Just bought an Ozito compound mitre saw

[abitfishy]

Thought I'd just mention, after getting tired of cutting mouldings, dowel, and small pieces of timber by hand with a wonky workbench and hand me down saws, I decided to take a look at the cheap compound mitre saws at Bunnings.

Ideally a Makita 305m sliding compound saw would be nice, but for the limited use for large timber I can get it supplied cut. Therefore after nearly dropping dead at the low price, decided to fork out the huge sum of $55 for the Ozito 1200w 210mm compound saw. Only cuts 120mm, but most of the stuff I cut is no bigger, and cut a few bits this afternoon. With a decent 40 tooth blade (which costs nearly as much as the machine), it cut nice, accurate cuts. And GOD, so easy!!

I know they can get a bagging here, but I am so pleasantly surprised with this thing, and even more stoked with the price! At that price if I decide to upgrade to a larger machine, I'm not exactly going to cry over $55. I spend more than that a week in smokes! I also have a cheapie Ozito router, which I have used a fair bit for simple grooves in particle board and it is great too. Other than the depth guide seems to slip if I push down too hard - quite easy to stuff a good piece of board if you aren't careful. Personally I think if they spent $5 more on the little things like that, and sold them for $10 more, they'd be an abolute ripper item to own if you are a basic woodworker.

Anyway, thats my rave for the day.

Night!

[orraloon]

Fishey,
You are not alone. I will be brave and admit to owning one. I got it to cut up old boards for the fire. Cost less than a lot of hand saws. About a year later I was doing skirtings and door surrounds and pressed it into service. Worked fine. Perhaps not good enough for picture frames and fine cabinet work but for the money I won't shed tears when it dies.

Regards
John

[pawnhead]

Yeh, I bought a smaller $49 CMS five years ago and I've used it heaps. It's great for cutting beadings, architraves, flooring and even 4X2s. And because it's really light weight, it's sometimes easier to move the saw around rather than move the timber to where you want it cut. Square up one end, then move the saw to the other end. :)

[abitfishy]

I'm so pleased with not having to do everything by hand now, I'm tempted to head out to the garage and cut a bunch of wood up for no good reason! :)

Offcuts anyone? :)

[GAJD04]

Thought I'd just mention, after getting tired of cutting mouldings, dowel, and small pieces of timber by hand with a wonky workbench and hand me down saws, I decided to take a look at the cheap compound mitre saws at Bunnings.

Ideally a Makita 305m sliding compound saw would be nice, but for the limited use for large timber I can get it supplied cut. Therefore after nearly dropping dead at the low price, decided to fork out the huge sum of $55 for the Ozito 1200w 210mm compound saw. Only cuts 120mm, but most of the stuff I cut is no bigger, and cut a few bits this afternoon. With a decent 40 tooth blade (which costs nearly as much as the machine), it cut nice, accurate cuts. And GOD, so easy!!

I know they can get a bagging here, but I am so pleasantly surprised with this thing, and even more stoked with the price! At that price if I decide to upgrade to a larger machine, I'm not exactly going to cry over $55. I spend more than that a week in smokes! I also have a cheapie Ozito router, which I have used a fair bit for simple grooves in particle board and it is great too. Other than the depth guide seems to slip if I push down too hard - quite easy to stuff a good piece of board if you aren't careful. Personally I think if they spent $5 more on the little things like that, and sold them for $10 more, they'd be an abolute ripper item to own if you are a basic woodworker.

Anyway, thats my rave for the day.

Night!
I hate to admit it, but I agree! If your just using it every so often for small jobs, it's money well spent. I have an ozito biscuit joiner.
I can say with experience though, stay away from these brands if the machine that you've bought needs your finger on thr trigger for longer than a minuite (such as routers, orby sanders etc). They will last you the weekend, and thats it!!

[Pat]

I've got a GMC 8 1/4" for $59 some time ago, got a 80tooth from McJings and as long as I check the set up, it cuts what ever I need. PS I have the table saw etc so I can rip down to 90mm if need be. No problems with cms. I'd like a Makita, but realise unless I pick on up at a garage sale for nix, I won't get one.

[dakotax3]

As an ex-tradey I'm pretty discerning when it comes to tool-buying. But, I, too, bought a 210mm Ozito sliding compound saw recently ($162) and, so far it's has been money well spent. It was recommended to me by a current tradey. As a tinkerer, I did a few tool mods; depth stop, mitre stop and dust collection improvements, that sort of stuff and it now works a treat. I now intend to use it for accurate fret cutting on a guitar project I may start soon. But readers should beware of the other cheaper models without the mitre stops though.

Thumbs up here.

[juan]

I too purchased the $55 Ozito from Bunnies. Loved it but it developed a problem and would not lower the blade after 3 weeks. Took it back and they swapped it over no questions asked. I had bought a 60 tooth bladed $40 for it from Bunnies also but the Ozito guy was in the store when I returned it and said he was not happy with the use of that blade as it had a larger bore and a 16mm bush. Because of the flanges on this tool we were both concerned the blade could go bezonkas if the bush dislodged inside the flange. I returned the blade but have had no luck at finding a finer tooth blade with the correct bore. Still love it even with the el cheapo blade that came with it.

Anyone got any thoughts on the correct finer tooth blade (60T) to use safely in this little beauty?

[rhancock]

I didn't buy the scms, but I did pay $200 for an impact driver, which I"m still not sold on yet.

However, the guy in my local bunnies who actually knows what an impact driver is, had just been to an ozito workshop where they launched their "trade quality" tools - with 3 year trade guarantee. If they can make it work, then they could capture a big chunk of the middle market, discerning buyers, who don't want to fork out $400 every time they want a tool to use half a dozen times a year.

However, as I told the guy in bunnies, I'll believe their advertising when I've been using them for 3 years!

[Pete F]

However, the guy in my local bunnies who actually knows what an impact driver is ...

Oh come on! Now I know you're making this up. I believe there is no such person in ANY Bunnings store. :U

[Barry_White]

Oh come on! Now I know you're making this up. I believe there is no such person in ANY Bunnings store. :U

It is hard to believe but in my Bunnings Store there would be at least 10 people that have over 20 years experience each in tools and hardware so I can concur with Rhancock on what he says.

[CalBung]

I have to agree with Barry White here....

I'm not a tradie but have spent countless hours (usually aimlessly) roaming Bunnings stores all over Sydney....

In my experience many of the Bunnings trade staff I have spoken to are friendly, experienced, and offer great assistance and clearly good advice.

[abitfishy]

In my experience many of the Bunnings trade staff I have spoken to are friendly, experienced, and offer great assistance and clearly good advice.

You obviously haven't dealt with the paint department in Taren Point store. They have to be the biggest bunch of deadhead, condescending dropkicks on the face of the planet. Clearly they have been inhaling too many paint fumes. :o

On a side note, the Ozito has been very handy indeed. :U

[STAR]

Since we have moved on to the " Bunnings Free Kick " thread i have to say at our Nerang Store on the Gold Coast we have some knowelagable people there.

Their paint staff are top class, very friendly, and if they do not know the answer , they will seek out another employee who has more expertise on that question and will even ring the manufacturer to get the final info if needed.

as far as the Tool section is concerned the guy in charge has my complete confidence, and I once asked a big fellow there who I have some confidence in for at least telling me the truth and will look for help if my question is out of his knowledge.

I asked him one question one day and he told me nonplussed that he did not know and he would have to ask #### the boss. Then he said something that made me smile. ' God,. Ihate asking him something about tools and machinery, the bugger knows everything"

I purchased a biscuit Joiner a few weeks ago and the boss recommended one that he had and he showed me the pros and cons of all the different brands, Unfortunately, even though they had a sample one there they fdid not have one in stock because of the holiday shut down of the manufacturer. They rang another Bunnings store and i went there to pick it up.

However, the machine was not set up right so I took it back to the Nerang Store and saw the boss. he looked at it, got out a screw driver adjusted it and then went to the timber section, grabbed a bit of pine to test it, Then he readjusted tit again did another cut, and everything was perfect.

One thing, I try to stay clear of is the weekend staff, as they may or may not be a different matter.

ps.

I have just purchased a small jointer from Carba Tec and had a few problems with it. As the manual said it was shop ready as far as the blades were concerned and not having one previously I had to accept them at their word.

After trialling it on some very tough wood I decided to put a straight edge over the blades to see if it was square. Both blades were not parallel and one set were at least a mm above the others.

I rang Carba Tec and they told me how to do the adjusment which I have now done but have not used the machine yet to test if their is an improvement which I believe their has to be.

ps What is important is the after sales service and people who have the experience who know what to do when things go wrong. Bunnings on the Coast meet that bill and so do Carbva Tec.

[WoodyKnot]

I got an Ozito compound saw for xmas from a mate after helping him with a few things.
I've noticed though with the blade it came with that the saw doesn't like to cut small pieces of timber(meaning narrow). It tends to "grab" the wood and flick it in any direction even to the point where one has a 35cm splinter of pine in one's finger from the saw grabbing. A dangerous thing. Sometimes one just can't clamp a peice on it's deck for it's size.
I do agree this isn't a tool for making photo frames however seeing i didn't pay for it, cutting firewood is all it's doin for now and when it breaks down, i'll recycle most of the parts and perhaps weld here & there to turn it into an art peice.

[munruben]

I have to admit I have bought my share of cheapies over the years and depending what you want to do with them, they are usually good value for money. The cheap saws are not much good for picture frames but then again neither is the more expensive models. I have found that no matter what saw I use to make the mitre cut for the frames, they have to be trimmed up on the guillotine for an accurate mitre.

[STAR]

Munruben.

Please help the ignorant, what do you mean by ' trim up on the guillotine. '

[$$$$$$$$$$]

The 254mm Sliding saw is great. I have done 2 decks with it and it's still firing on all cylinders.

Only problem was trying to find a blade for a decent price.

Irwin 60 tooth from Bunnings was $62. and they don't sell the replacement 60t blade that comes with the machine in the Ozito (cheap) brand.

I noticed you can get the irwin ones on ebay for around $50 all up going of past sales

[firebug]

Gday all im a newbie to the site and i to have just brought an ozito saw .Im trying to make a picture frame for and odd size print we picked up in broome any help would be apreciated

[Black Ned]

Attention Star,
"trim up on the guillotine" is an old expression used by Henry the Eight when he sent his wives to the hairdresser to tidy up loose ends.

[munruben]

Interesting to note this thread was originally started nearly 2 years ago. :)

[Blue Gum]

I recently bought a Ozito SCMS. The blade size is 254mm and it cost $230. I've found this to be a great little unit. I bought it for a small renovation that I'm doing and it has served me well. I bought it as it can cut a 140mm wide panel board. It has a 60T blade and 1600watts. I've done several hundered cuts with it and its great. It did need some fine adjustment out of the box. Thumbs up Ozito. I'm happy.

[acropolite]

I bought an Ozito compound mitre saw for my son in law many years ago. He's not known for looking after anything and the saw a couple of years ago had been left out in the weather, the blade was so blunt that it had a tough time cutting a pine stud. to make the saw useable again, I bought a thin kerf 40 tooth Diablo blade from Bunnings, knowing it would be well and truly abused. The Ozito and new blade was used to build a workshop, 30 metres x 15 with 4 odd metre ceiling height. I couldn't believe the accuracy and quality of the cut with the cheap blade. The little Ozito cut almost everything including trimming the exterior weatherboards to length and was still going strong at the end of the build.