I bought this tool on the spur of the moment as the last of a crazy cheap special at a local hardware. At the time I was using a Dewalt 1251 Radial Arm saw for all my crosscuts, set up with this machine was tedious and mitres were always a gruelling under taking.
My initial first impression of the saw was its weight, for a fully functioning SCM, it is remarkably light and straight away I’d recommend it for site application. This is not to say the machine is all plastic, and certainly has a sturdy build quality making adequate use of aluminium components.
After spending a weekend welding up a frame with 1500mm wings either side for the outfeed, I went ahead with a normal set-up and squaring procedure. The process took longer than I expected and eventually I was able to get the saw to the point where I was happy to make a series of test cuts.
Here is where you get what you pay for. Despite spending at least two hours on set-up, the saw has at least 1.5-2mm play in its sliding gantry. This can prove to be a nuisance when trying to make repeated accurate cuts, however I discovered making a series of passes as appose to a single through cut, made the world of a difference and the blade did not track as much.
Being a single bevel machine, you are limited in the manner in which you set up stop jig for repeated cuts. Flipping the work piece can present tear out issues on the seen side of material that would usually be cut face up at the mitre saw.
The dust collection is mentionable as the supplied bag is rapidly full to overflowing, testament to an effective dust management system. Coupled with a shop vac you will no doubt be surprised at the saws efficiency in this department.
The highlight for me on this machine is the motor. Trying my luck, I took a 150x150mm French Oak Cant and daringly went about a 3 cut rotation to bring the piece to size. The saw made no hesitation in the cut (bearing in mind I was making use of the full cut capacity in a very dense wood). Granted I had changed out the supplied blade which dulled far too quickly (a side note; supplied blades are usually nasty, a good quality laser cut body with high grade TCT tips WILL improve the efficiency and cut quality of your saws).
The clamp and depth stop are both a sore talking point. The depth stop is inefficient and ineffective when trying to make dados or lap joins due to the slack found in the machines gantry in all axes. The clamp almost always gets the way and is a right pain to try and find a storage place on the machine where it is safely out of the way.
The out wings proved to be handy when on sight and a worthwhile addition on the machine. Initially I thought these were a bit gimmicky, but the added 200mm odd support each side, they assisted in safe cuts of long stock away from my work station.
Who would buy this machine? Folks on a tight budget not wanting to buy “Chinese/Japcrap”. Contractors who need a light, powerful machine to whom 1-2mm/deg is not a talking point. Or in my case, an affordable, powerful breakdown to take full lengths down to a manageable size for the table saw.
Great machine, attractive price but not ideal for precision.