Harbor Freight chop saw

I know a few of you use the Harbor Freight chop saw to cut your brass down for jackets, anything I should know before purchasing one? Do I need a special blade or is the one that comes with it good for brass?

Also, what would be a good length to start at for a jacket semi-wad cutter?

mine cuts good as it comes . the danged safety catch is a pain and mine suddenly disappeared couldn't say what happened to it. you will also have to come up with a better holding aligning device than its vise. over all its worth the money.

Is this the kind of do-hickey you are talking about? Just curious.
http://www.harborfreight.com/bench-top-cut-off-saw-42307.html

thats the animal

Order the little saw today. while looking on line to see if I could find a better price I found other companies selling the same saw from $65.00 to $125.00. As far as I could see it was the exact same saw.

Reload3006 did you ever come up with a replacement for the little vice.

no I didnt but Jixerbill did there is a video on this site in the youtube section about making tubing jackets. Give it a look. I think billarrington on this site. LOL I get so cornfused sometimes.

Last time I went to harbor freight I bought a $503 tape measure. Well, I went to get a $3 tape measure, and while I was inside someone hit my car and drove off. So I got to pay the $500 deductible.

My Mini Cut Off Saw from Harbor Freight arrived 2-14-12. I went to use it and the blade would stop spinning when it came into contact with the cases I was trying to trim. Contcted HF and they are sending me a brand new saw and do not want the first one back.

Thought I would post this about their customer service even though I was talking to India.

May I also suggest a section to post customer service experiences.

Let the saw run full speed with no load for a minute or so...then retry. it is possible the brushes are not seating very well against the commutator .

hawcer wrote:Let the saw run full speed with no load for a minute or so...then retry. it is possible the brushes are not seating very well against the commutator .

I think the little plastic washer behind the blade wasn't thick enough. The motor was running full speed but the blade would not spin when a load was placed on it. I placed another washer behind the blade and that seems to have taken care of the problem. HF is sending me a new one also and does not want the old one back so I will have a spare.

Now if i could just figure out how to get a straight cut I would be happy. Can't one of you guys machine an adapter for the vice.

I too have the same chop saw from HF and use it to trim 30-30 brass to make .30 and .357 Herrett.

Over on Youtube Ammosmith had the same saw that we are using and burnt it out cutting tubing. He eventually tossed the HF saw and purchased a much more expensive Proxxon chop saw. I think this is the model that he uses:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AT5H1C/ref=s9_simh_gw_p60_d1_g60_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1SR0PC5KG0WJZJYDWHAK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846

The Proxxon saw is much more expensive but it seems to be a better quality tool and if you are going to be doing heavy duty cutting would seem to be a better tool.

The Proxxon saw also has a much better vise and a neat device for setting length of cut so once set you can just slide the material to the stop and chop.

Proxxon also makes a little 2" table saw that I am waiting to see if the blades will work in the HF saw. I recently had to replace my HF saw blade. I found a replacement 3 pack at my local HF for $9.99.

I also looked a jewelers saw blades and Dremel tool saw blades. Proxxon also makes a 2" carbide saw blade that Amazon lists for $43.

I am going to try one of the 2" Proxxon HSS blades in my little HF saw and see if they last longer than the usual HF saw blade.

The 30-30 brass I am cutting is not as hard as some of the stuff you guys are cutting. However I have cut a few aluminum and fiberglass rifle bedding pillars.

The bedding pillars were a little of a chore to get set right in the saw's crappy little vise. If some of you handy guys make a new vise for the little HF saw please let me know - I would love a better vise on this saw as it cuts crooked all the time.

I have to cut the brass long and then trim with a Lee case trimmer to square the mouth of the brass.

A small tubing cutter works too and is under $5.00,lol. Just be sure to finish trim to length with a case trimmer.

That's what I use anyway.

hawcer wrote:A small tubing cutter works too and is under $5.00,lol. Just be sure to finish trim to length with a case trimmer.

That's what I use anyway.

Me too. See http://www.atgreloading.com/t1025-how-to-make-10mm-autorim-start-with-41-remington-magnum-brass

A small tubing cutter does work and is cheap.

However I got tired of denting the rounds and found the little HF chop saw to be just the ticket for a quick trim.

I have been meaning to post a video of how I make .30 and .357 Herrett rounds with the little HF saw.

But I ripped my RCBS Rock Chucker off my table today trying to swage fired 30-30 through the .30 Herrett trim die.

Need to remount my press and then I will get back to making more brass.

hawcer wrote:A small tubing cutter works too and is under $5.00,lol. Just be sure to finish trim to length with a case trimmer.

That's what I use anyway.

I tried the pipe cutter. The 40 S&W is to small to get a hand on and turn.

Also Scorge 30, someone recommended lubing the blade. I tried this with my swaging lube and it does make a tremendous amout of difference.

hawcer wrote:Also Scorge 30, someone recommended lubing the blade. I tried this with my swaging lube and it does make a tremendous amout of difference.

I will try that I have some old parafin wax around here somewhere. When I ripped my RCBS press off the table, the aluminum mounting plate catapulted my little bottle of swaging lube that I got from Daywalker.

I did not realize that my swaging lube got tossed on the floor and the lid popped off until my stupid dog had her head buried in the bottle eating the swaging lube as fast as she could. Stupid mutt! Until she ate a good two tablespoons or so of lube I was doing pretty good at not using too much.