Evolution Saws - Anyone ever use one?

[Jetboy]

I've been upgrading some tools in my garage and building some small steel projects. I have a welder, but at this point my only cutting tools are a porta-band handheld band saw and a Milwaukee 8" dry cut steel saw. Both work as they should, but are very limited in what I can do in terms of simple miter cuts. The band saw is terrible at trying to make any sort of reliable accurate cut. It works nicely to make quick cuts on pipe or whatever, but it just isn't made for cutting good straight cuts through something like 2.5" angle. The dry cut circular saw is great and I can rip sheet metal nicely. It cuts through 2" tube nicely as well. Unfortunately the blade is damn near impossible to see due to the guards, and making accurate length cuts is tricky. Making an accurate miter is also difficult and time consuming.

SO, I've been looking around at smaller dry-cut cold saws. I came across the Evolution saws that claim to cut both wood and metal. Would be really nice to have the ability to cut both, but more so, I'd really like the cutting ability of a sliding compound miter that will cut steel. The added capability that would allow would be really nice.

The good: The blade speed is right on target with what other dry cut saws run at. The "new technology" appears to be a slow speed blade that will cut wood reasonably well, rather than a high speed steel blade. There are available steel specific blades that I would intend to use as my primary blade. Blades are reasonably priced. The saws are also relatively inexpensive.

The Bad: New company, questionable quality. Not sure if a slider will last long cutting metal. Also the blades are all 30mm or 1" arbor, so you're stuck with a limited blade selection. Only the 7 1/4" std. cutoff saw has a 5/8" arbor. - Blades are reasonably cheap though so possibly this isn't an issue. And I could do a quick tear down on the spindle and throw it in a lathe and machine it down to 5/8" If I find that the blades don't work well I would do this and use generic blades.

Also if it seems too good to be true it often is.


It appears Evolution is a German company, probably made in China, although a sticker on one that I looked at in person said made in Japan.

Have any of you used one of these? If so was it worth it?

The cheap model is an 8.5" blade for $144 shipped. Hard to beat that price, but blades cost about the same and are limited in selection.

8-1/4" Multipurpose Sliding Miter Saw, Cuts Steel Aluminum & Wood, DIY Mitre Saw, evolutionfury.com

The 10" model can be had for about #270 shipped. Looks a bit more sturdy and is a higher model line than the lesser model.

10" Multipurpose Sliding Miter Saw, Cuts Steel Aluminum & Wood, Professional Miter Saw, evolutionrage.com

They also have some cutoff type dry cut saws for $2-300. This little one would be great because the small blades are cheap and it's a smaller size which would be nice for my limited space, but it won't cut 2" square tube.

7-1/4" Multipurpose Advan-saw, Cuts Steel Aluminum & Wood, evolutionrage.com


For $400ish I can buy a Makita 12" dry cut TCT saw that I know to be very reliable. My dad has two of them in his shop and a third that he's converted into a gantry style saw on a table for making very nice edged cuts in 1/2" steel plate. They seem to be excellent saws. They are very limited in that they can't cut complex angles though. And blades are $100+ while blades for the smaller saws are only around $50.

 

[Dirtsquirt]

I have this unit

14" Multipurpose Chop Saw, Cuts Steel Aluminum & Wood, Professional Chop Saw, evolutionrage.com

Works great. I dont do much aluminium and have worn out 1 of the multipurpose blades it comes with. I have the steel only blade on it now.

Blades are spendy. But the unit is far cheaper than a Coldsaw.
I spent 320.00 dollars US on it. That price included a spare blade.

cuts are square I use a air powered, coolant mist device on the blade to extend the life.

Its not a coldsaw but for the money I am happy

 

[Jetboy]

Thanks. I think I might order up the 10" compound slider. If the smaller one is as sturdy, just a smaller blade, I'd be more than happy to have the slightly reduced cutting ability as the biggest piece I'm likely to cut is maybe 3x3 angle, and it's a lot cheaper. Plus I'd bet 8" blades for my Milwaukee would work great if I turn down the arbor. I need to find a place near where I live that I can go take a good look at them. I'd probably buy one locally if they are reasonably close to the online price, which they should be considering the $40+ in shipping most places charge.

 

[TemboTusk]

.

I have the Evolution Rage II and love it. I will never go back to an abrasion chop saw again.

The cuts are clean and predictable. Not only that, the cuts are cold to the touch; no more waiting for the metal to cool.

.

 

[JohnR]

I have a Milwaukee dry saw. Pretty much the same (as in: low-speed carbide-tipped dry 'chop' saw). The milwaukee one is built FAR beefier in my opinion.

 

[Jetboy]

I have a Milwaukee dry saw. Pretty much the same (as in: low-speed carbide-tipped dry 'chop' saw). The milwaukee one is built FAR beefier in my opinion.

I really can't justify the $ for an expensive dry cut saw like a Milwaukee or Makita. I'm sure they are nice. My dad has a couple Makita 12" saws. Work excellent.

The problem with them is that they are a big PITA to try to do anything other than simple cuts. My dad has one set up on his cutting bench that has a sliding plate underneath so you can rotate the saw like you rotate a regular wood miter saw to cut angles. Works OK.

Compound angles are basically out of the question. That's the big failing with those saws IMO. No compound miters and the sliding is just a bonus. It really would be nice to accurately cut a 45 in a piece of 10" flat bar. The Evolution saw seems to make that possible.

If I were going to spend a lot on a saw for my use, I'd probably buy a new design Bosch 12" compound miter saw. If you take a look at how the hinge mechanism works, it's excellent. Very robust and very accurate. AND it would be super easy to entirely cover in a leather or rubber "boot" to keep all the metal shavings out. Since they are belt drive, the next step would be to re-gear the belt system with different pulley sizes and I think that would be pretty simple to do. They appear to be common pulleys, so you'd just need to find the right combination of pulley sizes to drop the blade speed to 12-1400rpm. Then you'd have an super capable metal cutting saw that could do all sorts of complex angles, and make single pass cuts in a 4x10 angle or tube size. Anything bitter than that is probably going to be band saw territory anyway.

For my use, I'm doing little stuff. Winch mounts, hitches, tire carriers, stuff like that. The heaviest material I'd probably ever need to cut would be 2x2x1/4 square tube.

 

[Jetboy]

So I called Evolution tools to see what's up with the little 8" vs the 10" saw. A real AMERICAN person answered on the 2nd ring. No phone bank. No buttons to push. Answer by a real person. I wasn't quite sure what to say for a second as I wasn't expecting an answer.

Anyway he said that the rage series has a stronger gear box with heavier gearing and was designed to cut steel all day long. It also has a soft start motor that should extend the life of the gear box. The 8" fury was lighter duty and the gear box wasn't designed for 100% metal cutting and was really more intended for wood and occasional metal cutting. He also said gear boxes were around $50. There's one shop in SLC that has them in stock, so I'm going to drop by and take a good look.

 

[Scotty]

So I called Evolution tools to see what's up with the little 8" vs the 10" saw. A real AMERICAN person answered on the 2nd ring. No phone bank. No buttons to push. Answer by a real person. I wasn't quite sure what to say for a second as I wasn't expecting an answer.

Anyway he said that the rage series has a stronger gear box with heavier gearing and was designed to cut steel all day long. It also has a soft start motor that should extend the life of the gear box. The 8" fury was lighter duty and the gear box wasn't designed for 100% metal cutting and was really more intended for wood and occasional metal cutting. He also said gear boxes were around $50. There's one shop in SLC that has them in stock, so I'm going to drop by and take a good look.

Sears sells them. I picked The Rage one up for like $287 shipped to my door a few weeks ago.

Good saw. Cuts like butter with much less amp draw that the Dewalt 14" chop saw it replaced.

 

[Jetboy]

Pulled the trigger and ordered one up.... fingers crossed.

 

[JohnR]

Jetboy, very true about the milwaukee. It's a heavy, expensive saw. The hinge on it is very robust, but is only capable of simple angle cuts, and cutting long pieces at an angle is.. time consuming. But, it makes very good cuts. For anything I can't do with the milwaukee, I use the portaband or the plasma for.

 

[Jetboy]

Jetboy, very true about the milwaukee. It's a heavy, expensive saw. The hinge on it is very robust, but is only capable of simple angle cuts, and cutting long pieces at an angle is.. time consuming. But, it makes very good cuts. For anything I can't do with the milwaukee, I use the portaband or the plasma for.

I do wonder how often a compound miter cut is actually ever necessary in steel projects. It seems very rare if ever that you'd see them needed. Maybe it's a solution in search of a problem? For me I really just need a good way to make repeatable lengths out of a piece of steel stock. It's very hard to get a good straight cut through something like 3x3 angle with a porta band, and the circular saw is difficult to align for repeatable angles.

I think this thing should show up this week.

I would have bought locally, but the local tool dealer was $351 out the door, and online it was $265 shipped. So now I wait...

 

[Jetboy]

So, the saw showed up yesterday. Not sure what to make of it at this point. The base and slides are very low quality. Basically harbor freight level quality. The bearings are so stiff on the rails that if you don't hold the base down it will slide the entire saw across the table rather than slide the rails.

The blade guard is better than any I've seen. It's all metal and covers the entire blade. It has a double trigger, where one button releases the blade guard, the other activates the motor.

I haven't made a cut with it yet. It showed up in what appeared to be original packaging, but it has black hand smudges on all the orange plastic parts (which are the adjustment screws" and there were metal filings in the cutting tray under the blade. Looks a LOT like it was used once or twice. I'm going to call them today to see if they test them before shipping. If not I'm going to call Drillspot.com and say WTF is this? I may send it back if it's a used item. Not very happy about that. I guess I should have gone to the local store?

I'll try to update as I actually use it or return it.

 

[Jetboy]

Called Evolution Tools. They said they don't test cut with them and to send it back unless it was advertised as a refurb or used. Drillspot agreed to send a shipping label back and send a new one out. It's disappointing that I can't use it this weekend on the project I had planned. Not real happy about it.

 

[bhmmapping]

thanks for posting the update. I am on the fence between this and a 4x6 bandsaw and was starting to lean toward the evolution saw. I will be interested to see if the rails are as stiff on the new saw - maybe why this one was returned.

 

[Jetboy]

Still waiting on my replacement saw. It is supposed to ship today. I was told it would ship right away (about a week ago). Not sure what's taking so long. My return shipment sending the first one back has already been delivered to them. It only takes 2 days. This package is only going from Denver to SLC. I will not order anything from Drillspot.com again. Not worth the hassle. I hope the next one is actually a new saw.

 

[Jetboy]

So the new saw showed up yesterday. I unpacked last night. Overall quality was considerably better all around. I wouldn't go so far as to say the first was a knockoff, but almost certainly a different production run. For example the first one had a significant elevation difference between the the turn table and the side tables. The new one is very close to level. The machined holes for the clamps are much better as well.

I'll put some pics and video up this weekend. Obviously I can't speak for durability as I've just used it for a few cuts tonight. So far it works excellent. The first thing I did before even making the first cut was to take out the original "magic-cut-everything" blade and put in a new Oshlun steel cutting blade. This one:Amazon.com: Oshlun SBF-100052 10-Inch 52 Tooth TCG Saw Blade with 1-Inch Arbor (5/8-Inch Bushing) for Mild Steel and Ferrous Metals: Home Improvement . I'll probably try out the other blade on wood at a later date.

I made a couple cuts through some 1x1x1/8" square tube. I fixed the slider so it was just cutting by hinge. Cut through just like you'd expect any similar dry cut/cold saw to do. Cutting was smooth and power was more than adequate to keep up with the correct pressure. If you've used one of these saws you know you don't just hammer down on the blade, but more go by feel. Anyway it cut through like butter. I then cut the same square tube remnant at a complex 45* by 45* angle. That's where it goes beyond what any competitor's I know of does. Nice smooth cut at a complex angle. Put a smile on my face.

The final cut I tried one of the bigger pieces of steel in my remnant bin (I just recently bought a welder so I don't have a lot of heavy stuff). I had a piece of 3/8 by 3" flat bar. This time I used the sliding function. Again I'm impressed. This is a great way to cut heavier flat bar. If you lay flat bar flat in a regular 12 or 14" saw you're trying to chew through against the wider side. I think this is harder on the blade, not sure why, but it sure seems to cut a lot slower this way. With the sliding ability I can lay the bar flat, but still cut through the easy way. The saw cut through without hesitation.

If it cuts this well and holds up for a while I'll be very pleased. The functionality is great. And the blades for under $40 are a big bonus. I can't realistically keep track of how many cuts, but I'd expect it to cut proportionally less than a 12 or 14" blade based on the circumference difference. If that's the case it will be very cheap to operate compared to the larger blades. The one big downside is that it has a 1" arbor so only a few blades are available.

Ultimately I'm pleased with the saw based on a very short tryout.