Derek Arita
12-31-2016, 5:07 PM
I recently got into welding and found that my old miter saw, with an abrasive blade on it, just wasn't cutting it. I have a Festool Kapex and use it for all fine woodworking, so I thought about a chop saw with abrasive blade and started looking online for info. I saw lots of Youtube vids on the Evolution Rage 3 and it seemed to be able to do both wood and metal, so I figured it might be a good replacement for the old miter saw.
The ER3 comes in pieces, although it requires little assembly and only takes a few minutes to get it up and running. My first couple of cuts on 1/8" x 6" hardboard showed that some adjustment would have to be made to the fence and bevel angle stops, in order to get an acceptable cut. After repeated attempts, the best I could get was a barely acceptable 90* cut with the slider. Even with the workpiece clamped down, the cut seemed to waver from end to end and could be due to slide action, blade arbor runout or both....at least, that's all I could figure. The 45* cuts are again, acceptable, but not optimal. Dust collection is minimal at best. By the way, all cuts were checked with a Starrett square.
As for the laser, I was not able to get it adjusted to be accurate in any way. I could not get the laser line 90* to the fence. Also, as you pull the blade down for the cut, the laser line travels from left of the cut, to right of the cut, but not so it was accurate on either side. It's beyond me how to accurately adjust this laser.
In the past, I've had a Makita 12" slider and a Hitachi 10" slider and have been able to get these saws to perform very well. This ER3 is definitely not in the same class, for sure. Weight and fit and finish alone, keep it from being at the same level. Throw in the barely adequate cut quality and it's clear that I would not be using this saw for any fine woodworking. All that said, I got this saw to be able to cut light metal and junk wood scraps and it will likely do both. I certainly wouldn't consider keeping this saw if I were using it as my primary miter saw, however as a secondary saw that doesn't need to cut dead on, I'll keep it for it's versatility alone.
If anyone has had good results with this saw, please chime in. Thanks for reading.
The ER3 comes in pieces, although it requires little assembly and only takes a few minutes to get it up and running. My first couple of cuts on 1/8" x 6" hardboard showed that some adjustment would have to be made to the fence and bevel angle stops, in order to get an acceptable cut. After repeated attempts, the best I could get was a barely acceptable 90* cut with the slider. Even with the workpiece clamped down, the cut seemed to waver from end to end and could be due to slide action, blade arbor runout or both....at least, that's all I could figure. The 45* cuts are again, acceptable, but not optimal. Dust collection is minimal at best. By the way, all cuts were checked with a Starrett square.
As for the laser, I was not able to get it adjusted to be accurate in any way. I could not get the laser line 90* to the fence. Also, as you pull the blade down for the cut, the laser line travels from left of the cut, to right of the cut, but not so it was accurate on either side. It's beyond me how to accurately adjust this laser.
In the past, I've had a Makita 12" slider and a Hitachi 10" slider and have been able to get these saws to perform very well. This ER3 is definitely not in the same class, for sure. Weight and fit and finish alone, keep it from being at the same level. Throw in the barely adequate cut quality and it's clear that I would not be using this saw for any fine woodworking. All that said, I got this saw to be able to cut light metal and junk wood scraps and it will likely do both. I certainly wouldn't consider keeping this saw if I were using it as my primary miter saw, however as a secondary saw that doesn't need to cut dead on, I'll keep it for it's versatility alone.
If anyone has had good results with this saw, please chime in. Thanks for reading.