# Forum More Stuff Oops!  A silly & expensive mistake (with a good outcome).

## Cuppa

Yesterday I had just commenced another section of the stud frame Im building, the first cut was the same as every other my Ryobi compound mitre saw has made over the past 14 years. The second cut the blade spun briefly & then the saw died. Silence, kaput, nothing.  
After dismantling the saw & finding nothing untoward except for a slightly loose screw terminal I reassembled it optimistically, but was disappointed when it still didnt go.  
Having decided that 14 years was pretty good for a cheapie saw & being in the middle of a job, I determined a replacement was warranted & duly went looking. I looked at several saws around the $400 mark, but was not overly impressed, all of them having parts which looked like they would not last. One trade shop had a good deal on a Makita dual slide saw (LS1016) but at $800 it seemed an awful lot for an unexpected spur of the moment purchase, so I left it & continued my search elsewhere. 
The words of the salesman at the trade shop travelled with me. We stopped selling the cheaper models after getting too many returns from folk who had bought one 6 months earlier & were disappointed that it no longer cut square.  What to do? - get a cheaper model just to get the job done accepting its limitations, or buy something which would hopefully see me out. After seeing the LS1016 for around $100 more at the local Mitre 10 I returned to the trade shop & bought one from them.  
Spent a bit of time setting it up on my saw stand & increasing the height of my of my timber support (desk on caster wheels) before plugging it in to try for the first time. It certainly felt quite swish compared to the old Ryobi (with its dysfuntional safety guard & not quite straight cutting which I had grown accustomed to accommodating). 
All ready to go, I plugged the new saw in, slid a piece of pine in to cut, & pressed the trigger ...........................nothing, dead as a dodo!   Bugger! 
It was then I discovered the plug at the powerpoint was rather warm. Pulling it apart revealed melted plastic inside. Substituting with another power lead saw the new Makita power up without problem. It also saw the old Ryobi power up without problem! 
The new saw is nice though.  :Smilie:

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## Bros

All's well that ends well.

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## Jon

Did that with an iron that was tripping the safety switch a couple of weeks ago.  Turned out to be the extn cord.  We now have a spare iron

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## phild01

So it's not just IT users with their unplugged computers _(cleaners)_ ringing up for support!  :Biggrin:

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## GDOG

That's awesome.   Get the saw you have always wanted without wasting your money on something you didn't need.  It's amazing how a mans mind works when it comes to buying tools.  Subconsciously you knew the power supply was the problem but you'd convinced yourself the time was right to buy a trade quality saw.   :Biggrin:  After even going to the effort of dismantling and reassembling a perfectly good saw more than adequate for its occasional use, you were almost convinced it was broken.  Blunt, battered and bruised it was but nothing a new blade probably couldn't fix.  :Wink 1:  
Its the perfect story that your wife has no reason not to believe after telling her how you'd even pulled the old one apart.  she'd even understand the need to spend double on one even though the last one lasted 14 years.  I'm sure the old "but the wood is much harder and stickier now so the cheap ones don't cut it" argument helped sway that.  Well done mate. 
My story is remarkably similar.  Was using a Bosch blue Gm10 saw, my first decent saw I purchased about 18 years ago.
Now I said decent but really was anything but.  Was an American designed thing and needed a new armature within 2 years then needed the field winding section replaced after 5.  Wasn't like I was using it every day either.  Packed up one day and couldn't afford a new one especially as a 1 out purchase.  Got a POS GMC saw for a loan off brother in law.  (Actually gave it to me) Battled away for a week or two then the saw started to cough and splutter, Knowing from experience it was brushes but the missus didn't need to know that. 
I got paid from a finished job and couldn't really afford the purchase but I too got the same makita saw and have been very happy so far.  Once you get used to the mitre locking system it's good.  The electric brake on mine is inconsistent now but I've had it a good 12 months of trade use so can't complain.  Got some makita brushes that fit into the GMC saw and have that for framing only.

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## jimfish

> The electric brake on mine is inconsistent now but I've had it a good 12 months of trade use so can't complain.  Got some makita brushes that fit into the GMC saw and have that for framing only.

  GDOG have you checked the brush's,when the brake was playing up on mine the brush's needed replacing.

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