Jim O'Dell
Member
- Messages
- 2,783
- Location
- Between Aledo and Fort Worth, TX
About 7 weeks ago?? I decided to see how far my 30+ year old Craftsman would go...I found out this evening...not far enough. It got noisier on a couple cuts, blade obviously moving in and out, which is not good. I picked up the saw at one point and heard something rattling around inside. Turned it up above my head so that the vents on the end were pointing down so I could seen what it might be. Couldn't see anything. Set it on the makeshift work table, and something comes bouncing out. Let's see, round, roughly 1/8" diameter, pick it up, hmmm made of steel...I've seen something like this before! OH YEAH!! BALL BEARING!!!! Uh ooohhh. That's bad.
So it's shot, no pun intended. I'm back on the trail for a saw.
Question (finally), how important is the blade brake? I've never had one, I know it would be safer, but is it worth 30.00? I'm used to not having one, so does it really make that much difference? Right now I'm leaning toward the Hitachi. I picked up the non-brake model at Lowes back when I started looking at saws. It felt good in my hand, fairly light weight. Someone posted a link on BT3Central for it less than 70.00. Amazon has the one with the brake for 99.95 with free shipping, or did last week. Any information for the brake issue would be appreciated. Jim.
So it's shot, no pun intended. I'm back on the trail for a saw.
Question (finally), how important is the blade brake? I've never had one, I know it would be safer, but is it worth 30.00? I'm used to not having one, so does it really make that much difference? Right now I'm leaning toward the Hitachi. I picked up the non-brake model at Lowes back when I started looking at saws. It felt good in my hand, fairly light weight. Someone posted a link on BT3Central for it less than 70.00. Amazon has the one with the brake for 99.95 with free shipping, or did last week. Any information for the brake issue would be appreciated. Jim.
Last edited: