JayBear Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 I thought this would be a good item to review since a lot of people seem to be asking about this middle grade saw. Also since I don’t post much maybe this is a way for me to get more involved with the community. I know a lot of members here are like me, weekly frequenters of the big box stores. Unfortunately in my rural area I only have HD, Lowes and Sears. I was given a limited budget by my wife of $600 for a TS for my birthday. Being that we are on a tight budget and having limited access to other brands of tools I went shopping at the competitors. In the end it was between and Ridged and Porter Cable model and a comparable Craftsman model that was almost identical to the Ridged. Having over two bills worth of Lowes gift cards also helped me make my decision. Assembly was straightforward and all parts where packaged in nice little bags. I did have to get help lifting the saw onto the stand. Everything looks to be good quality and for six bills I felt that I got a good saw. I've read a lot of negative reviews about the fence but I thought for this range saw it was pretty good. After making sure everything was calibrated pretty well I started into my first project. After five cuts into some nice ¾ ply the saw would not start back up. I’m running it on 120 and check ahead of time that the outlet it was plugged into was 30 amps (15 amp saw) and that no other tools where connected to this circuit. I tired the reset button and nothing. There are no fuses on the saw so that was out. It looks like the motor has quit. I will be calling Porter Cable this afternnon and if it’s not resolved with them I will contact Lowes. I refuse to package the saw up after all the assembly and drive it over 40 minutes back to my Lowes store. If that is what I wind up having to do I will cancel my Lowes card and head over to the OTHER big box store. Updates to follow… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 I've missed the obvious so many times myself, I just have to ask... Have you plugged something else into that electrical outlet, to mae sure the circuit is still hot? Have you tried plugging the saw into another outlet/circuit? I'd look again for a reset button on the saw. Maybe check online or in the manual. It really sounds like a popped circuit breaker to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBear Posted August 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 I used my outlet tester and certified that I had the correct voltage. My RAS saw works fine and it’s also a 15 amp saw. It was connected directly to the outlet without any type of extension cord. Just for the heck of it I also reset that breaker in the shop and still get nothing. I opened the side cover and used my mutli-meter to verify that voltage was reaching the motor and it is. After all my testing is has to be the motor. I do appreciate your helpful comment though. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rgraham888 Posted August 15, 2011 Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 You may have a bad startup capacitor. I just replaced on on my Father-in-law's pool pump. Are you getting any noise like it's straining or anything like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBear Posted August 15, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2011 No, noise at all! Unless you count the sound of the switch saying "click". *Update* Ok, I was unable to get through to anyone helpful at Porter Cable. The person who answers the phone keeps sending me to another representative and I have to leave a message. So I called Lowes just to see what kind of response I would get. I was initially told the only solution was for me to disassemble the saw, package it back into the box and bring it back in for an exchange. I explained that if I had to do that then I would want a full refund and to close my Lowes cards and I would be finished spending my money there. The manager was kind of rude and asked “well, what do you want ”. Tomorrow morning they are bring me a new saw and going to take the defective one with them. I also got the Lowes extended warranty for free. I guess I’ll know a lot about the saw having to assemble it twice but I’ll take that as an acceptable solution. I really wouldn’t want anyone else assembling it anyway and rather have the peace of mind that I did it correctly. To be continued…… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CubsFan Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 Just to add my $0.02, I've had this saw for a year or so (maybe even 2 years at this point), and I've been pretty pleased with it. There's certainly times I wished I'd spent a few hundred more dollars and gotten a nicer saw, but at the time the semi-portable nature of it was pretty important to me. I totally understand your frustration though. I had actually bought the craftsman saw you'd talked about and it had some serious issues, so it went back and I got this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBear Posted August 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 Being that I had a portable Sears saw that was about 20 year old and already had been used to death and never cut nice this saw is a super upgrade for me. Update* I was scheduled this morning between 8 to 10 for the delivery. They showed up at 11, so I figure I was lucky it was in the a.m. at all. Being that I had to take vacation time off work I was a little agitated but it is what it is. The guys must have been in a rush because they picked up the saw and dropped off the new one in the box and headed back to the truck. I held them there until I was able to get the saw out of the box in the shop floor fire it up and run some scraps through it. I also measure to see how much adjustment was required and that there were no other defects. So fare it looks good except that the dust port was broken but I took the good one off the saw that was being returned and I can replace it on the new saw tonight. They were getting in the truck and I said that I had some accessories that they forgot to pick up, no problem just keep them. So I have some spare parts. All in all I’m pretty satisfied with the way things turned out and I hope that everything is resolved at this point. I plan to get everything together tonight and do some more calibration. I still stand by my saw decision and have enough pending project to really test it out. I have some picture and video I need to upload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayBear Posted August 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2011 Ok, So I've been using the heck out of this saw and everything has been working great. The only issue I've had was at the shaft that attaches to the raise and lower mechanism was loose and I didn't know it until the gears sounded like they were not meshing correctly. Once I removed the front cover and tightened it everything was back to normal. I would still saw that I’m happy with my purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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