Hercules Mini Benchtop Cut-Off Miter Saw for Hobby Crafts (Mini Cut-Off Saw)

I am using this saw for cutting 1/4" dowel rods. The cut is very clean, the machine has enough power for the job, but requires to cut slowly, as all saws do. It is a bit more expensive than the Harbor Freight version, but seems to be well built.Update: after using the saw a couple of times, it stopped working. The motor was running, the saw blade stopped. Turns out the belt pulley came loose. The set screw almost fell out. After taking off the belt and re-aligning both pulleys the saw runs fine again. I hope this was a manufacturing oversight and not an inherent problem.

For a cheap bench top saw, its a nice unit. I use it for cutting and resizing brass and it has worked. Take note - I definitely believe there is a break-in period. After a week of use and needing to cut slowly, the motor sounded like it bogged down for a second and now it appears to spin faster and cut easier. Do not abuse it during the break-in period and it will work awesome. Also, keep an eye on the set screw keeping the driven gear on the shaft, mine backed out and started to cut the belt, but I caught it early and tightened it and was back in action in no time

It could be a bit more powerful but it gets the job done just fine. You have to go slow when sawing brass. I did 250 pieces it did get warm but no issues so far.Update at 500 rounds the blade is dull. It could use a fan to cool it i could only do 75 rounds before it needed to cool down as the blade dulled.

A Hercules good for cutting warm butter....I received this unit April 8 and had it ordered with some extra blades.You might find this product under dozens of different marketing names.All of them are the same, maybe different color and brand-name but all course have the same weak motor.Unless you're cutting but Balsa wood or cardboard paper don't hope for too much.Also, it came which two small wrenches, both the wrong size and I had to resort to my Allen wrench set.The cutting disc holding nut is 3/32" but the provided Allen wrenches were smaller.The main issue is that the motor, which is listed as a 90 W motor with a max RPM of 7800 has no torque and under the slightest load loses most of its RPM under minimal load. The tooth belt drive pulleys are 1:1I tried various materials, from wood to metals.Small pine trim so so, oak forget it.Aluminum or brass tubes with a wall thickness of 1mm (0.04") yes, but once your wall thickness of a, let's say 3/8" tube approaches 1/16" the saw is challenged and you are faster cutting it with a hacksaw.Trying to cut a ½" plumbing type copper pipe, forget it!A Wiremold (LeGrand) 500 metal wire raceway, forget it.You'll hit your 80th birthday before you're through.The clamping device maximum opening is short of 7/8" maximum so you only can clamp up to ¾".The center of the clamping vice is the highest point functioning as the moving device clamp guide.Thus the height measures from base level 23 mmThe blades that fit are all 2 inch but if you remove the protective cover you can also mount 3 inch saw or abrasive blades. You will need to fashion some kind of guard. Cardboard or aluminum.To sum it all up just another crappy Chinese product and not thought out.Not worth it unless you need to cut balsa wood, warm butter or thick air....

I’m extremely happy with the purchase of this Hercules Mini Bench-top Cut-off Saw and the ZepReloading 300blackout case cutting jig the combination has worked great and I have found if you apply a small amount of Redding Sizing Die Wax to the shoulder of the case it will cut much more “smoothly” and a little more quite overall, I’m sure it will also extend blade life. So far I’m still using the original blade with a few hundred cases cut I will update when I determine how long the blade keep cutting smooth.

Everything was fine when I purchased this. It worked great. The problem came when it was time to change the blade. First, the instructions are very poorly written and don’t even give you a clue as to how to go about this. I figured out on my own that you must remove BOTH guards, and using the second Allen wrench that came with it, put that Allen wrench in the set screw of the belt gear opposite the blade in order to keep the shaft from turning as you loosen the screw that holds the blade on. BE SURE TO TURN COUNTER CLOCKWISE to loosen. Once I got that figured out, I put the new blade on and as I was tightening it, I noticed I didn’t have it centered on the washer very well and the blade was off center. Now I had merely SNUGGED the screw but with all my strength I could not get it undone again. I don’t know what was going on there but it was like I had put a breaker bar on the end of that wrench and pulled it tight with all 190 pounds of body weight. I fought to get it loose for an hour before I ended up stripping the Allen wrench. I got mad, took the dremel, cut a slot in the screw, got out my Dewalt hammer drill, set it in reverse, put in a flat bit and got it free that way. The drill actually popped like it had to use real torque to get that to come loose and it was finger tight when I stopped. And yes, I know which way I was turning it the whole time. So it’s ruined now. I think its junk and would avoid it but if you need to change the blade, remove both guards, turn the blade with one hand until you see the set screw hole in the center of the gear on the left side. It’s the gear that’s at the front on the left. Put the smaller of the two Allen wrenches in that hole and push down to keep the gear from turning. Put the other Allen wrench in the screw that holds the blade on, stand in front of the machine and pull the wrench to you to loosen. Push back to tighten

I love this mini table saw. I was able to cut square and round dowels to build miniature 1:12 scale beds, sofa, kitchen sinks, and a kitchen dinette. Great value and I got my money back on just a few of the items I made.