Hello all, love the forum,

i have a few questions about wet saws and hope to use some of your experiences to make a decision about buying a wet saw

first off, i am tiling a basement washroom tub surround and half way up the wall, there is a 3.75" x 12" band of tile 1/3 up the wall and the rest of the tile will be 12" on the diagonal.

I have a small 7" tub saw but this just wont cut the 12" on the diagonal very well, i also should mention i am using 3/8 12x12 marble for the wall. so the little saw takes a while to cut ,

anyhow i have told the wife with so many cuts and the design she has chosen that i would have to rent a saw for at least 2 days, that being about $150 or so. after saying that we decided to just buy a wet saw since i have a few other projects to do later - another washroom, and a kitchen and foyer

for some reason my wife wants everything on the diagonal

anyway , i have been looking at the saw that princess auto has for $389.99 it is a 10" saw with the stand also product # 8035735

home depot also has one, but it is a 7" for around $250, but im not sure it would do all that the bigger one would

so has anyone got this saw from princess auto and if so was it good or not? and if there are any suggestions as to what else i should be looking at please tell me

princess auto being my first choice simply because of their ease of replacing anything that has any problems whatsoever with or without a receipt

I was looking at that saw at Princess Auto last week in Kingston. It was 299, though it was missing the waterpump or something(though they had the waterpump for it right on the shelf beside it for 12 bucks or something) It's a Chinese saw and looked pretty good, though without trying it, it's hard to say. Nice stand with wheels too. You can always sell it after you use it for a while I guess. It would certainly do the job for you, though I suspect if you used it everyday like we do, it would probably not cut very straight after about a year...but that's just the nature of cheap tools after a while.

I think that saw you noticed at HD was either Husky or workforce(both the same anyway) If it's the one that looks like it has a small angle grinder on top as a motor, then I'd stay away from that one. For one thing, it's so noisey it will drive you and the neighbours crazy. Plus, like the one I own...it refuses to cut to straight after using it for a few months...and no matter how many times you re-align it...it still cuts crooked.

thanks for the input, i hope theres a water pump with it, cause it listed one on the website in the catalog pdf.

also after doing some more checking, i found that busy bee tools has an exact looking with the same specs as the princess auto one on sale for $349 from $525 till the 15th

after fooling around with 5 different princess auto stores today, being told they dont have them in stock anywhere and are back ordered due to a lot of rain checks being issued, the store close to me said they found one in the store which i geuss wasnt showing on the computer ( has happened a few times there)

anyway they set one aside for me and even said they would honour the last flyers sale price of $299, so im going to go grab it tomorrow,

and you are right about the saw from home depot, one of the clerks there who said he lays tile, said to avoid that one, he said the same thing, its loud and not very good

the good thing about buying from princess auto is they will take it back no matter what, even if you just dont like it, whats their slogan " no sale is final untill you are satisfied"

which makes me feel better about buying something there im not too sure of

ill let you know how it works out tomorrow nite after i use it for the day

Yes, the PA saw comes with the waterpump...it's just that they only one they had left in stock in Kingston was missing one.

ok heres the deal after using this saw to cut marble 12 x 12 tiles for the day:

Pros:

10" blade cuts bigger pieces
price
ease of use
very good deal for the price
90 degree straight guide
45 degree mitre guide

Cons:

-blade was out about 1/32 or less, couldnt find anything about squaring it up in the book
-slightly chips the marble occassionaly when first cutting a tile on the diagonal ( tried ceramic and it was ok)
-no diagonal guide
- instructions are kind of vague as to the setup, but figured it out anyway

I only did about a 5 foot x 6 foot area on the tub wall, and i either really suck., or it takes a long time to cut marble

other than that it cut pretty good, about 3 times as fast as the little bench one i returned

it did take a bit of time to get the pump to start working properly and spray on the blade to cool it

all in all for $300 plus tax i would give it a 9/10 so far, losing points for no diagonal guide ( i used my aluminum speed square till i can find one) and the not completely square blade to the slide table

if i werent putting a border in the middle of the diagonal i wouldnt even worry about the not square, but without some adjustments with my carpenter square when cutting diagonal it would have really showed in the design my wife came up with

EDIT: I am a moron, i found the adjustment to get the blade square to the slide table, the bolt heads couldnt be any bigger, im surprised i didnt hit my big head on them earlier, anyway its all square now, works perfect, except the blade lock pin doesnt work at all, im sure they will replace it when they get more in stock.