|
The motor assembly mount of the holding bracket looks to be welded crooked. The blade was off 1/4" from one end to the other. I would give this another try but I don't have time to return this and wait for a new one.Just make sure to check that the blade is straight before you get into a tile project. Judging from the reviews so far I think I might have had a defective product. As I took it out of the box and put everything together I thought it was decent but after wasting a couple of expensive tiles I realized it was the blade causing issues, not the fence or operator error.
It's ready to go right out of the box. It needs to be re-designed. I give it 4 stars.
The supplied blade cuts well but after about 25 cuts it began chipping the edge of the tile. I'm satified with the purchase and I would recommend it. Free hand cuts are a breeze but I did not find the rip fence user friendly at all.
This is a great little saw for the "Do It Yourselfer". I suggest you buy a quality blade with your purchase. The Pro's- It's a great price- Well built- Very portable and easy to use- Compact and powerfulThe Con's- The guide fence is useless.
I bought it for my bathroom and kitchen ceramic tile installation. Just install the supplied blade and connect the water pump supply tube.
As with all wet saws, water went everywhere. I am a tiling novice, but my floor came out fantastic with the help of this saw. Otherwise, the saw easily cut all the tile I needed. One other small issue was that the saw would move in the tray during the cutting process and press the fence against the back of the tray. I bought this saw to replace my 120sqft kitchen floor with 12in ceramic tiles.
I had to shift the saw away from the back of the tray to move the fence. As the directions state, you need to make sure the fence is parallel to the blade. In summary, I am very happy with the saw. I have other tiling projects planned (bathroom and laundry), so it made sense for me to buy a saw instead of renting. However, I thought this saw was particularly bad at containing the water. There was not enough margin between the required minimum and maximum levels when you're losing water at such a high rate.
The saw arrived quickly and in good condition. I only needed to do this once at the initial setup. It didn't help that it was also a little difficult to determine the water level (difficult to see if the pump was covered). Assembly was not difficult, although the instructions for attaching the tubing to the pump were not clear and I struggled a bit to get the tubing on. I had to refill once every third tile, which seemed a hassle IMHO. This helped keep the fence square.
The plastic fence is flimsy, but it works well enough. When moving the fence, be sure to lock down the front end of the fence while the back side is loose, and tighten the back side second.
The cost to rent a machine would have been $75 for the day. I strongly suggest using the machine outside as it gets a little messy with spray. Also,change water frequently to keep down the dust. We recently remodeled our kitchen and I tiled the back splash in tumbled Durango limestone tiles. For a little more you have the saw for as long as needed. The blade cut through the tiles(approx. The saw cuts were accurate as long as the user takes the time to set up guides and checks measurements. 3/8 inch thick) with little effort.
For me the price and the above method make the MK-170 a solid 5 star buy. Swanson Tool SO107 12-Inch Speed Square I recently purchased the MK-170 and used to cut tiles for a kitchen backsplash.As stated in some of the previous reviews,I also found adjusting and setting the fence between cuts time consuming.As an alternative,I removed the fence and replaced it with a Swanson 12 inch speedsquare.The lip on the base of the square fits nicely on the MK-170 base.With the tile firmly positioned against the side of the square with the right hand,the left hand can quickly slide the square to position the tile for cutting.This method worked great for 6x6 tiles and should work good for most cuts on 12x12 tiles.
|
