Lowes SCMS

[JaiPea]

I was in Lowes today and saw what appears to be a new model of their 10" SCMS. The price is only $179 and it is 'upscale' in that it includes a saw mounted laser rather than on the arbor.

Also, the extensions are built into the base. When you unscrew the lock the aluminum base separates and a 3" piece can be pulled out several inches, and that piece includes a settable stop. None of the way more expensive brand name saws had anything like it.

The overall look and feel is 'cheap', but the design features indicate that a lot of thought went into the specifications. There was no way to judge the quality of the blade, it was not mounted.

Has anybody tried one of these and can comment on the quality of cut, consistency etc?

Thanks

[LinuxRandal]

You didn't give a brand, and Lowe's doesn't have a Lowe's brand.
Overall, I would go by the look and feel, hence CHEAP. If this is like some of the ones I looked at, it would be OK for construction (without abuse, in handling it, like contractor would), but probably won't keep it's alignment well.
The newest ones I heard about were the "Taskforce" brand. From what I was told (still haven't seen it), sounds like they took someone elses design, and made it with cheaper materials (type and fit/finish).

[cgallery]

The Sears "black friday" add shows a Craftsman model for $199 that sounds like it is similar in features. You may want to check those ads and go look at the saw. I seem to remember some of the Craftsman sliders getting pretty good reviews in recent write-ups. If that quality is worthwhile, it may be worth getting in line for on Friday morning.

[JaiPea]

> You didn't give a brand, and Lowe's doesn't have a
> Lowe's brand.

TradeForce is on the tool but Lowes has been changing its 'brand' names for the Lowes-unique tools so it is easier to talk about them as Lowes tools.

Lowes has not established a brand equity for the tools as HD has. HD tools use pre-estabished brand names (Ryobi, Ridgid and Husky). All of Lowes names are invented, and they change them, what is now TradeForce used to be something else.

> The newest ones I heard about were the "Taskforce"
> brand. From what I was told (still haven't seen it),
> sounds like they took someone elses design, and made
> it with cheaper materials (type and fit/finish).

The construction looks low-end and I would normally extend that to mean cheap bearings and poor tolerances but there can be exceptions. The Chicago Electric and Wen tools that were all I could afford 40 years ago have outlasted and out-performed many brand names of that era.

Because the saw is not a knockoff of an existing SCMS (the extending base does not exist on any CMS or SCMS I've seen) I am wondering if it is a cut above the typical knockoff.

Hopefully, somebody on BT3 has hands on experience with this SCMS and can tell us if it is a petunia in the onion patch or an onion.

[JaiPea]

> The Sears "black friday" add shows a Craftsman model for
> $199 that sounds like it is similar in features. You may
> want to check those ads and go look at the saw.

Could be, there is not enough info to tell in the ad and the 21237 did not turn up at www.sears so could not see the specs.

If they are the same saw, is Craftsman at $199 a better deal than Tradeforce at $179? Sears used to guarantee parts availability for 10 years but Craftsman Club is no longer what it used to be and who knows about other policies.

[vaking]

If you are looking for a cheap SCMS - you will probably have hard time beating the HF price of $100 for 10" SCMS or $180 for 12" . I am sure it is not a high end tool but neither is Lowes product.
http://da.harborfreight.com/cpisearc...+saw&Submit=Go

[JaiPea]

> If you are looking for a cheap SCMS - you will probably
> have hard time beating the HF price of $100 for 10"
> SCMS or $180 for 12" .

I am not looking for a cheap SCMS, I went into Lowes to look at the Hitachi 10" SCMS.

The Lowes SCMS has two features that appealed and it happens to be cheap. That's why feedback from someone who has used it would be helpful.

[cgallery]

> The Sears "black friday" add shows a Craftsman model for
> $199 that sounds like it is similar in features. You may
> want to check those ads and go look at the saw.

Could be, there is not enough info to tell in the ad and the 21237 did not turn up at www.sears so could not see the specs.

If they are the same saw, is Craftsman at $199 a better deal than Tradeforce at $179? Sears used to guarantee parts availability for 10 years but Craftsman Club is no longer what it used to be and who knows about other policies.

Donno. I am intrigued by the slider mechanism of the Craftsman, though. It seems similar in design to the high-end 12" ($500) Craftsman. I'm curious to find out how stable these are.

[eddy merckx]

I also looked at the Taskforce CSMS at Lowe's. The model I looked at had a fair amount of slop in the slider bearings. If you're building furniture, it's hard to imagine you'd get the kind of accuracy you'd like. I recently bought a cheaper CSMS and returned it after trying a few cuts. I then got the Hitachi which is a marvel. It also has surprisingly good dust collection. One guy's opinion, but these are expensive and big enough that you only want to buy them once.

[LinuxRandal]

The Sears "black friday" add shows a Craftsman model for $199 that sounds like it is similar in features. You may want to check those ads and go look at the saw. I seem to remember some of the Craftsman sliders getting pretty good reviews in recent write-ups. If that quality is worthwhile, it may be worth getting in line for on Friday morning.

Do you have a link, because all the ad's I have seen don't have this.

[cgallery]

Do you have a link, because all the ad's I have seen don't have this.

http://bfads.net/adscans/

It is in the Sears scanned ad. Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

If the quality is similar to their 12" $500 model, then $199 is a steal. However, I've already noticed the motor is arranged differently. The 12" aparently isn't direct-drive.

[LinuxRandal]

Not available on their website, so the only specs I see are via the ad. It appears to be a 10" (at least that is what the blade says in the photo). I think it would be prefered to the Lowes, although I would still want to look at it in person.
You may still be better off looking at a cms, instead of a scms, depending on the type of work you do.

One annoying thing was, this wasn't posted via their front page, with the individual items.

[JaiPea]

The Craftsman flyer came today, and #21237 is the same saw as the Lowes. It has an error on pricing though, Reg 249.99, Sale 199.99 CC 189.99 but 10% is $20 so should be $179.99.

Friday is supposed to be 20% off 8am-noon which would make it $159.99. Sears is getting smarter on dates, the CC sale starts Sunday.

> The model I looked at had a fair amount of slop in the
> slider bearings.

The bearings on the Lowes display I looked at were smooth, so could be it is the luck of the draw.

> ...got the Hitachi which is a marvel. It also has
> surprisingly good dust collection.

Lowes were out of Hitachis when I stopped by, my interest is peaked by the dual compound.

Amazon is less $50 at checkout on the C10FSH at $796.48 and the C12FSH at $479. It makes no sense at all that the 10" is 2/3 more expensive that the 12".

[cgallery]

The Craftsman flyer came today, and #21237 is the same saw as the Lowes. It has an error on pricing though, Reg 249.99, Sale 199.99 CC 189.99 but 10% is $20 so should be $179.99.

Friday is supposed to be 20% off 8am-noon which would make it $159.99. Sears is getting smarter on dates, the CC sale starts Sunday.

There is an additional 20% off for Friday 8am-noon? Do I need a special coupon or something for that?

[lrr]

I'd pass on Lowe's, and go with Ridgid at Home Depot. I bought a 10" model (not sliding -- I have a radial arm saw). Ridgid also offer lifetime warranty when you mail in card, or do it online. I was going to buy a Makita or Bosch, and someone pointed out the great reviews on several Ridgid saws over the past few months.

I own a Ridgid jointer (same as Craftsman -- made in the old Emerson factory, I believe), a Ridgid 15ga air nailer, and recently bought the Ridgid Belt Sander, and it came with a 1/4" pad sander and very nice tool bag. I'm now up to 5 Ridgid tools, and very happy with all of them.

Finally, if you open a HD credit card, you get 10% off coupons periodically. I bought a DeWalt 13" planar and a number of other tools at 10% off over the past year. And, if you spend $299, you get 6 months same as cash. Just don't do this in June -- I have an $800 bill to pay on 12/27!

I've given up on cheap tools, and I consider Ridgid to make some very decent products.