I was expecting crap, but I also won't be using the thing enough to justify a $300 tool, so I was willing to settle with something that wasn't all that great.
It took literally over a half an hour to cut through a 3/4" piece of steel. I would've given up and used my angle grinder (which does the same job in about a minute and a half) but I needed straight and accurate cuts.
The degree markings on the fence were grossly erroneous, and as it turns out, the thing didn't even cut straight up and down.
After a couple of cuts, the wheel started wobbling, and then broke off in the steel I was cutting.
I finished the cuts with my angle grinder, and returned the saw this afternoon.
Another part of the project requires me to burn a circular hole through another 3/4" piece of steel.
For this I used my handy dandy oxy-acetylene torch. It was on the cheap side, again, because I couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars on a torch. The first time I used it, the handle burst into flames around one of the fittings. I took it apart, sealed it up with thread tape, and continued.
I went to use it again (now the second or third time ever) and it did it again. Only this time it burst into flames because the metal of the handle has actually split along the casting seam.
Unrelated to all of this, I also spend a lot of time studying in places where I wish people would shut the hell up so I can concentrate.
I finally caved in, and got a pair of noise canceling headphones; a factory reconditioned pair from Sony.
I put them on, hit the switch, and continued to have a clear as day conversation with my roommate, whilst listening to the music that was playing softly through her computer speakers.
And all of this because I'm trying to be responsible and thrifty with my cash.
God. Damnit.
I'm going back to buying the best *whatever* it is that I can possibly scrounge up to get. This shit is stupid.
