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Post by farmerjack41 on Dec 26, 2021 18:21:49 GMT
Looking for a portable table saw. Anyone have some first hand knowledge about the HF Hercules saw. Appears to be a second generation that some problems have been corrected on. Seems quite close to the Dewalt, but almost half the price. Find there are occasions when would be very helpful to have a table saw out away from the shop. My Jet table saw probably weighed well over 500 lbs. wee bit to heavy to move around.
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Post by Jolly on Dec 26, 2021 18:49:48 GMT
I don't know, but I've seen them on a couple of jobs. For the money, I'd be tempted.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Dec 26, 2021 21:31:45 GMT
I looked at the specs, and if I'm reading them correctly it's 1.8hp, which should be plenty for nearly any job. One review mentioned truing the blade to the fence being easy, which to me would mean that's something needing to be checked before using.
I'm always leery of extendable fences being both sturdy enough and parallel to the blade, but a 24" rip capability is definitely a plus.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Dec 26, 2021 22:05:48 GMT
It appears it will do most jobs needed away from the shop. Had not paid too much attention to the hp. Know there will be a big difference from the five horse on the shop saw. Need to make a trip to HF and see if they even have one in stock. Could drive a hundred miles to Oregon and save almost ten percent in sales tax.
Will have to have a talk with the pup, if he wants to go for a ride or not. Usually tempting him with a bacon cheeseburger during a trip makes him ready to go. Might give us something to do a day this week.
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Post by farmrbrown on Dec 26, 2021 23:42:51 GMT
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Dec 27, 2021 3:09:12 GMT
farmrbrown, I nearly re-sided our entire house with that saw. When I say nearly, I mean I had about a half dozen 12" boards to cut when it gave up the ghost. Before then it had made a whole lot more cuts than I'd hoped for out of a cheap Chinese saw.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Dec 27, 2021 4:04:07 GMT
Might be wrong, but have alway felt if I spent some real money (maybe $50 or $100 & over) would buy their extended warranty. If I end up on this purchase, the extra coverage will be purchased also. Only problem I have ever had was a ratchet, they replaced it in a heartbeat. Of course that fall under their lifetime warranty on hand tools. It would appear they have added some more reliable items to their product line, higher price but better product. Still the price may well be about half of other named products. Still a few of their wood handle screw driver, bought in the 70’s, when you had to order out of a catalog . Because of the wood handles, used them with a little more care. Supposed the next thing they will be selling Craftsman line of products.
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Post by Jolly on Dec 27, 2021 13:26:40 GMT
They have three lines of power tools:
1. Chicago Electric - the stuff they've been known for, like $10 grinders. 2. Bauer - competes with Ryobi, etc. 3. Hercules - competes with DeWalt, Milwaukee, etc.
As for hand tools, their Doyle knock-off of Kleins is very good. I know a couple of electrical contractors in town who buy those for their crews. About $10 cheaper than Kleins. Their Icon line of wrenches is a pro line. I've seen mechanics from the Ford dealer and the Toyota dealer in HF, buying Icon tools. That has to do with quality and the fact that HF did have a no-interest grace period for their pro credit card.
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Post by fixitguy on Dec 28, 2021 19:20:19 GMT
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Post by blackfeather on Dec 30, 2021 0:32:24 GMT
Bauer is consumer rated while Hercules is commercial rated. (consumer means you use them on the weekend a few times a year and commercial means you use them for work, so they are supposed to be sturdier.) I've seen reviews where they put Hercules drills against Bauer drills and the Hercules breaks the Bauer drill. I will only buy the Hercules myself. I can't tell you about the table saw but we sell enough of them. I don't recall any coming back at our store. I typically don't buy the service plan because I don't use the tools hard. If your using them all the time it doesn't hurt. If at the end of the service plan you bring it back and have a complaint we replace it. I suspect many times there really isn't anything wrong with them but they are just getting a new one before the warranty runs out. We have no means of checking them so we take the customer's word for it. We had a miter saw the other day, the complaint was it doesn't cut straight anymore. It could be a blade but then it could be play in some joint somewhere, not our problem to figure it out so we replaced it. We had one guy where the miter saw slid off of his tailgate and broke. We replaced it. We are pretty lenient even for abuse, they are tools they are meant to be used. So you used your crescent wrench as a hammer, so does everyone else. The screw driver works as a chisel so the blade is all bent up we'll replace it. We don't cover it if you lose it though.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Dec 30, 2021 3:26:44 GMT
blackfeather, Thanks, was waiting for you to chime in on this. Am holding out for SKU # 57673, report I have read says it’s a second generation, with some updates, and a better fence. Appreciate your help.
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Post by joebill on Jan 3, 2022 3:31:24 GMT
I have observed that on marginal horsepower circular saws, a good sharp steel blade with appropriate amount of set uses about 1/4 the horsepower of a carbide blade, especailly since people think carbide cuts forever and never, ever sharpen them.
It is quick and easy to resharpen the edges on a steel combination blade, and chances are it will cut SO MUCH better than it did when it was new it will be hard to beliieve.
On the other hand, the quality of the cut is rarely very good with the steel blades. Carbide is for cabinet, flooring and other finish work. Framing? Give me a steel Oldham blade every time, and after it gets dull and I sharpen and set it just once, NOTHING will beat it's speed and ease of cut....Joe
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Post by farmerjack41 on Jan 3, 2022 3:49:19 GMT
Have always understood that a new blade actually needs sharpened, right out of the box. For me that is one trade never learned. Today to send a saw blade out to be sharpened, cost more than buying a new one. Locality, with a population of over 200,000 in this county, there is no place to take a bade to get it sharpened. Several hardware stores collect them and are picked up by a company located nearly 200 miles away. It takes around two weeks for the sharpened blade returns. Again at almost twice the price of what the blade cost new.
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Post by joebill on Jan 3, 2022 6:33:16 GMT
I used to come to the shop every morning to a stack of 7 1/4" blades between 6" and 12" tall, and another of 10" blades maybe 3" tall. After they were sharp and set and dipped in hot dip, I could start on the repairs and other sharpening chores.
I did a fair amount of advertising, and was cheaper than the old timer in town, and when he blew his brains out, a lot of guys considered me to be a murderer until the truth came out that he blamed himself for his daughter's drunken fatal wreck because she got into his beer stash in the garage. Sharpening used to be VERY competitive. NOT so much any more.
I sharpened 7 1/4" blades, combination OR 4-T-R or plywood and set them for a buck a blade and made them cut FAR better than new, and earned myself about $40 per hour in the process. THAT was decent money back when the guys who were dulling them did good to bring home $10 per hour.....and had to pay income and FICA tax out of that.
Contractors used to hold races to see whose sharpening job lasted the longest for the least money, and I won every time, but I demanded payment upon pickup, so I lost some business from guys who were using their suppliers to bankroll their jobs. I figured I was not in shape to loan money to guys who were grossing 10 times what I was.
Pretty funny, looking back.....Joe
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Post by joebill on Jan 3, 2022 6:52:44 GMT
Looking back, I had one major contractor who was into me for about a grand, which was BIG MONEY at the time, and the guy he was subbing for dumped him when it came time to pay, so he could not pay me. I always sent Janet to get the money because the contractors almost always had THEIR wives paying the bills, and as it turned out, his wife called Janet a bich when she came to collect (software will not allow proper spelling of the word). I went to see him, and he explained the general contractor was not paying him, and I passed comment that somebody was likely to straighten that mess out with a rifle, and his employees were present to hear my comment. He was causing maybe 50 guys to miss paychecks. Next day, someobdy dropped over his (the general contractor) back yard wall and parked one through his arm and into his rib cage, and hastened his payment schedule, and the guy was CONVINCED it was me! Every time he went to court he had to listen to the guy's lawyer complaining about him getting shot, and he always jumped on me about it afterwords. I DID NOT SHOOT the guy, nor did I cause him to get shot, but that single comment I made in public about him needing to get shot caused everybody involved to think I was the guilty party forever after that. On the one hand, I was the innocent party being accused, but on the other hand, everybody paid me on time every time after that. I Still wonder who actually shot Leffler. Whoever it was, a tip of the hat .....Joe PS, if it had been me, it would have been a head shot, hit or miss....Joe
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