Thread: sherwood QL218

G'day.

I've done mail order from Timbercon without any problems but... I don't know of anyone that has bought Sherwood products & so I can't comment.
Some of the Sherwood stuff seems VERY competetive price wise so I guess that the must be someone out there that has bought some of it.

Well,


I have bought a few Sherwood items. And have been generally happy but...

I purchased the QL299 which is the 12" saw about 12 months ago and have been VERY disappointed.

After about 150 cuts -read 1 days use( on timber I beams) I noticed the blade was wobbly, on closer examination notice the main bearing has been chewed out.

Call Timbecon, great service but Perth to sydney, one week to get there, week to repair week to get back, so there goes my Christmas break (

The saw has then had pretty constant use and now the guard is not sliding up, the bearings are sounding sus, and generally the unit is beginning to wear out- note this only 12 months old.

That said, it did the job is was meant to do, and at half to a quarter of the Makita/ Hitachi price- so I'm not complaining and will probably bin it in a few months.

Few major points to ask and to look for in a saw that is used to many cuts one after the other, is a blade brake- this think runs on for about 10 seconds, can be quite annoying. Oh and the cover for the blade ( one the side) is PLASTIC, I was surprised when removed to try and fix the guard problem, but hey they have to save money somewhere and build quality is the first place

Another is noise, have used other saws that were not as loud or as sharp( high pitched) a sound, though good muffs help but not for the neighbours.

)

All in all the saw did its job, just not with any refinement/ Would use mine for Framing but not for Fitout.

JR

Fran,

I have the QL299 baught at the Adelaide WWW show, I must say that for the price I was expecting to do a lot more "fiddling" to get it to cut straight and vertical.
I do find it a bit noisy, I suspect that this has to do with the gearing and possibly bearings which I will look at when the warranty runs out. The blade that came with it is OK but a better quality blade would probably help with reducing noise.

I have set it up for mitres but haven't cut ay in a job situation (just test pieces) and it seems acurate without movement.

I did have a few problems with the rear guard catching, probably the way I installed it, since it was removed I haven't had any problems.

Slides move pretty freely and the hight adjuster (did some trenching) is easy to use as well.

For the purposes I use it for it has turned out to be a good investment.

regards,

Himzo.

Jackruss,

As the QL 299 is the 12 inch version of the Ql 218 I think you may have just talked me out of that idea. After what I saw at the Melbourne Wood show I thought it was a better item than the QL210 which has the really shoddy plastic blade shield. May be I will have to save up and buy a Dewalt there does not seem to be a decent medium priced unit anywhere.

Thanks
Frank

Have dealt with Timbercon and find them to be quite ok with mail order and they have provided a couple of bolts that failed without quibbiling.
I believe they are as good as the rest, you can have unsatisfactory dealings with almost any company these days, But I have no qualms at all regarding Timbercon, they have been quite good for me.

On the Sherwood, I have had a 10" sliding mitre saw for about two and a half years, whilst it has been quite acceptable for the price. Given the oportunity I would buy a Makita or Hitachi if I were in the running again. In this world I believe you get what you pay for.

Regards

Mike.

I agree with MICKYG. The difference is that buying a Hitachi/Makita/De Walt etc is that you could now sell for a sizable portion for what you paid for it and you would not have had the down time. I have a Makita LS1013 which I bought for a particular job. I looked at the Timbecon saws as well as the Carbatec LS1013 look alike at the 2003 WFW show in Sydney. They are not a patch on what they are copying. Timbecon and Carbatec will even tell you that!

However, we all have to make the ends meet and there are times that the cheapest tool is the best option so I fully understand where you are coming from.

Fran,

Look HERE

I cant tell the diff between this and the LS1013 which is $1200. They are rumoured to be from the same factory. Parts are interchangeable.

Dan

Fran
See my post "Timbecon - not happy Jan" under Hand tools and machinery

thanks Tom that just about says it all

Frank

Apart from the colour, you might not be able to tell them apart. From that photo anyway. )

The things that are not visible are where the economies are made. Bearings, gears etc. Still the fact remains that the resale value of this item (even if they are identical) will not be the same. As the song goes, that's the way it is.

DanP,
my powertool repair man says the parts aren't interchangeable.

Frank,
Parts might be a problem further down the track if you buy the look-a-like. Parts for the well known brands are usually available for quite a few years, whereas you may have to wait months for them to get parts into the country for the cheapies. Mark has brought up a good point about resale value. I had a Makita LS-1011 (single rail 10" SCMS) for 11 years. It did a hell of a lot of work and I still managed to offload it to Cash Convertors for $300 - bought it for $750.00 tax exempt.

Mick

have been told by many people who own the makita copies that they are just lookalikes, no resemblance in terms of quality of the product, accuracy or longevity... maybe worth picking up a second hand makita

Dear Router

I would love to pick up a used ,good brand of s,c,m,saw but you can never find them.

Frank