Unexpected New Toy

tgiro · February 10, 2021

Last year, during the Black Friday sales, and through to the end of December, Lowes was selling the small Kobalt 7-1/4" Miter Saw for $99.98 -- this one -- https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Compact-Sliding-7-1-4-in-10-Amp-Single-Bevel-Sliding-Compound-Miter-Saw/1000553513

One guy brought his back a couple of days later saying it didn't work - it would run for a second and stop. The actual problem in this case was - he didn't read the manual. There is a yellow safety switch on the saw's trigger. If you pull straight back on the switch, and the trigger, the saw will run for a second and stop. If you press down on the yellow switch and pull the trigger back, the saw runs fine. I took him into the training room, where I could plug the saw in, and showed him how to do it. He seemed fine with the way it worked, took the saw and left again.

A week later, the saw was back in the returns cart. I knew it was the same saw, because I recognized the tape I used to wrap around the power cord, when the guy left, after I showed him the switch. I noticed that the blade had never cut wood. It was as clean as when it came out of the box. I took the saw back to the training room and plugged it in and it ran just fine. I even held the trigger back, letting it run for over a minute to see if it would cut out -- it didn't. I then went to Customer Service to see any complaint notes from the customer. The only note -- "It just doesn't work and I want my money back."

My boss dropped the price to $74.98 and we stuck it in the Clearance bay. It sat there until last Sunday. I, jokingly, told my boss, if he dropped the price to $45, I'd buy it. He looked me right in the eye and said "Deal!"

So, I have an unexpected new toy and I have to say I'm very pleased with the purchase. Aside from the fact that this is a brand new, never been used saw, I was surprised at how accurate it is. Once I got it home, I made a zero-clearance-insert (ZCI) for it and got it lined up with my squares. Even with the slider fully extended, there is no side to side play in the saw. So, I set it up for 15°, using the built in stops and cut a couple of 12 segment rings. As you can see in the pictures they came out nice and tight with no gaps.

All in all, I'm pleased with the tool. It does have the laser guide, which needs adjusting. If I ever get around to where I need it, I'll adjust it. With my bowl rings, I set up stops for the accurate cuts I need, or build a jig if it's something special.