Power Saws Reviews

There is nearly nothing about tis saw that i like. It has been constructed very cheaply with plastic parts falling off to major head flex. You will never get an accurate miter cut with this saw due to the excessive movement in the head. The positive stops barely work at all. Go with a Bosch or Makita.

I've owned this saw for about 5 years now, and use it primarily in maintenance of rental property. It is too heavy to be easily "portable" (though can be accomplished), and the continual set-up/take-down of the saw has taken its toll on the stand. Like others, my stand is losing parts and slowly falling apart. I have also had to dismantle the entire base unit to clean out the sawdust and shavings wedged into the sliding mechanism to achieve full usability of the saw twice now (about once every two years) to the tune of 4 hours of work each time. The blade guard finally wore itself out and had to be removed in order to continue using the saw. And other reviewers who have commented on the sloppiness of the cuts are absolutely correct. More than once, I have spent many hours attempting to "square-up" my saw (for crown molding) and have NEVER been able to get it to cut accurately for more than a couple cuts, even with high-end finish blades.

If you are building decks, doghouses, or framing walls, this saw will get the job done. But once you move on to trim work, you'll be disappointed. Looking at something else when this thing finally dies - probably in a couple years.

I have a 10" delta miter saw. I can not use my saw because the fence is broken and I can not buy a replacement. I am told you do not make this saw anymore but what about all the people who have bought this saw, use this saw everyday? What if they come up with a broken part. Instead of buying a replacement part we have to buy a new saw, this sounds fair. What ever happened to having parts on the shelf for a certain amount of years after you stop building a product?
My replacement I was told would be about $30.00 bucks plus tax and shipping now I have to spend over $400.00 for a new saw.

Did you look and see if the new saws you are building have any parts on them that might fit the older saws , I say older I bought this in mid 90s.

Just a little upset

I was intrigued with this saw's up-front bevel controls feature, and decided to ignore many of the negative posts about this saw, and decide for myself. After setting up the saw and cutting some test pieces of crown molding, I quickly discovered that this saw has a MAJOR problem with blade deflection.

Blade deflection basically causes pieces of cut-off scraps to fly out from the rear and side of the saw, and these pieces travel QUICKLY. From what I saw, if you were ever hit with a flying piece, it could do some major damage. I tried adding an auxilary fence, but this did not help.

In addition, this saw also has other poor features worth noting: After wasting many hours trying to get the saw squarred, I still was unable to make straight cuts at a 0 bevel / 0 miter. This saw does not cut accurately, even worse cuts were experienced on compound miters.

This saw does have some great features, ie the up-front bevel control is a great idea, the mitering left / right base was very smooth, the variable position handle was VERY comfortable - *but* in my opinion, none of these features matter if you can not get straight, accurate cuts.

I own an interior trim company, I specialize in baseboards, window / door casings with decorative cross heads, built-up crown moldings & wainscot, and this saw just does not work for me - I offer my clients the best, and a saw that does not cut right does not fit the bill.

After asking around, I learned that a lot of professional carpenters love Makita tools. I am not trying to hype up Makita, but I recently purchased their dual-bevel sliding compound miter saw - LS1013L - it cuts beautifully right out of the box, I did not have to adjust anything.

The Makita cuts precisely, and this is what matters most. The left / right miter base is very smooth, and the handle is very comfortable as well.

The only thing that is taking me some time getting used to is that Makita has their left / right miter marker off to the right side of the saws base, not upfront like other comparable saws.

This is new to me, and it is taking a bit of time to adjust, but in the end this saw cuts precisely with no deflection. I highly recommend the Makita LS1013, if you want a saw with great, dead-on accuracy and smooth cutting, definately try this saw and decide for yourself.

I ordered the captioned which is made in Germany according to your Technical Data.
H'ever, 'Made in Taiwan' is printed on the box of the saw delivered to me today.
T'fore, you are kindly requested to give me RMA # and the credit and let me know return method by e-mail ASAP.

B/Regard
Sung Yoo

I have own a Makita 10" sliding miter saw but thought I would buy the Bosch because of several of its features I really liked. Reviews in the woodworking forums I had read were very favorable and the quality of the bosch jig saw I purchased earlier was impressive. I tested the saw when it arrived and was a little disappointed that it was not dead-on as my Makita was when it arrived 4 years ago. However with a little time spent adjusting the blade to vertical and the fence square to the blade I was able to cut absolutely perfect 90 degree cuts but the 45 degree stops were ever so slightly off. The Makita was always dead on perfect on for 90 and 45 degree according to my Incra 90 and 45 square. The saw seems to be well made and is considerably quiter than the Makita. I just wish the accuracy was there as it is hard to overide a stop by 1/10 degree and it also makes me suspicious of the other miter and bevel stops. Bosch comes up with great features but they shouldn't let their quality control slide.

I bought this saw to do about 40 feet of edge cuts on floor tile with a few misgivings after reading the reviews here. However, having finished the job, I found nothing to complain about.

I cut 12"x12" slate tile which, while too big to allow use of the fence guide, was just fine with this saw. I haven't used a "professional" wet saw, but just made sure the water reservoir was full before each cut, and slowly pushed each tile through the blade, making sure I wasn't pushing hard enough to slow down or bind the motor.

I marked a line on each tile where I needed to cut, lined up the blade with one end of the line, checked with a straightedge against the blade to make sure I had the correct angle, turned on the saw, and started slowly pushing. The saw cut straight and true each time.

From reading the other reviews, I think you just need to buy this saw understanding that it's a lower-power, do-it-yourself oriented saw. It won't cut as quickly or as easily or as large as a more professional saw, but as long as you don't force it to do too much, it does just fine. I finished my cuts in a couple of days and they all turned out fine, even the two tiles where I had to make two right-angle cuts to get around a wall.

I bought this saw for cutting 2x2 mosaic tile for a bathroom. I also wanted to something to cut the marble threshold for this room as well. For this project, I needed to make many cuts to fit the pieces of tile adjacent to one walls. I like to use a score/snap tile cutting tool when possible, but for small tiles or complex cuts, a wet saw does a much better job.

The saw performed very well. It cut slower than I thought it should, but still produced great cuts. I used this to cut a marble threshold that was about 1.5 inches thick and it did this much better than I expected. My biggest problem was cuttings getting under the fence making it hard to move. I didn't find this saw louder or messier (all wet saws are loud and messy) than others I've used.

If you're a DIYer, this is an excellent choice and better than renting. Understand you won't get the hot-knife-cutting-butter performance of a $500 saw, but if you take your time and cut slowly you'll get nice clean cuts.

I'm completely convinced that this is a great tile saw for small home improvement task after cutting ~250 l.f. of ceramic tiles for remodeling the kitchen and three bathrooms. The saw is still making cuts as if they were the first ones.

However, I do have several comments based on this experience.

1. The border of the Diagonal Cutting Guide could be thinner to make good use of already limited working surface.
2. Putting some measuring marks on the Adjustable Cutting Guide to help make L-shaped cuts.
3. A clear Adjustable Blade Guard would make partial cuts easier.

I bought this saw almost three years ago for home improvement projects. At the time, my workspace was limited to � a stall of a 1 � stall garage and the size of the saw was a major factor in my decision. I immediately purchased the optional Delta outfeed table brackets from Mike's Tools dot com and made my own table out of MDF. This added an extra $50 to the price of the saw but it gave me nearly the table space of a normal contractors saw in a foldaway format. My first use for this saw was to rip a pile of one hundred 10 foot pine 2/6's s to match the old dimensional lumber of our house and it's been getting heavy use ever since. Here are my pros and cons:

Pros:

*The saw is fairly heavy and definitely not a toy, vibration is minimal when placed on a solid, level surface.
*Set-up was fast and easy.
*Table and wings were very flat after assembly.
*If you're not careful The saw will bog down in heavy cuts but has adequate power for most cuts if you pay attention to your feed rate.
*The fence is simple and easy to adjust to a good level of accuracy. It doesn't flex at the end and is easy to use with shop made jigs and auxiliary fences.
*Odd motor / belt design gives some advantage of a belt driven saw without a motor hanging out the back of the saw and taking up shop space.

Cons

*My biggest pet peeve is the power switch. It's small and in a bad spot. After 3 years, I still have to feel around for it at the end of almost every cut. I should install an after-market switch.
*I don't like the plastic handwheels.
*I wish the throat plates had full 4-point adjustment instead of just two screws.
*The blade guard - as with so many table saws - is barely useable.

If you want a "big" saw and have limited space, this would be a good choice. If space and money aren't an issue, look elsewhere. I've since moved to a new place and my home improvement projects have lead to furniture and cabinet making. As a result, I have outgrown my 36-600. But because it's such a nice saw, I plan to keep it as a back-up for cutting smaller parts, tenons, etc. If you choose this saw, you should also by a mobile base, a quality rip and a quality crosscut blade, some zero clearance inserts (you can find them if you look online), and ear and eye protection. BTW - after 5 years of looking and researching, I've decided that my next saw will be a Powermatic 64.

This is a good entry to mid-level grade saw for the occasional hobbiest, but MAKE SURE you shop around! You should be able to get the 36-600 for much less than what Amazon lists it...$401.95!!! That's ridiculous! It is an older version of the new Delta Shopmaster Model TS300, which Amazon lists for $379. Amazon also lists the Delta TS350 (which is a step up from both the Delta TS300 and Delta 36-600) for less than either the Delta TS300 or 36-600. The TS350 is listed for $369! The Delta TS350 has better features and costs much less than the 36-600 on Amazon... it would be my recommendation. Nevertheless, see my full review of the Delta 36-600.

This is/was my first table saw, and I was thrilled with the results I achieved immediately. Compared to a circular saw, table saws are the bee's knees. Easy to assemble. Accurate even for a beginner.

As my knowledge and experience have grown, I've fussed over the saw a little more. The throat plate design is downright MYSTIFYING. As someone else mentioned, it's not a standard size, and adjustments are made only on one side (left) of the blade. Additionally, being designed for a steel throat plate, the ledges are of odd dimensions, requiring planing and glue-up to construct a zero clearance insert. Very difficult. I'm on my third attempt to construct a useful one.

But, other than that, I have been very happy with this saw. I ripped some fairly sappy doug fir 2x4s at a 45 degree angle, and though I feared for my fingers, the saw kept right up with me.

Oh, and don't even bother putting the blade guard on when you assemble the saw. Bad design, as others have said, and IMHO you're safer when you can see the blade.

I purchased this saw despite the earlier feedback about laser problems; I figured that the reports were old and that the problem had been addressed. No such luck. The lasers worked for a day before the left one went out. Nice saw otherwise, except for the extension table and fence. Back it goes.

UPDATE: After looking into it a little further, the problem became obvious, and will eventually happen to you: the laser wires are positioned very close to the saw blade, and are protected only by a thin flexible plastic tube. If a small piece of wood is caught by the blade and spun inside the right-hand side of the blade housing, it can hit the wires at the point where they enter the housing, and cut them.

The wires need to be better protected or moved.

I found this 3700L (10 inch) in Costco stores last week for $149 to $179. I was really looking for a 12" saw as my first Miter saw, but for $149, I figured I couldn't lose- so I bought the 3700L- So, check price carefully, and also note that there are lots of RECONDITIONED 3700L units on the market. I trust they are properly labeled. I can't wait to set up and try this saw!

If your looking for a very affordable and reliable 10" compound miter saw, you can't go wrong with the Porter-Cable 3700L 10" TWINLASER ! And the price will still leave you enough money to buy a High Quality Freud blade!

It will out perform every other major brand on the market! Don't just buy a compound saw because it looks fancy, is painted yellow or has a combination high tech color scheme of green and black. This saw will out cut any thing DeWalt, Makita, Hitachi and Sears has on the street!

When we are out in the field installing we often see the other saws that contractors are using. Every single sub or contractor will ask if they can try out the 3700l 10" Twin laser. In fact they often just continue to use the 3700L while we are working next to them! The first thing they notice is how accurate the laser's are! The second is just how perfect the cuts are made! Next they are blown away by the price. And of course it's a Porter Cable!

This saw just feels right in your hands. I do agree with other reviews, that a top handle would have made this saw so much more the better to carry. But like most saws it takes two hands to carefully pick up and set down anyway. This is a high tech saw! you don't want to get into the habit of just throwing this bad boy around! Take care of it and it will make you MONEY!!!

The first thing we did after buying ours, was to install a brand new Freud 10" Diablo Ultra Finish Circular Saw Blade - D1080X You will notice a 100% rise in performance in the 3700L.

This will add an extra $50.00 to the total purchase of your system but with the D1080X blade you will amaze everyone with the smooth flawless miter cuts this saw can produce!

You can also mount this unit in your shop on a miter saw extension and stand for a small price.

Lastly, you may want to use a tie strap on the sawdust bag to fully seal it in place. This will keep 100% of the dust from getting around the clamp and openings in the cloth. The bag has a nice zipper on the bottom to dump out your dust.

Added Notes on 5/12/06 as follows:

As far as what reviewer Pete R. is talking about, we can't see this happening! First of all the saw creates "SAW DUST" not wood chips! Unless he just decided to blaze and blast his way thru the wood with a "RIP" blade this can not possibly happen!

As I suggested in my review; "REPLACE" the factory blade with a
Diablo Ultra Finish Circular Saw Blade - D1080X ! The 3700L Miter saw is a "cross cut" saw not a table saw or rip saw!

No problems of this kind with any of our 9 field saws, and we use them for 4 out of 8 hours a day on each saw!

Porter Cable's 19.2 Volt line has major flaws. I bought the driver and saw kit and the hammer drill kit. In the first year I replaced the drill/drivers three times...while under warranty. The saw worked well and the flashlight was the best part of this kit. Now it is a couple years old and the batteries are dead and at $90 each I am not replacing them. I bought Hitachi this time with a five year warranty. I wasted $600 on the Porter Cable junk.

I allways try to by a porter cable tool. The 19.2 volt system is great, it beats all the others that I tried...Dewalt, Milwalkee, Makita and others. Its the only drill that stands with even the heaviest bit in it. Well ballanced and quick to charge when it does charge. Thats the whole point, I have had a total of three battery chargers fail on me wich is very dissapionting. I almost feel like changing brands but I have so many drills and saws that I cant afford to change now. My oldest battery is four years old and still takes a charge. My case on my drill is cracked but still runs great when I can get the charger to work, which is not often. What is also a shame is these drills dont cary the made in USA lable anymore, most likely the reason for the chargers not working.
Hey Porter Cable execs. If your reading this please fix it!

I sold my DeWalt 14.4 volt combo kit on [internet store for] less than the price of this kit new. I have used the DeWalt driver years but I don't miss it at all. I have more power and torque settings now with longer run times. I never used the saw in the DeWalt combo pack that much and I don't expect to use this one very much either, but having said that, I can already tell that this one is much more powerful. Great products at a great price.

I bought this saw about 4 months ago to replace an older contractor saw I had been using for 10 years.
Over all it's a pretty good saw except,
Dust collection or I should say WHAT dust collection. The built in system is a joke. It consists of small slots cut into the bottom of the cabinet, a pan screwed to the bottom of the cabinet and a 4" collector port pulling through those slots to the pan. The slots are too small and to few to be efficient. As a result the cabinet fills up with saw dust and you have to open the cabinet door and force it through the slots. It's really bad when you make a lot of dado cuts.
I cut two holes in the bottom of the cabinet to facilitate dust extraction. It's better but not great. I checked with Jet on the warranty issues with cutting those hales and it was no problem.
The sliding table is no more than a toy. After installing and aligning it I found that when you slide the table all the way back the rear of it sags and with you push it all the way forward the front of it sags. When it sags at the ends of travel the other end rises up. It's too small to be of any real use except for small work.
The miter gauge never remains in alignment. When I rip stock you of course I need to remove the miter gauge assemble. Every time I removed and replaced the miter gauge assembly I had to realign it to the saw blade.
I sold the sliding table on eBay, bought a new cast iron left wing from Jet and the Osborne miter gauge and have been much happier.
Like I said over al it's a good saw but I would recommend you buy the Supersaw with out the sliding table.

Received Jet's 30" Super Saw with Sliding Table and have used it for about three months. If you have any reservations of getting the Slider - GET IT! Money well spent and great for panel cuting and it is as smooth as can be! Dust collection works great and motor ripped through oak with no noticeable loss of power. The only reason this saw doesn't get a 5 from me is I was rather disappointed in the paint job. Had a chip or two when I got it (no big deal), but seems everything I bump into it, there is a new one! Geez, they should include a bottle of touch up paint with it!

My thanks to all of the earlier JET Supersaw owners who commented about dust collection, breaking belts and sloppy fences. JET must have listened and fine tuned their Supersaw. The 30" Supersaw that was delivered to me recently has a dust chute that exits from the bottom of the cabinet, a fence that locks in place reliably, and, hopefully, a blade lifting belt that will be less prone to breaking. Fit and finish is much nicer than the equivalent Dewalt.

I assembled the saw with a cast iron router table between the saw table and the right extention table. I mounted my Incra Jig Ultra with holes I tapped in the right extention table and use it both for the router and for performing precision rips.

I have added a small shop-built sled using the handle from the miter guage to lock it to the sliding table, and a piece of UHMW in the miter slot. I attached a left and right rule to either side of the kerf for measuring accurately. It works well when cutting small stuff to size.

Overall, the Supersaw meets all of my expectations.

Greg

Excellent professional nailer. I didn't give 5 stars because I think the tool could be made a little lighter.

After 6 years of using the FN250A nail guns we decided it was time to upgrade to the new FN250B.

First a word about the 250A model. Not one nail jam-up in any of the the 8 guns we have used in over 6 years. We have shot well over 2,0000,000 nails thru these guns. I checked our records for nail purchases and this is close to 100% accurate!

We bought 8 of the 250B guns 3 months ago. Again porter cable produced a very affordable and well made gun! Much better balance, smoother trigger action! and easy reloads! This gun seems a bit lighter as well. For full finish work you must fill the nail head holes. 16ga holes are a bit big, unlike a pin nailer 23ga hole.

If they hold up as well as our 250A guns have I'll let you know in 6 more years! :)

We also gave the 250A guns away to each of our employees that use them for free.

1 word of caution! Never use a nail gun with out the proper eye protection. Heavy gloves are also a good idea!

I bought the FN250B by PC to do some remodeling (inside) and its has done an excellent job. No problems whatsoever. I can also use it for making bookcases, etc. (the hole is large and HAS to be filled with putty). I used it for installing crown molding and baseboards w/ shoemolding and have had no problems. It takes enough different length nails to do anything I need to do. In tight spaces it would be better to have an angled gun, but this gun has done a great job for me. I would not hesitate to buy another Porter Cable nail gun.

I'm the typical doityourselfer and I certainly think I do not use the Rotozip for more than it was intended, but recently it started sounding like something was loose and scraping inside of it while in use (a very unpleasant and alarming sound). Like other reviewers, I opened up my Rotozip to discover the cooling fan rubbing up against the housing. Years ago, I paid over $200 for my Rotozip and am pretty angry that such a potentially dangerous flaw would find its way into such a widely sold product. Aside from attempting the Loctite fix, I'll probably replace this tool with a Craftsman brand rotorary cutting tool simply because it would seem that brand would make a difference in this case - especially if you plan to use a product for more than a few years. I will never endorse Rotozip tools should anyone ever ask me.

Myself, I'm a lowly home owner. I bought this tool, because of it's maneuverability and speed with which it cuts. For roughing in flooring in my attic, it performed better than any tool I have ever owned. The power, cable and phonewires in my attic were easily managed by cutting a quarter inch deep trench in the 2x4's, such that the plywood wouldn't crush them. I then was able to freehand cut the plywood around the roofing supports. All said and done, I had my attic completely floored in about 3 hours. It would have taken several weekends of my time using conventional jigsaws, or hauling stuff up and down the ladder.

I cannot dispute the issues of the fan blade; I do not doubt that this happens with commercial use. However, for the home user it has not been a problem for me. I gave it 4 stars, instead of 5 stars for the simple reason that I agree with the commercial users. The fan should be able to withstand the temperatures the tool will generate in continuous use.

One of those tools you thought you might not need but are now darn glad you have. You'll wonder if this tool will help with pretty much every challenging cutting angle or clearance issue. Used the accessories almost from day 1, so the combo makes sense. No regrets.

It had it for 5 weeks before it just quit completely. I brought to the local Dewalt repair center per Dewalts service center recommendation. After waiting 2 weeks for it to be repaired, I called them and they said they had to send it off to the factory and it would be another week. After another week they said it would be another week so I called Dewalt to ask how long it should take and they said it was between me and the service center. I asked if they would call and find out what was going on and they said no. I asked what a resonable time frame for repair was and they said 2 to 3 weeks but it was up to the service center if they would issue a new one to me. I got the number to the factory and they said another week. I notice on the box it says made in Tawian and not Canada, so I am guessing even if I don't get it for another few weeks I mightg as well wait since they will all have problems because of low production quality in Tawian. Every tool I have ever bought from them in the last two years except my router has quit working, I think I will quit buying thier products.
My problem has been resolved by Dewalt they are sending me a new unit.

I hear that this item is awesome however I have not received it yet. I placed the order on Dec 15th and it has been delayed 6 times. Today my order form says it will ship on Feb. 28th unless they delay it again. Do yourself a favor and order this item somewhere else.

This saw is a smooth operating unit solid quiet and no vibration--only problem i had was w/ the switch it got clogged w/ saw dust--so I just took it apart and blew out the dust simple as that
buy it and no other you'll be happy