Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

[staestc]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Grats Skool on your purchase. I am pretty sure your gonna like it!
Travis

[skoolpsyk]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

well I've made one cut so far--cut a brick in half--and I already love it! I really wrestled over whether to get it and I already feel like "what the heck was I thinking?!"

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

I just bought a respirator from their website so I can start getting their "flyer" emailed to me and hope somehow I get a 15% off coupon or something in the next month to buy the 10" as well. I wish I was following them last month for the coupon price. Ya know, at $299 plus $59 for the stand and $19 for the diamond blade, home depot has some brand of the same thing for $399 but everyone on this site seems happy with the "Chicago" brand from Harbor Freight and I could use my saw horse table.

Happy wet-saw cutting!

-Dino

[drogers]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Harbor Freight is running special in store sales this weekend, Nov 15-17th and the day after thanksgiving.

[staestc]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Judging on the pictures from the home depot web site, their $398 (w/ stand and blade) QEP brand saw looks like it could me made at the same factory as the $299 (-15%) Harbor Freight saw, or at least parts of it The QEP had a 2 hp motor versus the 2.5 advertised by HF. The biggest obvious difference is that HF has a much beefier and adjustable support for the motor/blade unit, which I suspect would contribute to smoother cuts.

The QEP adversies two speeds (manually), which to me means two step pullies on the motor and the blade drive shaft and you have to manually move the belt from on set to the other.

Dino, if by chance I get another 15% off coupon, I will gladly mail it to you. And I too heard on the radio that HF had some kind of sale going on around Thanksgiving.

Good luck,
Travis

[mannextdoor]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Most coupons can be downloaded and printed online. They also will match online prices if you print the page showing the online price. That is at the store here. I don't know if they all do that?

[Dino_Pizza]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Hi Travis:
thanks for the offer on the coupon but after "drogers" posted that HF had a sale this weekend (I called to confirm) I couldn't resist. You all seem to be having so much fun unpacking your HF saw I just had to joint in. The saw was $229 and I went ahead and got the table and blade.

Here's what happened when I assembled:

1. - yup, instructions not too useful. The blurry parts illustration was a fascinating Rorschach Test for me and my partner to argue over but kinda helped and ultimately confirmed things.

2.- My blade protector (the orange half-hood) slid on the blade "chuck" (I don't know these parts?) a bit too far in so that the blade almost rubbed on the side of the protector and certainly rubbed 1 of the brass water nossels. I had to add 2 washers to bring the blade hood out so the blade is centered.

3.- Is it normal that the center of the work table (the flat plate with the "inch" markers) to not be exactly centered and to have to be adjusted so the blade goes right down the middle? I did that and it seems to work great.

Thank again, Dino

[drogers]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

I am glad to see that I could help you.

[staestc]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Dino,

Mine all lined up when I assembled it. I did not have to shim anything with washers or the like. I will take a closer look at mine when I get home and see if I can discern anything about why your might have been different, but my blade lined up exactly (well, within chinese tool tolerances) with the slot in the sliding table.

Travis

[Ken524]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

2.- My blade protector (the orange half-hood) slid on the blade "chuck" (I don't know these parts?) a bit too far in so that the blade almost rubbed on the side of the protector and certainly rubbed 1 of the brass water nossels. I had to add 2 washers to bring the blade hood out so the blade is centered.

3.- Is it normal that the center of the work table (the flat plate with the "inch" markers) to not be exactly centered and to have to be adjusted so the blade goes right down the middle? I did that and it seems to work great.

Thank again, Dino

Dino,

Mine worked out of the box with no adjustment (maybe I was lucky!). If you have it all shimmed up and working well, sounds like you are in good shape.

Our local Harbor Freight is really good about returns and exchanges. If you aren't happy with it, try taking it in and swapping for a different one.

As you have discovered, it isn't a precision cutting instrument ; but I think you'll find it is more than capable of doing even tricky cuts for your oven.

Have fun with it!!

[sjmeff]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

I started using my HF saw for the first time this weekend. I'm really glad that I got it. Having never used a tile saw before, I was able to get the hang of it in no time cutting the rounded edges of the floor bricks.

I noticed that it created quite a mess, though: Water seemed to fly off the blade and onto the floor about 2.5 feet behind the saw.

Is this usual?

S

[staestc]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Personally, I don't have enough experience with mine to actually tell you what to expect, but my own expectation having used other tile saws to cut concrete core samples for testing a lot in the past is that it will always be messy no matter what you do!

Travis

[Ken524]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

I noticed that it created quite a mess, though: Water seemed to fly off the blade and onto the floor about 2.5 feet behind the saw.

Yeah. It's definitely an outdoor toy.

[sjmeff]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

Haha. Okay, that makes sense. I've been using mine in our unfinished basement (better light, warmer than outside). I rigged a back splash, so it's not too messy anymore. I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

[mannextdoor]

Re: Harbor Freight 10" Tile Saw

I would be careful as to how much of the splash that go's to the floor (fireclay) that I would rinse down my drain. That fireclay will set up like a brick. It might settle in a trap or lay in a low spot some where in your line.