Thread: Trade Tools branded saws

Dear aldo,

They are nice - even for a clone. Feels like a "Rolls", but depth of cut is going to be your drawback: is only about 50mm or so for the machine you're looking at, because motor drives blade via direct drive (ie. no gearbox), and bottom half of motor housing therefore ends up "chewing up" some of your cutting depth.

They do a couple of other units with induction motors. I had one of them once - a 250mm non-slider. Was nice and quiet, but I wasn't quite happy that the "chasis" was up to the extra side-hung weight of the Induction Motor (compared to a conventional "Universal" Motor). I see on their website that they also do a 12" slider:
http://www.tradetools.com.au/ProdVie...1&Product=7100
Going by the 110mm cutting depth (which is competitive with just about any 12" - must therefore be running through a gearbox), I'd be looking at this one if I were you, instead of the Metabo clone. If it does have a gearbox, it will also give you a superior "tooth speed" to the Metabo clone, and I can tell from personal experience with the said unit that I had, that this can count for a lot...

They don't have everything on the website that they have in the stores. Ring a couple of them (incl. Coopers Plains - Ph. 3875 1022, I've seen some gear over there - like a pretty good Router Table at a pretty fair price - that just doesn't get anywhere near their website) in order to get a true picture of how many different units they have that are powered by Induction Motors. They are as good a place as any to buy "cloney" and "house-branded" type gear from.

Hope this helps.
Best Wishes,
Batpig

Hi Batpig

Thanks for the info. While I was in the store I made inquiries about the 12 inch model and the young fellow steered me away. He mentioned that as far as returns were involved that the 12 inch model has had a few comebacks while the "copy" has had none.

I currently have a Ryobi compound mitre and was hoping to be able to get into the better brands. Noticing that cheaper sliding saws went for as much as quality non sliding I was tempted but if I can't find reasonable quality then I will stick to a Bosch GCM 10 which looks the goods.

Non of the cheaper branded sliding saws have positive locking stops for the common angles which I find a bit of a pain.

Thanks

then I will stick to a Bosch GCM 10 which looks the goods.

contrary to my earlier choice I ended up with the Dewalt DW703 this morning. It seems like a nice saw, well made, nice brake and even though it doesn't have soft start, as most of the non sliding saws don't, it does have the "softest" start up if you know what I mean.

The Bosch looked great and easily had the best of the saw bases, Makita, Hitachi and Dewalt but it started with as much gusto as your first time. It gave a pretty big jolt which is what my current Ryobi dishes out. I'm not a big fan.

The Dewalt appeared to be the only 255mm saw which cuts 150mm plus which I am happy with. As much as I would love a sliding saw in the tradie quality brands I couldn't justify the cost versus my amount of usage.

After having a better look through the forum over the last few days I think I may have put this in the wrong area. If a mod is browsing I would be happy to have it moved if possible.

Thanks

Dear Aldo,

I know that you're now set up with a DW703 and all, and I know that this is really the wrong place for this thread, but I wonder if you could nonetheless elaborate a little on the nature of the problems which the chap at Trade Tools described their Sliding 12" units as typically having?

As I stated in my previous post, I once had one of their 10" Non-Sliders, but took it back as a result of my unhappiness with the quality of the cut. At the time, I put the problems down to either the chassis being insufficiently rigid to cope with the extra weight of an Induction motor hanging off to the side (compared to a lighter Universal motor for which the chassis was probably originally designed for), or the low tooth speed that was resulting from the combination of only 10" and 2950rpm, thanks to the said Induction motor running the blade via direct drive. A combination of both problems might also have been possible...

I ended up getting a Non-Sliding 10" PowerMaster Plus from BigW when it was on sale just after Christmas a couple of years back, and for $57 it absolutely kicks R's, because it is reasonably accurate, has a 60 tooth blade, metal base with angle stops and all, whereas other cheapies in this price range usually have plastic bases that are cunningly painted up to look like metal. The plastic bases usually crack on you after not too long, as happened to my brother with his cheap Ryobi...

I've always retained a longing, though, for a nice big Slider, and I am therefore curious to hear what that Trade Tools chap had to say about their 12" house-brand unit, because I liked of the quietness of that 10"er of theirs when I had it. It's not exactly the sort of thing that they would talk to me about if I walked in and looked like I was ready to reach into my hip-pocket, but maybe that young bloke you were talking to might open up a bit more for you since you've just shelled out over $400 for something else from him...

Many Thanks,
Batpig.

Hi Batpig.

We never covered the specifics of the saws issues. I just asked which of the saws has any warranty issues/comebacks etc. I would say that the issues lay with the fact that the saw is marketed as a trade/industrial use in the newspaper ads but in store I was told that it was "light industrial use".

With that in mind I'm sure that home use/handyman use would be fine. My father and two brothers are carpenters and I am not entirely sure what you would classify as light industrial use so I would guess that it's a DIY/handyman saw.

I went with the Dewalt but purchased it from Bunnings as they had it a very keen price. I don't think that Trade Tools sell Dewalt.

I did some research on the saw but not enough. It is the dearest 254mm saw between Bosch, Makita and Hitachi by up to $120 but it comes with no accessories. No clamps, timber side rests or even a dust bag. Pretty poor form I reckon. I rang Dewalt because their website claims that it comes with a dust bag but I was surfing the wrong site they say. Anyway he was happy to tell me it's got a 30 day money back so I'm still deciding.

Thanks.

Thanks for replying Aldo. I might give them a yell and see what I can get out of them on the subject.

Wrt your DeWalt, I'd definitely go them for the bag under subtle threat of Returnisation... I mean, heck - it's a little bit of plastic and cheap wire with one of last year's Promo T-shirts stitched up and hanging off the end! How much can that cost them?!? Even my $57, 10", Kick-R's BigW PowerMasterPlus had one of them as standard, in spite of also featuring a profit-chewing metal base! (Mind you, before leaving, I checked the box first when I got out to the carpark after I bought the thing, and the damned bag wasn't in there, so I had to take it back there and then on the spot to get another one that had the bag in it!... You see, even back then I was awake to the more subtle little heartbreaking aspects of buying Chinese tools...)

Best Wishes again,
Batpig.

Dust bag arrived today

Originally Posted by aldo

Dust bag arrived today

sorry for digging up an old post, but where did u get the dust bag from? ordered through Bunnings? how much was it?

I picked up a DW703 today

Thanks