Wood Carving Lathe Discount

Reviews

Set up and use is intuitive and easy. I started with two chisels and a plane blade. Getting the edges back to a flat surface (from years of poor hand sharpening) took quite a while. The sandpaper loaded up fairly quickly and absolutely stopped removing material. A single pass with the grit cleaner that came with the sharpener had it cutting like new. Once the chisels were back to original shape I changed to ever finer grit disks to put on a razor edge. It was quick, easy, and dead on accurate.

Like another review, I have received an incomplete package. Only the motor and 3 wheels were in the box and this is my second delivery. Clearly there has been a packaging problem at the factory.

All the reviews hit the mark so no point in being repetitive. Two limitations are the widest width that the port can accommodate (my 4 ½ plane iron is to wide) and the different speeds at the various radius. I first practiced on some old chisels and it was a breeze to reestablish accurate angles and new life. The best feature for me was once the chisels were honed to my satisfaction I can easily touch them up simply by keeping the 3000 plugged in as I work, using the 1000 and 3600 PSA grits. I keep a 6000 wet stone handy but find it seldom necessary. Another great feature is the manufacture support. Call them, they respond promptly by phone or e-mail, just wish the port was a bit wider, but right now I have no intention of purchasing the auxiliary wide holding fixture.

A poor imitation of better machines, this has an inaccurate angle guide, "the see-through port" that easily traps chisels long enough to burn and "blue" the steel. The platen wobbles. It is impossible to hone a fine edge on a wobbling disk. The PSA abrasive disks are exorbitantly over-priced. This is the same profiteering strategy that printer companies use by selling cheap printers then bilking gullible customers for ink that costs more than high-test jet-fuel. ("HP inc." stands for High Priced Ink.) Sharpening by hand is not difficult. It merely requires some understanding gleaned from a competent teacher, and some practice. There are times when we need to repair damaged blades and are on a big project with a tight schedule, so power stropping is necessary. When you must power-strop, you can get better results with a forty-dollar belt sander and inexpensive belts. I have done exactly that when reclaiming hundreds of board-feet of Teak from an old battle-ship. A friend bought this over-priced, imported imposter, thinking that it was a labor saving device. After it grabbed and ruined her favorite Japanese chisel in that gimmicky "see-through port" she retired it with a vengeance. She got most of her money back then I showed her how cheap and easy traditional sharpening can be. Two hundred bucks will buy a complete set of good stones that can last decades. You'll get a better edge and won't spend extra for more sticky round sand-paper or wasted electricity. If you are on a budget, just get good abrasives and a two-dollar hunk of marble or glass to sharpen with. You can make your own sharpening-jigs with a block of wood, a hand saw and a fifty-cent plastic protractor. If you are rich as Croesus and want the best, get the Veritas or Tormek. If you absolutely must get a power-sharpening system but two c-notes is your breaking point, Grizzly sells the T10010 10" Wet Grinder Kit for less, and it won't "blue" your blades or require more expensive consumables every month. If you buy this crummy machine, you guarantee mediocre edges on your tools, while supporting misleading advertising and an unethical profit scheme. There are better choices for every skill-level and budget. People who like this thing are not necessarily stupid, just misinformed or inexperienced. As a rule, ANYTHING that is advertised on TV must be grossly overpriced. Generally, advertised products that are popular with the masses are all mediocre, because the teaming center of the bell-curve is ignorant and misinformed. This product is a case study of those facts. You cannot trust the opinion of any journeyman woodworker who "whispers" about a product in return for free stuff from manufacturers. Nor can you trust the opinion of those who admit they do not know how to sharpen well. For that matter, do not trust my opinion. Just look at the best crafts-people and see how they sharpen their tools. You won't find a work-sharp toy near any of their shops unless they use it as a boat-anchor. This plastic gizmo is a great way to further empower Asian sweat-shop moguls who profiteer from slavery, while simultaneously making your woodworking tools as useful and sharp as a bowling ball.

Does a terrific job sharpening chisels and plane irons. The adjustable hone angle is easily set and provides an easy 5 degree microbevel. My chisels are sharper than I was ever able to get by hand.

Reviews

I use this work center for my miter saw. It is a pretty good stand for general construction but not for accurate finish work. I did have a problem when an insert in the end of the unit broke. I called the company and the gal told me she would send me a replacement piece and commented on how difficult it is to replace the piece. When I received the replacement piece (without instructions) and installed it I found out what she meant and also why it broke. There is a design flaw that if you pull the extension out too far it will crack the insert. The entire end of the work center needs to be disassembled to replace the piece and I had to use some specialty tools (like a 12" needlenose pliers) and some ingenuity to replace the broken part.

I just recently purchased the pm7000.. I am a general contractor that mostly works on churches around the country. I saw this at a harware store and like several of the features that this stand has. I decided to try it and purchased the stand here on amazon.. I have just returned from my first job using the stand.. right out of the box the plastic end caps where the extension arms come out where cracked on both sides.. by day two one had fallen out. every time I move the stand the plastic inserts on the miter saw holders fell out.. and today when I went to take the saw off of the stand the clamp handle to remove the saw broke off in my hand.. If I had realized how much plastic was holding this thing together I probably wouldn't have purchased the stand.. it does have some great features but what good are they if it's broke... I used the stand for 5 days and cut a total of 40 2x4's and a couple of 1x4's over the course of the week.. very light work for me, many of the jobs that i work on we cut thousands of boards over the course of a few weeks, I will not be taking this stand with me on any of those jobs as it would probably be useless after the first day of hard labor... don't buy this stand it's junk.... even if your a homeowner and don't want to spend a lot of money... but the ryobi before this.... use a couple of saw horses instead.. save your money... anyone want a slightly used portamate? :{

I own 2 portamate 7000 and was attracted to the cool power strip incorporated into the stand. on both of them the extension arms have broke. On both sides! Also there is alot of play or flex in the flip up stops which makes them inaccurate. this product is not worth the money.

I needed a miter saw stand for my new Ridgid 12" compound miter saw. I have not got very much storage space, so I needed something that was transportable and I could store easily. I looked long and hard at a lot of other miter saw stands, however the Portmate 7000 was the only tool center. While a bit pricey, the Portmate had a number of key features I liked, especially the fact its ability to mount other bench tools, e.g. routers, planars, etc Among the user-friendly features: versatile and able to mount other bench tools, four-outlet power strip, legs that fold up for easy storage, wheels and an end handle make for easy transport, a storage compartment for safety glasses and ear plugs markers pencils etc, set of machine mounts, adjustable work supports with fold-down rollers and stops, flexible work light, and a heavy-duty cast-aluminum bench vise. The only downside is my 12" miter saw was too large and did not mount on center using the provided machine mounts. I had to mount the saw on a piece of plywood to offset the mounting screws enough so it would mount on center. I don't blame Portamate for this as you cannot support every tool with a generic design. I did have a problem, the mounts for the vice were bent during shipping and did not securely attache to the saw bench. The company really should the improve sturdiness of the packaging/shipping materials. However, when I contacted the company they sent me replacement mounts. My view is a product is only as good as the company that stands behind it and HTC/Portamate did right by me. Overall this is an great product, with many thoughtful features, and I would recommend it. PROs Company stands behind its products Solid construction, very stable mount for power tools Lots of features: vice, bench light, 4 plug adapter Versatile, able to use multiple bench tools Easy storage CONs Set up instructions need improvement Legs are not adjustable for uneven surfaces Plastic end caps on the machine mounts keep falling out My 12" miter saw was not compatible with the machine mounts Arrived slightly damaged Does not store vertically

I have owned this item for about 2 months and use it every day. The base unit works great but the extenions for the rollers are very weak and cannot be extended more than 12" when cutting decking boards, they sage and put small dents in the top of the base unit. The right one was not welded square so the stop for making repeated cuts is totally useless. It appears that the manfacture has little or no quality control when welding the parts. I would not recommend this unit for anyone who would be using it on a daily basis.