Customer Reviews

Porter-Cable 1500 Wet-Cutting Tile Saw

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Readers Digest Version: Good saw for the money, and I have been pleased with its performance (I have cut approximately 75 3" tiles diagonally so far). I bought it for home projects, so if you are a more serious tile-person, or need a saw that can cut miters, you may want to consider higher end saws ($$$). But all in all, it is a good performer and solidly built.

I decided to buy a tile saw instead of renting because of a fairly ambitious backsplash project that I wanted to do (3" tiles mounted diagonally) and I didn't want to be rushed because of tool-rental deadlines, plus now I own a saw. I looked at the more expensive saws, but couldn't justify the added cost and I stayed away from the cheaper saws because of the amount of cutting that I needed to do. The saw assembled easily (no missing pieces and everything fit) even with help from my 6-year old son. The cutting bed slides using wheels that slide inside a track which does not have a very smooth action as compared to other saws that use rails, so at first I was skeptical to its performance. However, once I got the guide set I was able to cut the tiles diagonally in half very repeatably. The mounting arm and motor assembly are fairly low on the left-hand side, so you have to keep your left hand flat as the cutting table slides underneath the motor. After cutting 50 tiles or so, my left hand started getting fatigued from the akward angle. The moter is fixed so you can't rotate the blade to make miter cuts, which I didn't need, but may be important others. And what appeared to be a designers afterthought, the water pump just sits in the back of the water tray held in place by tie-downs that hold the tubing and electrical cord. However, it seemed to work well enough. All in all, I think it is a good saw for the money. To get additional features you almost need to double the price. I have been quite pleased with its performance and am happy (still) that I bought it.

I do tile and stone work for a living. This is the most
gosh-awful thing I've ever had the displeasure to work with.
First, let me say two good things about the saw.. it's
(1) light and (2) easy to clean up; making it great for
indoor work where you can keep this saw right by you
as your doing tile work. The tray holds very little
water (specifically you can fill it with about 3/4
of a spackle bucket.... so you don't have to go through
a whole big routine to empty the saw (i.e. dumping
several buckets of waste water outside)).

First, we at work nicknamed this saw "the screamer."
Albeit, the saw was modestly quiet when I first
bought it... but the bearings rapidly deteriorated
about 5 times faster than my 6 other wet saws!!!
I have to wear headphones. If it was any louder,
I'd probably go deaf. I'm redoing the bearings,
but I don't expect it to last. Junk saw.

Second, although there is very little "play"
[lateral movement) in the tray (a plus), if this
saw vibrated any more... I'd reconfigure it as
a jackhammer!!! I can't even keep a tile held
in one place unless I apply about 20 pounds
of pressure on the tile to keep it from shifting
as I'm cutting.

Target, QEP, SawMaster, Felker..., even MK...
anything but this horrible contraption.

Porter Cable has a good reputation. I've had
(errr.. my father, has had) Porter Cable drills
that still function and probably were made before
I was born... Good stuff.... but this is clear

evidence that just because a company makes
good drills... don't mean they know diddly
about making tile saws.

I bought this saw because I am doing some remodeling and will be tiling at several different times.

After receiving it, I cut up some tiles into strips, diamonds and triangles to tray out different patterns for an accent strip that my wife wants. No problem in cutting any of them, even nipping triangles off the corners of 2" squares. I did have to make some guides to hold the tiles, but that was expected.

We just used the saw to tile about 65 SF of floor at my son's house setting 12" tiles in a diagonal pattern. This meant we had to cut about 15 or so 12" tiles in half on the diagonal. The saw isn't sized to this, but we were able to do it by removing the stop for the tray and sliding it back with the rear wheels outside the track, aligning the tile and then carefully sliding it forward so that the wheels reengaged. The first tile had a slight chip on the leading corner as we got the feel for it but the rest cut clean. I don't think you could do this with saws that use the tube slides.

I'm quite happy with the saw. It cuts clean and repeats cuts well.

I needed a tile saw and went with the Porter Cable brand as I have had very good luck with their other tools. This tile saw, however, was very dissapointing.

It is very loud: I mean the neighbors complained.

The sliding table never worked smoothly, and after two days of use it became very uneven. The wheels jam in the tracks producing erractic cuts. I attempted to adjust the mechanism, but there is really no practical way to improve matters. Seems to be poorly engineered.

The saw itself is smoothe and cuts well.

I wrote to Portar Cable, but received no reply.

Overall very dissapointed with the saw. My wife bought this saw for me. I was able to complete one bathroom tile job with it (40 sq ft) but the saw broke as I started on my second bathroom. Now the saw makes a horrific noise when started; seems the gears stripped themselves. The saw is very loud and the miter table does not slide smoothly, causing erratic cuts. Before it broke, it did cut tiles ok. I would buy another saw if I could and I am currently trying to send the Porter Cable back to Amazon.

I just set up this saw and used it to cut porcelain tile for a kitchen countertop. Assembly was simple and the instructions are short and clear. Unfortunately there are no adjustments to the saw arm or table to square the blade to 90 degrees vertical or parallel to the table slide. My saw was out of alignment on both. After an hour of digging through my collection of washers and repeatedly reinstalling the motor on the arm, I managed to shim the saw to the correct orientation. The motor has plenty of power but is the loudest tool in my shop (by far). Ear protection is a MUST. It took a very reasonable 15 seconds per 6" cut through 5/16" porcelain. The other design flaw is the tub is too short. When sliding the tray through the blade, the tray carries outside the tub and pours water on the ground. This makes a mess and requires adding water back into the tub to keep the required water level. I chose this over the MK-470 because it was Porter Cable and I liked the tub better. I would still buy a saw rather than rent one because no job should be rushed. But, I would probably buy a different one if I had a "do-over".

Professional craftsman know that the Porter Cable brand can't be beat in the area of routers and sanders. I wasn't sure what to expect in the tile cutting area, so I didn't immediately go with this saw.

Some earlier negative reviews of this saw...prompted me to actually get the slightly cheaper MK sliding table saw instead. I was very dissapionted with that saw's design & quality and had to return it after wasting two days on the site and a lot of money in wasted stone due to wandering cuts. I returned it and decided to try the Porter Cable.

For a saw in this price range, or even for double the cost, this is the best sliding table design I've seen and used. It does have some "flex" in the table but it is very predictable and it is easy to consistantly get good results. My first task was to cut 70 1.5" by 10" border pieces in granite. All pieces cut square and quick.

The saw's engineering is excellent; while assembling the tool I kept wishing that everything was designed and built with this much care. Components that I thought were plastic...ended up being high quality polished aluminum castings. WOW!

The included dimond blade also appears to be of higher quality than some of the "clay-only" type dimond blades that other manufactures include with their saws.

I had a $48 QEP saw before this wildly overpriced Porter Cable [one] and the $48 saw cut tiles more efficiently and accurately than this garbage. The bearings on my ...PC saw stripped within 6 months and I was told by my PC dealer it had to be caused by improper use, not faulty bearings. ...I will never buy a PC product again. Lousy saw and even worse customer service support. Buy it if you have to have lousy durability with a Proter Cable tag glued on it.

I purchased this saw for residential tile installation,and have found it to be an excellent value for the price. I have installed over 700 square feet of tile, making numerous cuts with no problems at all. Cleanup is a snap with the injection molded basin.I highly recommend this saw for
light to medium sized jobs.

I have read many of the "so called" reviews of this wet saw and those folks don't know squat. I have a more expensive Fleker wet saw that I have used many years, that got some electrical problems, I did not have time to fix for my current projects at home. Anyway, I bought this Porter Cable Wet saw since I had good luck with their woodworking type tools. (Yes I am a wood worker too, and Electrical Engineer by trade). The wet saw cuts extreemly well, and accurate. You can cut to within a 1/16 accurate all the time. I read one of these reviews on the noise of the saw as being loud. Well, all the Wet Saws I have ever used were loud, this one was no different. My old Fleker is still better then this saw, but then again when I bought that saw 10 years ago, was $900 bucks. For the Money, the Porter Cable is worth it. Easy to use and easy to clean up...