Power Saws Reviews

After getting it started it is a great little machine, powerful and tough. Getting it started is a completely different story. Have a strong arm and plenty of time.

Handy product with a deceptive warranty. Advertised with photo of tool and its rechargeable battery attached, and a one year warranty. Sadly, the battery connector is flimsy and when it soon breaks, the company service department says only the main tool is warranteed, not the new rechargeable battery. Before the battery comes apart, the product works well.

Delta Horizontal Band Saw

I've owned one of these since the early 1990's and have used it countless times.

Cons:

- Motor is a bit underpowered, as the blade binds (stops) too often on heavy cuts. Have to lift the swing-arm up, restart it and gently lower the arm to resume cutting.

- Numerous aspects of the tool are downright crude. The motor's safety housing locking mechanism barely works, and is made out of some cheap plastic material; the so-called "table" for vertical use is a flimsy piece of sheet-metal and is non-adjustable; the lousy door to the blade wheels is made of multiple pieces of sheet metal stamped together; I threw the out the plastic wheels designed to roll the tool around, and custom made a base using four good quality wheels - much sturdier and much easier to roll about.

- Blade tends to wander on deep cuts, so I frequently have to square things up on the piece just cut, with a grinder or other tools.

- Design doesn't always allow the blade guides to be close enough to the work - which is probably why the blade wanders or occasionally stops.

- Every once in a while, the blade slips off the cast-iron drive wheels while the machine is on, even though I keep the blade tight when in use. (I release tension when machine is idle to prevent blade stretching.) It's also frustrating to re-install a blade as the blade wheels are smooth and the blade keeps slipping off. Delta could have prevented this problem if they had put "rubber bands" on the drive wheels; e.g, as on wood band-saws, and the Porter Cable 7724 metal cutting Porta-band portable band saw. Rubber bands would also have eliminated blade slipping, since the wheels wouldn't be smooth iron.

Pros:

- Both blade guides have 3 roller-bearings to stabilize the blade.

- If you've never owned a metal-cutting band saw, you'll marvel at how much faster it cuts then a hacksaw. When cutting larger/thicker iron, the hacksaw approach is particularly unappealing. E.g., tighten the vice on this saw onto 1/4" thick angle iron, turn it on and walk away - when it's done, it shuts off by itself. When cutting flat stock, where the blade doesn't wander, it does an excellent job, with no real effort from you.

- Shelf helps stabilize the tool base. However, it's not useful for storing things, because metal filings rain on it whenever you use the saw.

- Tool doesn't take up much shop space.

- Inexpensive, for a motorized metal cutting band saw.

- In spite of weaknesses, it works.

Summary:

If my shop had sufficient floor space, I'd sell this mediocre tool and get a large & powerful, good quality, metal cutting band saw. My advice, if you decide on a saw in this price range, is to get a � HP unit (e.g., the Jet), so the blade binds less often.

I would like to review this saw that I ordered back in December, but it appears that Amazon's "usually ships in 1-2 weeks" in reality is a period that is closer to or longer than 4 months. As I recently got a notice that now it won't be shipping until April. Of course, I could be getting another notice that says it won't ship until May, or maybe I'll get it NEXT Christmas. Who knows....? But, isn't it fun guessing!

And, don't do like I did and order accessories for this saw. I may never get to use them.
--Amazon cancelled my order on this item after 5 months of waiting. Without even talking with me, and saying they cannot get this item. They cheated me out of the $100 credit I was to get for ordering $1000 in Dec. And, why is it still listed?

July 24, 2004 - Amazon is still saying the saw is unavailable - that's why they cancelled my order. But, I shouldn't worry because they didn't charge me. Except for several hundred dollars worth of accessories I can't use!

I agree with most of what the Amazon.com reviewer had to say about the Delta MS350 except for the comment on dust collection;I think dust goes everywhere EXCEPT the dust bag. This saw is certainly a step up from the MS 250 in quality and power but is still a lower end saw that has ok mitering capabilities. I am somewhat confused as to the pricing of this unit and it's availability. Amazon has the MS 350 for 179.00 and Sears (my place of purchase) has the same model for 99.00, the same price as the MS 250 it was replacing. It is possible that Sears simply made a mistake when selling it to me though. The saw was not out on display but their website advertised it at 99.00, this was last November, 04 when the transaction took place. If they (Sears) are still selling this model at that price then it would be advisable to stop by and pick one up. Looking at it from that perspective (purchase price), it can't be beat.

i used this saw for a few days--a co-worker has one. it is very light (noticeably lighter than my milwaukee saw), and well balanced. it does feel somewhat cheap, in the plastic-from-walmart sense. when started it also feels a bit rough when compared to its competitors from hitachi and milwaukee, in particular.

if weight is a huge issue, consider this saw, but if durability and the feel of quality are bigger issues, go for another.

The bolts and nuts that mount the miter saw to the brackets are not included in the package. I made a special trip to Home Depot for the missing hardware before I could use the brackets. It's UNBELIEVABlE the four bolts were not included considering the high price DeWalt charges for the brackets. DeWalt must figure if we have purchased their workstation and need additional brackets they can charge what ever they like.

I bought this blade stabilizer because I own the DeWalt DW746 table saw, and I thought that I would buy the stabilizer made by my saw company. Prior to installing this thing on my saw, I verified its 'flatness' on a granite register plate (which is flat to within +/- .0001"). I was happy to find it to be very flat.

This stabilizer does a very good job of reducing blade vibration and thus helps to deliver noticably smoother cuts. My only beef with it is that it is too big! At 5 inches in diameter, it effectively limits the depth of cut I get from my 10 inch saw blade. When I try to raise the blade all the way, it stops short by an inch or so when the stabilizer bumps into the underside of the throat plate on my saw! When I checked a few of the other blade stabilizers on the market I discovered that Freud's is only 3 1/2 inches in diameter but Forrest makes its 'stiffeners' in 4, 5, and 6 inch sizes.

The bottom line here is that this DeWalt blade stabilizer does its job, but be prepared to sacrifice some cutting capacity!

Haven't used it yet

We were surprised when we received our order because it was not the same blade as pictured (round) but looks more like 63502133017

We will keep it because it will come in handy, but we just wanted to warn other buyers that it is not the round blade... Perhaps they will change the photo.

We love our Fein Multi Master!