Good chop saws?

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
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Hello all! I'm getting closer to having my shop ready to go and I was wondering what would be a good chop saw for cutting steel to the right size. Would Harbor Freight saws be ok of should I get something a little better like something from Sears Craftsmen? Thanks!
 
Never tried the Craftsman or HF(I'm sure the Craftsman will do you fine), but I can speak from experience on the Dewalt, and I think a milwaukee and a Makita. A red one and a blue one anwyays. :) Used all three in an old job chopping up rebar, worked great. and that was the 1" or so rebar, used it for tent stakes for big tents(up to circus size)
 
While I don't have any experience with it I will say that a welding site that I sometimes read had a bunch of people talking about the HF chop-saw a while back. One guy had his for 3 years and it was still going strong with frequent use. Of course, you definitely can't go wrong with the others mentioned, but the HF one does go for $49 on sale, which it is right now....

-Darren
 
The Dewalt is great. Porter cable is great to.
Buy an industrial. The other burn up with hard use.
 
I dunno. We had one of those HF for three years or so too.
Then bought a pair of B&D'd when we burned up the HF. I got laid off before I had time to burn up the B&D.

I just bought a $49.00 HF for ther place I work now. Cours these things need to be looked as consumables anyway. If you look close most all of them have the same design. HMMMMMMMM

Cept maybe the Milwaukee.
 
Dewalt is B&D's industrial line. I havne't managed to break any Dewalt tool yet, and I abuse stuff.

Ex's father is a contractor, and used all Dewalt, never had trouble. One nice thing abou tthem, least the smaller tools(drills, sanders, etc), have replacable brushes for the motors. Rarely do you see these on power tools, least not when I used to work in this. And I have seen this feature put to use.

Most tools they expect to wear out completely before a brush needs replacing. Dewalt expects it to outlast at least one set of brushes, and makes replacement relatively easy. Says something.
 
I've got the Sears chopsaw, and it is ok. Works well, cuts stuff, sucks amperage like there is absolutely no tomorrow when wailing on stuff. Costs about $10 more than the deWalt at Sneers.

I don't know if all chopsaws can suck 15 amps cutting a piece of cable, but this sucker can blow a breaker and there isn't anything wrong with it! Just make sure you have a good line to run it off of if you go with the Craftsman.
 
The cheaper ones suck. I been using a Makita for 2 years. The bearings are starting to make noise, but it has seen alot of damascus making.
 
I'm not sure but I think the Dewalt was right around $200 at lowes when I picked it up for my dad. Makita was right in the same ballpark, I don't think they had a milwaukee to look at.
Its a pretty big investment for just cutting barstock to length, but in the long run its worth it. It really has some power and will cut things a reciprocating saw, or circular saw with a cutoff wheel would choke on.
It also has an adjustable clamp so you can do miters with it. Surprisingly clean cuts too, very little work is needed to get the surface ready to weld, just a little bit of a burr to take off.
 
Been using a Harbor Freight Chop Saw for a couple years now... Its done just fine for me..
Think I paid $120 or something...
 
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