Remember when I asked about circular saws? IT"S HERE!!

Jim O'Dell

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2,783
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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.:rofl::rofl:
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.
 
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I have a Dewalt with a brake and like it very much. A few times I have used it on construction sites and it was nice to cut a board and have the blade stopped before I put the saw down. I knew it would not have any chance it catching anything on the surface I was putting it on. That is worth $30 to me.

Try Mark at heavydutytools.net and see what he can do for you. I have bought quite a few portable tools from him and he has always treated me very very well and his shipping is SUPER fast.
 
Hi Jim,

Like you I had an old Craftsman, probably about the same age as yours, that was starting to make noise so I bought a Porter Cable 325Mag that has a brake. I really never notice the difference since the guard comes down anyway and you can sit it down before it quits spinning. I guess that if you were going to make a lot of cuts part way across something and had to let it stop each time you sure would notice it. Sometimes I do that but mostly I cut all the way across something so to me it is not really a big deal.

By the way, I sure do like that PC 325Mag. I think that they make the same saw without the brake that sells for quite a bit less. You might want to take a look and see what you can find. Those saws last for so long it might not hurt to spend a little more if you have to, to get exactly what you want. I am not saying that the Hitachi is not a good saw as I have no idea. Might be a great saw. I can only vouch for what I am using.

I like the brake but it is not a BIG deal to me. Probably worth thirty bucks.

Allen

P.S. Well, I do remember one time that a brake would have been a big deal. I had to remove the guard to run a little larger blade for scarfing and it seemed like that I had to hold the saw forever for the blade to stop each time. Forgot once and set it down. Not a good idea to remove the guard but sometimes you just have to get something done. I didn't say that did I?
 
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Well, I went ahead and ordered the Hitachi with the brake at lunch. Only on the next to last page did it say anything about availability...to ship sometime mid to late March!!!:( I hope they are able to ship sooner than that. If not I'll make do some other way. The best price of the non brake version was only 22.00 less, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
Thanks for the feedback! Jim.
 
Glad to hear that you have it on the way--------well kind of on the way. I am assuming that you ordered the one from Amazon. Many times their stuff is shipped much sooner than they say. I hope that is the case for you as I know how frustrating it is to need something and have it held up somewhere.

I have a Hitachi router that runs smooth as glass. I have only seen good things about the Hitachi tools.
 
Thanks Allen. Yeah, I hope it's one of those that comes in sooner rather than later. The other thing about the Hitachi that was a good selling point is that it has consumer replaceable brushes. They mount like the ones on a Dremel, and they have a wear mark on them for when it's time to replace! I thought that was a nice feature.
I'll let everyone know when it comes in, then do a little write up on it when I put it through some paces. Doesn't seem like many out there have them yet, or they just aren't here at the Family, or at SMC!:D Jim.
 
Well, this is interesting. When I pulled up the page to order Tuesday, the unit on the first page was from Ace, for 121 bucks and change. I went to the "other vendors" page and got the 99.95 price plus free shipping from Amazon. Thought that was weird, then saw during checkout est shipping was late March. Oh, they're out...Ok I'm not dying here so I go ahead and order it. Yesterday I look and the Amazon offering is back as the "front" page when going to the saw, hmmmmm. Then I notice the line "In stock" and order in the next xhours and x minutes for delivery by Friday with expedited shipping. Ok, sounds like it's back in stock, go to my account for the purchase, still shows late March to mid April for delivery.:huh::huh: Got an email tonight saying it has been shipped!!:thumb::thumb: Shipped the 15th. I do the tracking thing and this is what it shows:

Order #: XXX-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX Shipment Date: February 15, 2007 Destination: ALEDO, TX, US Estimated Arrival: April 13, 2007
HUUUHHHHHHH??????? Now that's a slow boat delivery. UPS must have gone to bicycle delivery all the way.:rofl::rofl: Maybe tomorrow it will show a real eta on UPS's site. But it's nice that it shipped so quickly! So I won't gripe...that is unless it doesn't get here next week! Jim.

edit UPS shows it should be deilvered 2/20!!! YEA!!!!!
 
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Jim, Allen;
Thanks for the ideas on a new saw. I'm going to be watching this thread.
I also have a 30 yr. old Craftsman, (cause my MIL worked at Sears- think discount). I sort of wish the thing would just let the smoke out, (cause everything runs on smoke-not electricity:D ) so I could replace it, but it keep going. Although I must use hearing protection with it, it still keep chugging away.
 
Well, right on time, here it is. I was in the shop working on the motor mount for the jointer, cutting and drilling some angle iron for the motor mount when I heard the UPS truck. I'll get to work it a little this weekend, but I have to work Sat. 8 - 1, then get a haircut. Plus LOML is judging a music festival of some sort, so I'll have dog duty. I plan to use Thursday and Friday afternoon/evenings to finish the motor remount for the jointer. If I get lucky and all goes well, I may get to make the first cut with this baby Friday evening. We'll see.
2 pictures for proof.DSCN1380.jpgDSCN1381.jpg
If I ever put my Freud Diablo blade on it, it's going to look like Christmas!!
I did plug it in and ran it up to make sure there were no weird noises. There's not. The brake is a little dissappointing, took a full 3 seconds to stop, if not a little over. I had hoped for a little quicker. Jim.
 
That's great Jim!

I can't believe that you have the patience to wait that long to make the first cut with your new saw. I would not be able to sleep tonight without giving it a try. Green saw with a red Freud blade, you will be the talk of the neighborhood. I don't know how long it takes my PC to stop turning. I will give it a try and let you know tomorrow.

Yep, Ada is right where you said that it was. I guess that you should know since you grew up there. For some reason or another I just keep wanting to put it out in the western part of the state. Your right about Dumas also. Twenty four miles from Hartley as well as I remember. Tell your friend hi for me.

Cut some wood and give us a report.

Allen
 
I am reporting back on the blade stop time with the brake on the Porter Cable 325Mag. I looked on the Porter Cable website and I could not find a time listed. Amazon, in the technical details says two seconds. I do not know where they got their information from. I tried to time mine and I would say between one and one and a half seconds. Seems like closer to one second. It is pretty fast whatever it is.

Three seconds for the Hitachi seems a little slow to me also.
 
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