power devil compound push mitre saw, advice needed.

[Reggie]

Hi all, in the list of things that have been donated to me, one of them is a power devil PDW 5047CPM compound mitre saw with a push action on it.

Overall it's pretty well looked after apart from a cracked handle on the bit that tightens up the mechanism for setting the blade at an angle, however this doesn't affect the function of the handle.

I haven't measured yet but it looks like I should be able to do about an 18" wide cut with it, it's got a 10" blade with 80 teeth (need to double check that), behind where the blade mechanism hinges for you to move it up and down when you cut, there is a small piece of metal that is bolted down on the back of the hinge housing, it looks like it might be for adjusting the depth of cut, could someone confirm this for me?

Also, it seems like it should be a useful thing but when I tried it out, it did work to limit the travel of the blade depth but didn't seem particularly practical, do you guys use that feature at all on your compound mitre saws?

 

[brianhabby]

Hi,

If it's anything like the depth stop on my Delta it's okay to a point but the top of the saw flexes too much to be very accurate. I thought it would be good for trench cuts a bit like a radial arm saw but the flex means that the cuts are not consistent.

regards

Brian

 

[riclepp]

Hi

If it is a power devil...then bin it as I had one and it was totally unreliable for accuracy. I personally did'nt trust it as far as I could throw it, mind you I still have all my fingers. It is one of the cheap, cheap ones, so don't expect too much.

Sorry, it is proberly what you dont want to hear.

 

[Reggie]

Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to answer I'm not disappointed by anything either of you guys have said, I had a feeling it's not the best of units but it was given to me for nothing with a used twice blade (after checking, it's a 60t not 80t). I guess the best thing I can do is use it and see how I get on with it.

 

[riclepp]

One of the annoying issues I had, was it's love of losing teeth from the blade. Every now and then a loud ping was heard and hey presto a few teeth less than when it started. As mine was inhereted from my Farther, I can't comment on how he looked after it. As for me, I am a bit ocd for cleaning and looking after things. I guess there must be a problem with the blade alignments on the spindle and it wobbles, hence the loosing of teeth. It was only soft wood I was cutting and clean stuff too. So that could be the same on your too?????

 

[Reggie]

I have zero experience and zero ocd, however I am keen on keeping all limbs and digits attached, so I'm being careful before I start using it to gouge any wood, I think I need to pay some attention to the cracked handle and that may actually tighten everything up and remove any play.

The blade did seem to have a small amount of play but it seems that it's more in the handle/arm mechanism, I could bring the handle down and make the blade meet wood at slightly different places but clearly 1mm out is still 1mm out.