Venturing down the Maksiwa path ...

[Jeremy Williams]

That's great to hear and saying that's is better than the hammer is quite a statement. I'm curious, better in what ways?

Well, again not by miles ... but better without question. The Hammer is the low-end line for Felder, and is really about 10 years old on design and quality in every way. While I liked the saw, I never loved it.

The Maksiwa I have is far closer to the Felder quality, from the aluminum pieces to the quality of the cast iron.

What I like better (in my short time of ownership, keep in mind!)
- Fit & finish is superior (aluminum, cast iron, painted steel)
- Cast iron is ground smoother and better in my opinion
- Overhead dust guard with swing away design (my Hammer didn't have this)
- Placement of the power switches and main power kill switch
- Ease of the slider itself under a heavy load
- Included digital fence gauge (which has proven thus far to remain accurate)
- Sound ... overall a lower sound and cold start is less harsh
- Included heavy-duty hold down clamp for sliding table (I bought one for my Hammer too, and it was heavy duty, but rusted immediately. This one is polished and is doing well so far)
- Small storage area and back end of sliding table (good to drop small things in or use as a handle)

What I don't love so far (but also can't say the Hammer was better)
- Form and function of the sliding table's fence when needing to cut angles. It's great at 90 degrees, but changing it to use for angles is not best design.
- Quality of the included miter gauge (works, just not heavy duty, feels cheap)

[John Kananis]

Jeremy, thank you for being so thorough in your description. This saw becomes more appealing every time I look it up (along with the price tbh). Would you go into a little more detail on moving the fence to specific angles? How cumbersome is it? And do you have to recalibrate it to 90 or does it just come back in line?

Well, again not by miles ... but better without question. The Hammer is the low-end line for Felder, and is really about 10 years old on design and quality in every way. While I liked the saw, I never loved it.

The Maksiwa I have is far closer to the Felder quality, from the aluminum pieces to the quality of the cast iron.

What I like better (in my short time of ownership, keep in mind!)
- Fit & finish is superior (aluminum, cast iron, painted steel)
- Cast iron is ground smoother and better in my opinion
- Overhead dust guard with swing away design (my Hammer didn't have this)
- Placement of the power switches and main power kill switch
- Ease of the slider itself under a heavy load
- Included digital fence gauge (which has proven thus far to remain accurate)
- Sound ... overall a lower sound and cold start is less harsh
- Included heavy-duty hold down clamp for sliding table (I bought one for my Hammer too, and it was heavy duty, but rusted immediately. This one is polished and is doing well so far)
- Small storage area and back end of sliding table (good to drop small things in or use as a handle)

What I don't love so far (but also can't say the Hammer was better)
- Form and function of the sliding table's fence when needing to cut angles. It's great at 90 degrees, but changing it to use for angles is not best design.
- Quality of the included miter gauge (works, just not heavy duty, feels cheap)

[Jeremy Williams]

I’ll do you one better and take a video and post it to my YouTube channel then drop a link here. Might take me a day or two.

[John Kananis]

Wow, that's awesome, Jeremy. Thank you for taking some of your time to do this.

I’ll do you one better and take a video and post it to my YouTube channel then drop a link here. Might take me a day or two.

[Jeremy Williams]

Here you go!
https://youtu.be/ZlOFWqK_AYs?si=qB4hkYqvwlW59CPO

[John Kananis]

Thank you so much!!

Here you go!
https://youtu.be/ZlOFWqK_AYs?si=qB4hkYqvwlW59CPO

Edit: wow, setting the fence at an angle really is absurd, you weren't kidding.

[Aaron Inami]

Yikes, that's some pretty bad engineering on Maksiwa'a part.