PROXXON Chop and Miter Saw KGS 80, 37160 , Green

I have been using my saw for 3 years now daily, building custom pool cues in my garage shop. I have tons of equipment packed in there, but this one is truly my favorite to use. It's extremely well engineered and I loved it except for one thing I'm here to report in case anyone else avoids instructions but reads reviews LOL.When I rotate the base the blade would hit the clamp. I couldn't believe something so well built didn't notice! I showed my son the issue and he said "Dad, why don't you turn the lead screw in the back and move the saw over?" OMG I'm an idiot and not afraid to admit it and help other idiots out there. It's an absolutely perfect little machine for me, and so nice for round material like pool cues because of the V groove in the clamp. It's the best way I've found to make flawless cuts in carbon fiber tubing as well with the equipment transitioning to that, and I'm relearning best practices. This saw makes me so happy after so many disappointments with Chinese disposable junk in the mini power tool category. Next I need the Proxxon mill, then the table saw, or a bigger shop LOL! I just wish I bought this sooner, like 45 years ago...

Here’s the thing this saw will cut probably through just about anything. It’s a strong motor with a good blade. The issue this saw is one that every small miter saw faces and that is how does the blade pass through or get far enough down to make your cuts with the distance between whatever you place underneath the object to be cut and the blade. It’s not a detractor if you need to cut whatever fits within that space however it’s not very workable otherwise.

Saw has good power. Make sure to let the motor get up to speed before making the cut. Item has good strong springs that keep it in the up position until you lower it to make the cut.The safety switch and saw guard take some getting used to, but they are there for a reason - to keep you fingers on your hands.

I have two major issues with this saw and I think they should redesign it. Problem #1: This saw does not have a narrow groove but a wide well in which the blade plunges down into. So when cutting wood, the right side of the wood hangs over an empty space and shreds. The cut isn't clean when the blade finishes the cut because there is no support. So, anything less than a 2" cut will have a shredded finished cut. This happens even with a new blade.Problem #2: The miter vise is virtually useless. Bad design. Should have been designed to clear the blade when used on an angle. The vise is about 1/8" away from the blade an a 90-degree cut. I think they have done this because of problem #1 and the vise needs to hold the wood very close to the blade, but it is unusable on any angle and you are going to hit the metal with the blade! You have to rest the wood on the groove on TOP of the vise. But you still have the problem of wood shredding on the finish of the cut.Another issue is that the visibility is rather obstructed the way this saw is designed. I was hoping that the money spent on this saw would be a better investment, but this saw really needs to go back to the drawing board!

I love this tool. I hesitated on buying it because of the price, but eventually bought it. It’s very accurate and has plenty of power. I use it even more than I thought I would. I bought it to cut small trim instead of my large miter saw because it often throws the trim at high speed. I would highly recommend this tool.

This is a very high-quality tool, which is what I expect from Proxxon.That said, the design of this saw leaves a bit to be desired.First, a mini tool like this ought to be expected to be performing rather fine work, rather than gross work as might be expected of a larger tool.The shortcomings of the tool include the following:1. The work positioning guide (or “plate” per the manual) has a spring washer between the nut and the pivoting guide. This device introduces something like 0.250” of “slop” in positioning the work.2. Because of the needed heavy springs to return the blade to its starting position, the left/right positioning shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) rotates as the saw is lowered, thereby introducing about 0.010” of left/right movement of the saw blade.3. The positioning shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) moves the head of the saw by means of a captive nut in the saw base housing. This has the potential to introduce about 0.030” of “slop” in the position of the saw blade.4. Finally, the rotation of the shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) transfers its left/right movement to the saw head by means of a collar with a set screw on the positioning shaft/screw which resides in a slot in the saw head casting. This appears to introduce about 0.010” to 0.015” of “slop” in the position of the saw blade.Totaling up the above “slop” in the work and saw blade positioning, indicates that as much as a total “slop” in the positioning of a cut on the work by as much as 0.305”. This is way too much uncertainty in a tool that ostensibly should be a precision tool, especially as this lack of precision is unpredictable from cut to cut. The sad thing is that only fairly minor re-design of a few details of the tool could easily eliminate all or nearly all of this lack of precision. I note that at least one of the on-line reviews of the tool mentions this issue, though only as a casual observation. I believe (and hope) that Proxxon will be motivated to improve this tool so that it is consistent with the quality of their other tools, particularly given the relatively premium price that Proxxon garners for their product. I will modify the tool so that it will provide the precision that I need, but wish Proxxon had provided that in the first place.Update 1/31/21:I have made modifications to the saw that will provide the precision that I need for making very short steel parts, where serious precision is needed. I am cutting hardened steel shafts to a length of about 1/2". So, the imprecision mentioned above of about 1/3 inch is really not workable, especially as it is unpredictable from one cut to the next. Now, you could probably do these cuts on a vertical mill (which i have), but the set-up would be very time-consuming and the cuts would need to remove a lot of material using a mill. And, I really want a tool that is dedicated to this work, and not needing to be set up for small quantities of "production" work.I will describe the fixes in the order mentioned above.1. The work positioning guide (or “plate” per the manual) has a spring washer between the nut and the pivoting guide. This device introduces something like 0.250” of “slop” in positioning the work.The solution here is simply to remove the spring washer, and snug up the lock nut to where there is almost zero play in this plate. There is still just a little play, but now it can be kept at zero by holding the work piece snugly against the plate when tightening the jaws. See 1st photo.2. Because of the needed heavy springs to return the blade to its starting position, the left/right positioning shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) rotates as the saw is lowered, thereby introducing about 0.010” of left/right movement of the saw blade.This problem is solved, providing zero slop due to the fix for item 3 below. I actually calculated this imprecision based on a quarter turn of the shaft as you bring the saw head down (using the thread pitch of 1.25 mm), and it is actually 0.012 inches. My prior guess of about 0.010 was pretty close. No photo on this one.3. The positioning shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) moves the head of the saw by means of a captive nut in the saw base housing. This has the potential to introduce about 0.030” of “slop” in the position of the saw blade.I measured the slop directly using a feeler gauge (much faster than setting up a dial indicator) and it is right at 0.060 inches. About twice what is previously guesstimated. See two photos showing the nut at both ends of the spot in the base casting in which it resides. There are two possible solutions to this problem. The first is to simply add another nut on the shaft and use it as a jam nut to hold the original nut at one end or the other of its space within the casting. I show a photo of the jam nut on the outboard end of the positioning shaft. This position will limit how close the blade can be positioned to the vice jaws, so it would be better to have it in the inboard position if your work piece is short. This added nut will need to be tightened securely every time you set of the saw for a cut, which is not too bad if you really want to have good precision with this tool. Fortunately there is good access on the back side of the saw to slip in an open-end wrench. This fix reduces the slop from the nut to zero, and it will also keep the positioning shaft from rotating when you lower the saw head to make a cut.Being the stubborn person that I am, I also came up with an alternate solution, which was to grind an aero lock nut to fit precisely in the space where the original nut resides. See photo. This was a bit of a tricky thing to accomplish so most folks will probably just want to add a second nut. The aero lock nut grips the shaft so tightly that it makes the knob quite hard to turn, so this solution introduces a new problem, meaning that a larger knob will need to be added to the little knob on this shaft. I'm not sure which solution I will stay with.4. Finally, the rotation of the shaft/screw (or “tension handle” per the manual) transfers its left/right movement to the saw head by means of a collar with a set screw on the positioning shaft/screw which resides in a slot in the saw head casting. This appears to introduce about 0.010” to 0.015” of “slop” in the position of the saw blade.I measured this slop directly using a feeler gauge. It is right at 0.036 inches, or more than twice my original guesstimate.The solution here is to simply add another collar to “trap” the saw head on the shaft. See photo.Now, some of the good news is that the folks at Proxxon were very nice when I went to order a couple of parts, including the nut and another collar. In fact, they sent me the parts at no cost. See photo of the parts, and the part numbers.So, bottom line is that just about 100% of the slop in this tool can be fixed by removing one part, and installing two small inexpensive factory parts.2/13/21 update.So, I did decide to go with the aero lock nut solution to the slop in the blade positioning shaft (with the knob on the end). As I mentioned above, this solution makes it very hard to turn the shaft, so I took my modifications one step further. As you can see in the photo I added, I removed the factory knob. Noting that the end of the shaft has been swaged (smashed) to make the end of the shaft out of round (and in the process places two flats on the shaft), so it won't allow the plastic knob to spin on the shaft. I ground the shaft down to make it round. I then purchased a larger nob (45 mm diameter) with seven "lobes" on the knob, and an 8 mm x 1.25 shaft on the knob. I also purchased an 8 mm x 1.25 coupling nut. I drilled the coupling nut on one end so it would allow the shaft to slide into one end, and I cut the threaded shaft on the new knob so it would screw into the coupling nut a little less than halfway. Finally, I drilled the coupling nut for 4 set screws 1/8" in length. Then I put it all together as shown in the photo. The final result is a knob that you can get at with a full grip as it now sticks out past the base plate and allows you turn the shaft against the hold of the aero lock nut. And, yes, I know that some of you will think that all these modifications are a PITA, but if you need/desire real precision in this tool, it is all very much worth it. I am going to post this on my FB page so you'll be able to message me to get additional details if you so desire. Look for James Waltz.

Excellent PROXXON product; typical PROXXON quality. Item was particularly well packed to prevent shipping damage. Blade change (for copper and brass sheet/tube) was a little difficult for arthritic hands and fingers, but doable.