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It only took me a few minutes to set it up when i got it. This saw is awesome. It might not be a cabinet saw but your also not gonna find a cabinet saw for this price. I would definitely buy it again It has plenty of power and is very accurate.
Set your expectations accordingly.Positives: Adequate results, as long as you don't expect the sawn edge to be smooth. Still, I expect to spend a lot of time making up for my budget limitations. Also, I found the setup instructions for the table extension grossly inadequate. And that guard - well, I keep telling myself I really should use it, when applicable, but it keeps arguing against me. BTW, a throat plate not flush to the table surface makes measuring the dado depths a royal pain - it's trial and error, not machine tooling. Sorry, I'm just human. Each one needs the guard off, and therefore (we're good boys and girls, right). I'm pretty sure the Hitachi lawyers added it to the parts list, not the engineers.I'm not an advanced woodworker, so I'll use this saw and enjoy it, to a point.
Still, it will help me look forward to that day when I decide to trade up.-- wiredweird(PS: One of the attachment screws in the throat plate was so glued in place with black paint that I stripped the Phillips part of the Phillips/straight head trying to unscrew it the first time. I imagine I can shim it up flush, but haven't taken the time yet, and it's nowhere near tight enough for really thin cuts. This isn't a $25,000 saw or a $2,500, saw, it's a $ saw, at least where I bought it. Getting the splitter straight to the blade is time consuming and aggravating - and especially aggravating because I do so many rabbets and dadoes. back on again, with the same tedious alignment each time.
Going through all that again, every time I need the guard on again after being off, seems more than daunting. I know there's an adjustment to get the blade parallel to the miter slot - when I get the right measuring tools, I'll try to get all that straight.I'm sure that, with a new blade, a half-day of fussing, and a lot of patience, I can get all the results I paid for from this tool. It's affordable and easily capable of more than the factory configuration.Negatives: Lots, including the throat plate. The mechanism doesn't hold the old alignment settings, they have to be redone each time. Grr).
When I realized that I had not understood the incomprensible setup instructions correctly, I had to remove one of the end clips - and broke it in removing it, because it was engineered only for people who do everything perfectly the first time.
This is a very good job site saw. Plenty of power and works better than several more expensive models I've used. Its features allow 3/4 inch plywood cuts and about anything else. It needs a better blade from the start but that's my only suggestion.
Not any serious woodworking or load. The replacement has just burnt out on me two years down the road. Well the first Hitachi lasted a month and I returned it for another one at Lowe's, the assumption being that saw was faulty. The saw is fine for small jobs for flooring and such. I used mine for ripping stretcher bars for canvases. I'm shopping for something better, just thought I'd post a warning. I take a Kiln Dried 2x4 and rip it at a 35 degree angle.
the dust collection is nice and works well. I love this saw. it super fast to set up right out the box took maybe 20 minutes. this is a huge improvement over my old craftsman saw. its light weight and easy to move but is still stable when working with large pieces of wood.
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