thick padding with new carpeting and couldn't move any doors at all. Because I had my Saw-Boss with dust bag, I was able to get the work done without spending two additional hours cleaning up all the wood dust. And it saved me from considering the task of hauling all eleven doors thirty flights down to the outside where I could afford to make a mess. The owner was watching me too, and she was mighty impressed that I was so neat and tidy.
The only drawback to the Saw-Boss is that the premium blade makers have ignored the 6 inch size. You can buy a plywood, 18 tooth carbide, and a 40 tooth carbide blade from Porter-Cable and that's about all. Looking at the bright side, however, these blades from P-C are excellent and pretty much do everything for me that I need.

I bought this saw before just prior to starting my house construction project. This saw, like most all Porter Cable products, is a well engineered, powerful tool. It is mid/light weight, but has gobs of power. I notice some reviews that are disappointed with the power of this saw - my guess is wet binding lumber is the culprit. Great saw.

Like many of the reviewers, I bought the 690LR so I didn't have to remove my 3-1/4hp from the router table. Also like other reviewers, I think the on/off location is terrible, but workable (hense the 4*'s). I owned a 1-1/4hp Craftsman with a sliding on/off at the top, so I am used to the problem. For the reviewer who is concerned about 'not being careful'(!) perhaps the optional 'D' handle base with its trigger in the handle would make on/off a more comfortable experience. I need this router mostly for dados and edging with ogee, round-over, etc. on large or odd shaped pieces; and this machine plows through materials effortlessly.

Nothing needs to be said about Porter-Cable quality, but I will... it is outstanding. This is an excellent router for the needs I have stated. The P-C 690LR router is well worth the money and would make an outstanding primary router for the average homeowner's requirements. I have no hesitation recommending this machine.

If you want to push the bigger panel raising bits you are going to need a router table and a router with more ummph... 3 or 3+hp is my recommendation! And... wear hearing protection. Check out Peltor #H10A Professional Earmuff Hearing Protectors.

Very good all around unit. Bit changes and depth control are not issues at all. Why anyone would put the on/off switch in a position where you have to take one hand off the unit is a good question most have noted. Not a good choice for a table set up, mine was intended for hand use only.

I started off w/this router thinking I would have to upgrade in a few years. I couldn't have been more wrong. Unless you make a living building custom cabinetry, this is all you need. It offers both 1/4 and 1/2 inch collets and can handle every router bit you care to chuck. I used everything from 1/4" collet round-overs to 1/2" collet rail and stile bits. I use mine on a very robust router table (Rockler) as well as hand held operations. I know people who have had the old 690 (toggle switch and less Hp) for almost 20 years and those routers are still performing as if they were new. This is just my opinion, but if you're serious about woodworking this machine is a must.

This is a moderately priced router attachment. It's easy to attach and relatively easy to adjust. The adjustment is fine enough for most work on flat surfaces that fully support the router base.
If your trying to route something like the front end of a cabinet (thin, isn't wide enough to support the router base) the method you use is to extend the guide is to screw a piece of wood to the adjustable plate. This plate can be thrown off because the guide plate shifts up and down because it doesn't meet the base of the router. I solved this by attaching a piece of plywood for a guide and making sure it was fully up against the router base otherwise the fence can shift.
I've had the more expensive magic circle router jig (I can't remember the exact name) and it did more things that I never used. It dropped it. It broke and I looked for something else, less expensive. This jig is reasonably priced and does the job.

Aside from using a router table/fence arrangement, this edge guide does a great job. Like any other tool you have to make note of the direction the bit is rotating relative to the piece so that it pulls the guide tight to the edge of the work.

I used it on my PC 890 (yes it fits the 890 even though it doesn't say so in the item description) and was very happy with the prescision of the unit.

This is a very sturdy, accurate, and versatile piece of gear. My only wish is that it should come in a protective case.

An adjustable drill chuck for the Dremel power tool is a brilliant concept. Unfortunately the manufacturing precision is less than brilliant. I purchased the chuck for diamond drilling my wife's quartz crystals and gem stones in a water bath. The chuck jaws are eccentric (out of true) and a 1 mm diamond drill tip actually moves in a noticeably larger circle. This makes it difficult to start the drill in a hard surface and also causes water to be splashed about when drilling. I have owned large drill presses which are much closer to being true than this chuck. It might work OK for softer materials but I don't understand why it couldn't have been manufactured true in the first place.

The tool performs exactly as required and it it easy to use. This is consistent with other Dremel products I have owned.

fits my dremel 400 xpr just fine and makes changing bits a lot easier

If you ever try to use a drill and nail in the quarter round that will take you a long time, and you will see the heads of the nail still showing and the work is not as clean. And this took me about 3 minutes per nail + getting hit with the hammer by the thumb.

My neighbor suggested to use his BN125A, and this will make the job easier and cleaner. And to my surprise, I was done in less than 10 minutes, and you can barely see the head of the nail showing. Unless you look at a distance of 2 feet.

I've also used this for installing my hardwood floors. They suggested to drill a hole and patch it, then sand it. If you are using finished hardwood like bamboo there is no way you will be you will be drilling and and sanding. I'm not saying use this for your hardwood floors. Use it to start, which would be your sacrifical boards I would say every 3 inches.

This is an easier touch up versus drilling a hole to a wood and patching it up.

I teach woodshop. This is my fourth Porter Cable brad nailer. They all still work, they are safe, and I have never had one jam. Incredible? I think so too. Regarding nailers, I'll never buy anything except Porter Cable.

This is an excellent product for finish carpentry, this is the only gun I carry with me. Excellent product from porter cable

Good tool but bulky and over powered. I bought mine when only the tool was avialible. If I bought it today I'd buy the kit, but would definitely consider the RotoZip Kit as well it's $20 more but it's made by Bosch.

The superiority of this outstanding DeWalt cut-out tolls forced the present manufacturers to redisign thier models.All rotory tools made after, have based thier disign after the DW660 .It is the OLNY toolless bit changable model avbailabvle .The Porter cable is made with too big of a head and the on/off switch is not convientient.THIS IS truly THE BEST !!! A real drywallers dream .I should know because I was hanging when you had to make all cuts with keyhole saws &/OR the only available router was a Black N Decker that clearly stated in the warrannty that it was not designed for drywall and would void the warranty ..Shure am thankful for Dewalts intelligence...

Fantastic cutout saw! Easier to hold than the Porter Cable and I like the on/off buttons better than the PC. While cutting out large segments of drywall (like doors and windows), the PC you have to leave running if your hands are full (of cut off drywall etc.) or manipulate your grip down towards the bit while it's running to shut off the tool. The DeWalt is much easier to just "bump" the top (furthest from the spinning bit) against your chin to shut off the tool. Maybe not the recommended method but it works great when your hands are full.

No problems with the tool whatsoever. Just wish the bits cut faster (same with all the cutout tools). Not having to use/find or lose an allen wrench is a definite advantage although the two buttons used to loosen/tighten the collet take a little getting used to. Having a case to hold the tool and spare bits is also nice.

Excellent tool that I'm still using and enjoying very much. Would buy it again!

I think that the overall product is good, but I changed the blade and the release knob broke and it has been in the Dewalt shop for the last two weeks. So I never got to use it.

Be advised that this tools uses T-blades and the assortment of these is somewhat limited, BUT, this is a fantastic jig saw. It out performs two previous corded units I have had. I wish I had purchased sooner. One other difference that I think is somewhat of a disadvantage is that the blade is fixed and does not rotate 360 degrees like one I had before, BUT..... you know, this is a fantastic jig saw!

Best cordless jigsaw, period. Quick and easy miter adjustment and blade exchange. Much better than the old model. Also, the dust blower comes in quite handy.