Doc
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Heeellllooooo Big_All !!
With your budget get the Axminster I would say, m8, but I have no experience of that machine. I have the Clarke you mention and it bogs down at 80mm cutting depth unless you go sssssssllllooooooowwwwww so don't know what the 350w Axminster would be like..
The bed on the Clarke is rough n ready aluminium but can easily be sorted with a bit of TLC, the cutout/insert round the blade lets small offcuts drop into the main body of the machine resulting in a snapped blade most often (again easily sorted) and keeping the bed flat and stable needs a little bit of attention but no big deal...
As mentioned by Dewy re: the blade guides on the Ferm I can happily say the one's on the Clarke are fine (once set up correctly LOL)... Also, and this may put a perspective on the whole thing, I only paid £80 for mine...
A decent blade costs bout £11 from my local supplier (Carlisle Glass - yes Sir, we can get any size you require, Sir, takes about 3 days, Sir) and transforms the saw quite drastically - well worth the extra £6 over the Clarke replacement which I keep as a spare.
A tip I was told but haven't tried yet is to round off the back edge ie non-cutting edge of the blade with a file/oilstone/whatever whilst running the saw - this lessens the chance of snagging the blade when cutting curves apparently.. anyone done this mod?
Hope this helps, but I don't think I'd have got the Clarke if it was gonna cost me £112 :p
Mike.
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