Norske Tools Newly Improved NMAP001 13 inch Laminate Flooring and Siding Cutter with Heavy Duty Fixed Aluminum Fence and Built-in Precision Angled Miter Settings

I'm adding a 680 square foot addition to my house. Most of the work is individual contractors, but I decided to put the Hardie Plank siding on myself. Initially I bought a Diablo blade for my mitre saw for this purpose, set up the saw with the shop vac and wore a mask. The dust created is nasty. We'll just leave it at that. Anyway, I wish someone had told me about this type of device before I started the project. I was a ways into it when I discovered them, and I decided to give it a try. This thing is worth the money. The time and annoyance that it saved me would be hard to quantify. To be safe, every time you cut the planks with a power saw you have got to wear a respirator and eye protection. A dust mask really doesn't work for this. At one point my goggles weren't on quite right and a splinter of plank went in to my eye. I got it out with pipette and water that my wife uses for her CPAP. Anyway - when using the guillotine cutter I had no flying debris. No saw setup. It was awesome. Eventually I'll be making a YouTube video about my siding project. In the meantime, just remember. Healthier. Cleaner. Faster.Now, I will add that I still used the Diablo blade that I bought. I have a number of windows and doors I had to notch the planks for. But I'm telling you the price, $129 when I bought it, is no worth it that I'm not even mad that they're selling it for $20 less right now.I also bought a Norske Blade for my circular saw. My House has a 4:12 pitch roof and I discovered that this version (the 13") is nowhere near wide enough to make those angle cuts and neither was my 12" sliding mitre saw. My circular saw is a Dewalt 6 1/2" 20 volt and Diablo does not make a blade that fits. The Norske blade worked fine though. In the end, I still saved just about $6,000 doing this project myself. I'm also going to do laminate flooring in the addition, so I may update the review with that. One last note. My planks were 9 1/4" to match existing siding. Some of the cutters out there are narrower than that.

This thing works great! However, two of the screws on the bottom support are already started, and if you accidentally skip the step to attach that BEFORE you screw the metal cutting parts into the plastic base part and then try to cut something, the whole thing bends and the screws holding the plastic base can get bent. So just be sure to put it together the right way first (i.e. make sure the underside screws are in place properly BEFORE you screw in the rest). Properly put together, it works like a charm! Highly recommend!

First and foremost, if you install flooring without one of these devices, you are making life much harder on yourself than you need to. I have done it with a circular saw and with this tool, and this saves you so much in terms of time, steps, dust, noise, and sanity. You will still need a circular type saw for straight cutouts around obstacles and a jigsaw or band saw for curvy cuts, but you will do 90 percent of your cuts with this tool and it is pretty amazing.Now, the tool itself -Not sure why a tool that costs so much does not come fully assembled. Seems like a silly way for them to save a few bucks. That being said, the reviews here complaining about assembly are hogwash. If you follow the manual (admittedly, not the best written manual), it takes 3 minutes and works great. Use your own Phillips screwdriver.I used it for mid-grade wood laminate flooring. I did plenty of straight and angle cuts. The tool worked great, was easy and intuitive, and made this job super easy. It is fairly light and easy to carry around, yet heavy enough to stay put when you are cutting. I followed the manual and used my foot to steady the board and had no issue with sliding. I am on room 2 of a 3 room project, and so far have had zero issues with the blade or cutter. The cuts are fairly flawless, but depending on your flooring product, you may get a little top chipping around the cut of 1mm or so that won't affect your job unless you aren't using any molding or baseboard. I found that going faster with the handle improved the cuts and helped not tear the built in padding on the flooring I am using.I can't compare this to other cutters, as this is the only one I have used. I wouldn't do another flooring job without it, though. Overall, I am very satisfied.

If you’re missing one of the screws that connects the table to the blade/handle portion; it’s M6- 1.0 x30mm. Make sure you get a screw with a narrow head, such as a socket head.