Can you kill a Makita?

**strangerep** · 10th February 2011, 11:24 AM

Fighting back considerable embarrassment and shame, I post this story
as a warning for others...

In another thread, someone remarked that you can't kill a Makita SCMS.
I agree -- but I found out the hard way that it's possible to do it a
serious injury...

OK, so I'm cutting angle aluminium 50x50x6 (with a proper aluminium
blade and dry lube) on my LS1013. I've done this before and knew that
it's ok if one goes slow and carefully, and if the pieces are properly
clamped, etc. I had to cut a very small piece at funny 45deg angles.
The first cut goes fine since I'm cutting from a long piece. I
vertical-vise the long piece, use the fold-over fence on the short
side, and also press a piece of timber firmly over the short side while
doing the cut. All is fine so far.

But the next cut is tricky because it needs a 45deg cut whose axis is
at right angles relative to the first one. How to secure the small
piece? The vertical vise won't reach, but in the past I've been able to
do this sort of thing using bits of scrap timber to hold the aluminium
in place. But now cue the dark music: it's late in the day, I'm a bit
tired, and I just want to get this last cut done, so I don't take my
usual level of sensible precautions. "Oh, it'll be alright - I've done
this before", I think to myself. So I put it down, holding only one
side down with a stick, and rely on the fixed fence at the back to hold
the other side, and off we go...

--- WHAM! ---

After I get over the shock and realize I'm ok, I see that the fold-over
fence on the LS1013 has been bent and mangled backwards, and the
small piece of casting that normally sits behind it has been sheared right
off by the force. I look around for the remains of the aluminium piece,
but I cannot find it, even though I'm inside a garage with a dropsheet
hanging behind the SCMS to catch the filings. It must have bounced off
the sheet and out into the driveway or garden. No sign of it on the
driveway, so it's probably buried under deep vegetation. I'll probably
never find it.

With some trepidation I examine my beloved LS1013 for any other
damage, but there seems none. The motor still runs fine, and it still slides
ok, etc. It's only the fold-over fence that's mangled. But I don't
have the necessary metalworking tools/skills to repair it. My bank
account feels an anxiety attack coming on.

Although I was wearing visor+earmuffs, I suspect my face still wouldn't
have been safe if that missile had come back towards me. So I count
myself undeservedly lucky that the only serious injury is to the LS1013
(and soon, to my wallet when I have to buy a new SCMS).

Epilog: the aluminium piece in question would have had a couple of
screws through it when installed, so I _could_ have drilled these holes
first, and used them to screw the aluminium securely onto a much larger
piece of scrap timber which could be clamped properly. That method
works quite well, far safer, but at the end of the day I took
shortcuts. You'd think I'd have learned by now that if you're feeling
tired at day's end, don't try to finish that "one last tricky job".
Leave it until tomorrow and do it with techniques that embody suitable
precautions.

Over my lifetime I now count 6 events when Death missed me, and
several more avoiding serious injury.
Maybe I'm really a cat -- but there's not very many lives left...

**The Bleeder** · 10th February 2011, 12:09 PM

One lucky fella.

So you've managed to do some damage to it. Just as well it wasn't one of the cheapies as you might not be around to tell us.

Any chance of some pics of the damage.

**strangerep** · 10th February 2011, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

Any chance of some pics of the damage.

I don't own a digital camera. (Sad, huh?)
I'll ask the guy next door when I see him...

**dakotax3** · 11th February 2011, 10:27 PM

In trade school in the '70's a fellow apprentice classmate told me what had happened the previous week: he noticed someone had trimmed an inch, just an inch, off his wooden handled hammer. No big deal, just an annoyance. Another day following he caught someone else hurriedly doing the very same thing on the old DeWalt docking saw, forerunner of the scms. Albert, for that was his real name, thought an inch or two he could bear but if this kept going he wouldn't have any left at all. He took the hammer home, drilled a hole up through the handle, inserted a length of steel rod and filled the telltale gaps with wood putty. Back to work, place hammer on bench and watch out of back of head; it didn't take long. At smoko a lone saw was heard and two very loud bangs. The rotating saw blade picked up the steel bar in the handle, rolled itself over the handle toward the operator and shot the hammer out the back clean through the metal shed wall.

There was a great deal of silence in the workshop for quite some time.

**strangerep** · 12th February 2011, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by dakotax3

In trade school in the '70's
[...]
shot the hammer out the back clean through the metal shed wall.

Wow. OK, that's definitely worse than my story.

But why were they docking the hammer handle in the first place?
Some stupid joke?

**dakotax3** · 12th February 2011, 02:07 PM

Quick smoko from demolishing a wall in a laundry...

Why did these richard craniams dock Albert's hammer handle? Today it would be called workplace harrassment and you could sue; back then this sort of nonsense happened. Albert wouldn't hurt a fly then or now and perhaps that was enough reason. An excellent tradesman though and ingenious and determined enough do set up a fool and his saw. I rarely saw Albert smile or laugh but I can tell you he enjoyed telling me his story. I knew the other two ratbags but I heard nothing from them at all. I remember tungsten tipped sawblades were only just becoming used in our area and this one was days old and very expensive.

**NCArcher** · 12th February 2011, 08:54 PM

All is not lost. My Makita saw was given to me after it was involved in a car accident. It shot off the back of a ute and went bouncing down the road at a great rate of knots. the cast aluminium hinge mechanism was broken and the saw was written off.
I took it to a Makita repairer and was able to buy just the broken bits for a fraction of the cost of a new saw.

**strangerep** · 13th February 2011, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by NCArcher

All is not lost. My Makita saw was given to me after it was involved in a car accident. It shot off the back of a ute and went bouncing down the road at a great rate of knots. the cast aluminium hinge mechanism was broken and the saw was written off.
I took it to a Makita repairer and was able to buy just the broken bits for a fraction of the cost of a new saw.

Hmm, yes, in hindsight I should have pursued this option.
But I wanted to continue the task right away, and ordering parts
usually takes time. The Makita LS1016 sounded like a significant
improvement in terms of fence features -- and only later did I discover
it's a bit of a mixed bag (see other thread).

So now the old LS1013 sits lonely waiting for someone to want it again.

P.S., It is quite amazing how much punishment these trade quality
tools can take. A few months back I was working with my Hitachi
cordless drill and Hitachi impact driver on a roof. I'd carried everything
up in a bucket, and suddenly the bucket got away from me and went sliding
down the roof -- to a 6m drop onto concrete. The only damage was a
crack in the plastic case of one of the batteries, and both tools still
run fine. The battery still recharges and everything.

**mick61** · 13th February 2011, 08:28 PM

Gday I had my makita fall of the roof last week it`s fine but the plate is stuffed it`s that old the base plate steel it may never cut straight again.
Mick

**dakotax3** · 13th February 2011, 10:34 PM

If you're meaning a hand held power saw, base plates can be straightened, rebent my 5900B back into shape a thousand times. If it's a Makita, likely there will be availability for spare parts. In a market in Geelong in recent weeks saw a new looking 5900 base plate for sale in a cardboard box. This sort of stuff is out there but you need time to look.

**Johncs** · 18th February 2011, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by NCArcher

All is not lost. My Makita saw was given to me after it was involved in a car accident. It shot off the back of a ute and went bouncing down the road at a great rate of knots. the cast aluminium hinge mechanism was broken and the saw was written off.
I took it to a Makita repairer and was able to buy just the broken bits for a fraction of the cost of a new saw.

I've been having a fine old time at auctions...

I went to one and bought, amongst other things, a Makita LS1013 complete with shop-made stand with long arms. On wheels, and the Makita was screwed down.

Loaded it on to my Workmate - steel tray, drop sides. Someone suggested I move it closer to load other goods. Good idea.

Moved vehicle. What's that noise?

Damage to saw was assessed at almost $400.

There was another auction, a week or two later.

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