SKIL 12 In. Metal Dry Cut Saw with Diablo Blade- SPT62MTC-22

When I buy things on Amazon, like many folks I pour through the reviews to get a good idea of whether a product is worth it. When I bought this Skil dry saw, it only had 3 reviews, but then I read the write-up for the saw, and thought that if this is close to what they say it is, this saw is going to be a good deal.I'll preface my review by saying I'm a retired electronics prof (32 years) that worked as an automation engineer for a major robotics company in a previous life. So I like to think that I know machines and the electronics that control them. This saw has what's called a "soft start' feature. Soft starts are common in machinery that if started at full power may cause undo stress on mechanical components. So when you first pull the trigger, the saw blade starts off at a lower rpm and comes up to full speed in about 1 or 1.5 seconds, give or take. Perhaps other higher end saws have this, but I was surprised to see it in a $300 saw. And speaking of the blade, this saw came with a Diablo 60 tooth cermet tipped blade. Between these two features, downloading a pdf manual to scour over, and studying the pictures for construction details, I decided to take a chance. I'm happy I did as I've had the saw for a few days now, have made a few dozen cuts and couldn't be more satisfied with the results.This saw is being used in my personal shop where I've been making knives along with a few other creative endeavors. I already had all the toys and goodies necessary for a decent knife shop but wanted to head, at least partially, in another direction. One of my specialties with the robot company was automated welding, so I thought I'd recapture some of that by purchasing some welding equipment. The idea is to go into metal art. The only tool that I lacked was a decent quick way to cut a lot of steel. At first, I purchased an abrasive saw, but then I found out about dry cut saws. I sent the abrasive saw back which was already 2/3rds the cost of this Skil dry saw. I thought that a dry saw would set me back 4 to 6 hundred for a decent one. I was wrong. I'd put this saw up against the $400 Evolution saw in a heartbeat...and the Evolution requires a 14" blade. The Skil saw at $300 comes within a 1/2 in. or so with a 12 in. blade in terms of stock size. The Skil saw can cut up to 4x4 x 1/4in square stock; up to 4-1/2 in diameter round stock and up to 6-3/16 X 3-1/8 X 1/4in rectangular stock. Pretty impressive I thought, and very close to what most 14 inch blades will do.In conclusion, I received my saw 2 days ago on 7/29/2024. I've made several dozen cuts with it, mostly on 11 gauge (1/8") by 4in flat stock. I cut this steel in both orientations just to see how it would do, although when cutting something like this, you should always stand it on edge. When lying flat, the blade had no trouble cutting through the full width of this stock. Standing the stock on edge was also cut with no difficulty. In both orientations there was still room for a larger piece of stock. There was very little sparking and the tiny chips were coming off the steel nicely. Two other features that I hadn't expected were the built in chip tray which collected a significant amount of chips, and the pull out stock rest which comes in handy for longer pieces, like the ones I was working with. Oh, and this saw comes with a one year warranty , extended to 3 YEARS if you register your saw. I'll be honest, I haven't bought a Skil product in decades, but this saw had the features I wanted at a price that made this purchase a no brainer. I can't speak to longevity, time will tell and I'll be back to update my review perhaps in a year or so. I'll say this though, no one should be considering an abrasive chop saw while this Skil saw is available at this price.

I'm very happy with my purchase. It’s a significant improvement over an abrasive chop saw—much faster, with cleaner cuts, and the steel stays cool to the touch after cutting. The only downside is the cost of the blades. I’ve made about 30 cuts in 2-inch steel flat bar (1/8-inch thick), and while the cuts aren't as clean as they were initially, they’re still much better than those made with a cut-off wheel. For my next blade, I plan to try lubricating wax, which is supposed to help improve its longevity.

I bought the saw about five years ago with the Diablo blade. I have used it to cut angle iron, 3/4 RMC and C-channel. It cut through those parts with ease. No sparks flying when cutting which is really nice but the cut creates metal that remind me of pieces of paper after being put through a shredder. Easy to empty the collection tray and sweep up the rest.

The saw itself isn't bad. Overall, I'm fairly happy with it. I was looking for a cold cut saw, and didn't even know Skil made this. I came across this listing by accident. Finding it on Skil's website wasn't particularly easy. I bet it would be popular if people knew about it.There are a number of choices they made in making it that leave me wondering...Some positives:>12" blades are nice. I never cut anything so large that 14" would be a benefit. If you need more than one blade, the cost savings is nice. There are a few good blades available for assorted materials.>It's compact, not too heavy. Cuts well, good power and speed.>Base extension is nice to have, works simply.>Access for blade change is a nice design. The guard stays out of the way, and it's easy to get in there for changing the blade.Some negatives:>The "Head assembly lock pin" (thing that keeps the saw closed) is knurled. It's not an easy thing to grab and pull out. A 'groove' or knob would have been far superior.>The chip tray has holes in it, that 'leak' metal chips. I assume they did that so it could be made of a single piece of folded sheet metal. Inconvenient. I'll probably plug them.>Space in the saw is pretty tight. Getting a square or protractor in there to set angles is not an easy thing. Hard to see, limited access. This is probably the most annoying thing about the saw. There are no 'stops' for setting angles, it's just a pointer and some pretty broad marks. Lining up cuts on the clamped side of the blade isn't easy.Some other things:>Fence is stamped steel, and not square to the 'platform' by 1-2 degrees (it's 88-89 degrees). It doesn't look like it's viable to shim it square, but I haven't tried yet.>Clamp assembly doesn't use Acme threads. It clamps, but it's certainly not with the same force or security thatAcme threads would offer.>The motor support arm has holes that collect metal chips. If they were pointed a different direction, that could have been avoided.>Non-clamped cut offs typically have 'chunks' left as it snaps free. (illustrated by the square tube cut-off.-the angled tube cut is flash that was left over-it's thin and comes off easily, but happens with tube)>The base only has two holes for attaching to a table-they're on opposite corners.>Chip catcher varies in effectiveness. With the stock blade, and some heavier size steel stock, it catches about 60% of the chips. Cutting lighter gage steel with the stock blade isn't great. Using the appropriate blade for lighter stock sprays chips about three feet on either side of the saw, and a couple of feet behind it (saw on the ground), and about 50% of the chips are caught. Cutting aluminum (light or heavy stock) with an appropriate blade sprays chips about five feet to the left and right, two feet behind, and about 20% of the chips are caught.I've used Tenryu and Diablo blades in it. Cuts steel and Aluminum well. I haven't used this saw to cut butter-seems a common thing for people to do, but I can't imagine metals cutting like butter. (insert wink, smile, whatever here) Hey Skil, let people know this thing exists...

Very disappointed, first saw had broken frame and appeared to have been returned before. Had missing gaurds and box destroyed. Second saw also has broken piece but not to the point it would affect the operation.

The media could not be loaded. Stop buying those band saws. This saw cut my 1/4” steel like nothing. Very quiet, minimal sparks and super clean cuts.